Inverness and Highland Weather
The thing that changes your Highland day is not rain. It is cloud height and it is daylight. Inverness gets under seven hours of light in December and eighteen in June, and a twelve-hour tour behaves very differently at each end of that. Read the month you are travelling in, then pick from the Highland tours from Inverness accordingly.
What the weather does to a visit here
Rain is mostly survivable. A wet day at Culloden, the Clava Cairns or Urquhart Castle gives you much the same visit as a dry one, and the cairns look better under a grey sky than a blue one. Low cloud is the real problem. It removes the Old Man of Storr, the Quiraing and the Cuillin entirely, which is most of what you are paying twelve hours for on a Skye day.
So on a poor forecast, swap the direction rather than cancel the day. Every tour here refunds you in full up to 24 hours before departure, which is enough notice to read a forecast and change your mind. Several operators can also cancel for weather themselves, and you are refunded when they do.
The second thing the season changes is what you will find open at the other end. Three of the attractions these tours are built around run seasons rather than year-round hours, and one of them shuts for five months.
Inverness month by month
January
7 hours 15 minutes of daylight on the 15th. Urquhart Castle runs 9.30am to 4.30pm, with last entry at 3.30. Dunrobin Castle is shut for the winter and the Jacobite Steam Train is not running. Clava Cairns is free and open, as it is every day of the year. A far-north day still runs, but it drives a good deal of its eleven hours in the dark.
February
9 hours 24 minutes of daylight on the 15th. Eilean Donan reopens on the 1st, 10am to 4pm with last admission at 3. Urquhart keeps its winter hours. Dunrobin stays closed. Two more hours of light than January makes a Loch Ness day comfortable again, and a Skye day still very tight.
March
11 hours 42 minutes of daylight on the 15th. Eilean Donan moves to a 6pm close from the 29th and Urquhart to its April timetable from the 1st of next month. Dunrobin is shut until April. Daylight and opening hours both turn at the end of this month, which makes late March the first workable Skye window.
April
14 hours 15 minutes of daylight on the 15th. The season opens. Urquhart Castle runs 9.30am to 8.15pm from the 1st, Dunrobin Castle opens on the 1st at 10am, and Eilean Donan is open to 6pm. Fourteen hours of light is enough for a twelve-hour Skye day to finish in daylight.
May
16 hours 32 minutes of daylight on the 15th. Eilean Donan opens at 9.30am and Urquhart stays open to 8.15pm. Every route listed here runs and everything on them is open. Urquhart tickets start selling out online in advance from about now, so book the castle before you travel.
June
17 hours 58 minutes of daylight on the 15th. The longest days of the year: eighteen hours of daylight at the solstice. Eilean Donan opens at 9am. The Jacobite Steam Train morning service starts on the 1st and the afternoon service on the 10th, which is when the Glenfinnan day with a train ticket begins running.
July
17 hours 26 minutes of daylight on the 15th. The busiest month and the one where Urquhart Castle sells out furthest ahead — and once the online allocation is gone there is nothing left at the gate. Everything is open and the light lasts until well past ten. Book the castle, or book a fare that carries the ticket.
August
15 hours 23 minutes of daylight on the 15th. Still long days, still busy. Eilean Donan runs 9am to 6pm to the 31st. The Arnol Blackhouse on Lewis closes for rethatching from the 31st, which turns the Hebrides tour’s one included admission into a photo stop until early October.
September
12 hours 55 minutes of daylight on the 15th. The best compromise of the year. Urquhart drops to a 6pm close, Eilean Donan to 9.30am to 6pm, Dunrobin is open to the end of October, and the Jacobite afternoon service runs to the 25th. Thirteen hours of light still covers a full Skye day.
October
10 hours 28 minutes of daylight on the 15th. Things start closing. Urquhart runs to 5pm, Eilean Donan to 6pm until the 24th and 4pm after, Dunrobin shuts on the 31st, and the Jacobite morning service finishes on the 23rd. The Clava beeches turn, which is the best the cairns look all year.
November
8 hours 5 minutes of daylight on the 15th. Winter hours return: Urquhart 9.30am to 4.30pm from the 1st, Eilean Donan to 4pm, Dunrobin shut. The Fairy Pools on Skye are inaccessible from the 4th to the 18th inclusive. With eight hours of light a twelve-hour tour is largely a night drive at both ends.
December
6 hours 40 minutes of daylight on the 15th. The shortest days — six and a half hours at the solstice. Urquhart closes at 4.30pm, at 4pm on the 24th, and entirely on the 25th and 26th; Eilean Donan closes for the season on the 22nd. The Inverness Castle Experience is open daily except Christmas Day, which makes it the reliable thing to do.
What closes, and when
| What | Open | Closed |
|---|---|---|
| Dunrobin Castle | 1 April to 31 October | 1 November to 31 March, every year |
| The Jacobite Steam Train | Mornings 1 June to 23 October; afternoons 10 June to 25 September | Late October to the end of May |
| Eilean Donan Castle | 1 February to 22 December | 23 December to 31 January |
| Urquhart Castle | All year, on seasonal hours | 25 and 26 December |
| The Fairy Pools | All year | Inaccessible 4 to 18 November |
| Clava Cairns | All year, free | Never |
The seasons, and which one you want
May, June and September are the best of it: long light, everything open, and not quite the crowds of high summer. If you can choose, choose September. Thirteen hours of daylight still covers a full Skye day, and you will find the castle easier to book.
July and August give you the longest days and the worst of the pressure. Urquhart Castle sells out online well ahead, so a fare that carries the ticket is worth more to you in these two months than in any other.
November to March is short, quiet and cheap. You will have the loch, the battlefield and the cairns largely to yourself. Dunrobin is shut and the steam train is not running, and a far-north day spends hours of its length in the dark, so keep your routes short and close.
Best time of day
Early, for two reasons. If you take a coach that leaves at 7:45 you reach the big Skye stops before the ones that leave at nine. The light on the lochs is also better in the first two hours than at any other time. On a summer evening the reverse is true at Urquhart: it stays open to 8.15pm and empties out after six, so a late visit is the quiet one.
Frequently asked questions
When does the Jacobite Steam Train run?
Are there Inverness whisky tours and distillery stops?
Can I take a guide dog on an Inverness tour?
How much luggage can I bring on a day tour?
Pick the direction the forecast suits
Low cloud takes Skye and leaves Loch Ness alone. Every card says where its day goes, so a poor forecast changes your route rather than your plans.
See also the castle that closes for the winter and what a touring day costs. Every route is on Inverness Scotland Tours.