This is the first post in a series about driving around Scotland’s North Coast 500 as well as the trip there from Edinburgh (as that’s where we started). Hopefully, I’ll get on with writing the rest of this series. You can find the map now related to this page in another post.
What do you imagine about Scotland? Old castles? Jamie Fraser and other men in kilts? Whiskey? Rolling hillsides and stunning scenery? You’ll find all this and more sheep than you’ve ever encountered if you drive around the Scottish Highlands.
We took our road trip around Scotland a few years ago, and I’m finally writing about it now — during the pandemic, I found a lack of motivation to write about travel.
I was also encountering internal resistance because there’s so much to say about this road trip.
In one of my favorite books on writing, Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, her father encourages her to write a difficult essay, “Bird by Bird.” So I’ve decided to do that here and write this — what should I say? Sheep by sheep? Cairn by cairn?
I’m breaking it down into parts. This post is some general advice on planning a trip around the North Coast 500. I’ll add the posts in sequence here. I’ll also be adding markers to a map as I go (see below).
Note that our trip was a “not quite” North Coast 500 adventure. We drove much more than the 500 miles of the official trip, as we got discounted airfare into Edinburgh and spent a few days there first catching up on sleep. There were some places we visited that are NOT on the North Coast 500 route. And there were some stops on the official route that we missed.
Our lodging for our trip was a combination of less-expensive airBNBs and some more unique (and luxurious) accommodations. We were (belatedly) celebrating a significant anniversary, after all!
However, the route is popular with RVs, as well, and I think that would be a great way to do the route, particularly if you’re comfortable driving on the left side of the road (which we were not). You’ll also find a contingent of people cycling the route — part of me envied these daring people, part of me pitied them. But mostly envy.
The Map
I’ve created a routemap and will be adding to it with each post.
To start, I’ve added icons for what were the “passport” stops along the North Coast 500. When we took our trip, the NC500 had a passport scheme where kids (or kidults) could get a passport stamped at various locations and receive a prize. The NC500 has since discontinued the passport program. I was a passport failure, anyway; I didn’t even try — but ended up at so many more wonderful places instead.
Still, the stops that were on their passport scheme represent a trip around the entirety of the “official” North Coast 500, so I added them to a map page. You can click here or on the map image below to access that page.
What is the North Coast, 500 Anyway?
The “official” North Coast 500 drive is 516 miles and starts and ends at Inverness Castle. The route, of course, has been there for a long time. However, the NC 500 as a road trip route launched in 2015 to bring in tourist dollars.
Things you will encounter on the North Coast 500
These are just some of the many things you’ll encounter on your drive around Scotland:
- Sheep
- Beautiful scenery
- Sheep
- Castles and ruins of old castles
- Sheep
- The Heilan Coo (Highland cow)
- More sheep
- One lane, two-way, roads with a 60 mph speed limit
- Lovely lochs
- Beautiful gardens
- Did I mention sheep?
- The feared midge (if you go at the right time of the year
- Cairns
- Old cemeteries
- Other scary tourist drivers.
- History
- Haggis
- Whiskey distilleries
- Kind people
- Golf courses
- Sheep in the roads.
- Bagpipes
- Highland dancers
- Being greeted by the sound of baa-ing when you step out your door in the morning.
- Nature and some lovely hiking trails.
- Cows in the roads.
- Lots of open spaces in which you might not even see another person except for your traveling companion.
- Roundabouts. I was dismissive of the roundabouts, saying “We have roundabouts at home.” No. These are serious roundabouts!
A Wee Bucket of Tips About Planning Your Trip Around Scotland’s North Coast 500
Some of these tips are obvious, especially to an experienced trip planner, but bear repeating again and again. I need to repeat them to myself constantly when I plan a trip!
Leave yourself enough time.
My advice? At least two weeks. Much more, if you can. Five hundred sixteen miles may not seem like that much to someone who’s driven down the US west coast multiple times. But there’s so much to see; I wish we’d had more time to hike in the hills instead of driving past.
Know what you want to see
Yes, I wanted to go to Scotland, but I also planned this trip as my spouse has some Scottish ancestry and a love of whiskey. I envisioned me visiting Outlander sites and him getting to sip whiskey at some old distilleries.
In reality, we did too little of each, though we still had a great time.
In reality, we did too little of each, though we still had a great time.
If you want to make it a whiskey trip, plan the trip around the distilleries. Make sure you stay at lodging close to them so you can drink your whiskey and walk.
If you’re looking for Jamie Fraser (or places he might have visited if he existed), plan your trip around that.
Some North Coast 500 Planning Resources
- The North Coast 500, of course, has an official website with tons of things to see and places to stay. I both recommend looking at it, yet found it a bit overwhelming when planning our trip.
- I’ll be adding additional resources to this page as this series progresses.
- As I’ll mention again later, having
a map book was a huge help both on the road and in planning. - Ask your lodging host for local recommendations. An AirBNB host recommended some of our favorite restaurants on the trip.
Don’t Judge the Haggis By What You Eat at an All-You-Can-Eat Breakfast Buffet.
I’ll have to admit. I didn’t eat the haggis.
If you don’t know what haggis is, Oxford Languages describes it thus:
“Scottish dish consisting of a sheep’s or calf’s offal mixed with suet, oatmeal, and seasoning and boiled in a bag, traditionally one made from the animal’s stomach.”
Sound appetizing. If you’re not a vegetarian, though, you might want to try it for the experience. My husband did. For convenience, before we set out on the long leg of our adventure, we went to a breakfast buffet-type place.
You can guess what the quality of this haggis might have been. But that did not deter my spouse from trying again. Subsequently, he found that the haggis at one of our lodgings and another restaurant was, apparently, excellent.
I guess the equivalent from my area would be comparing the steak you get at Denny’s to the steak you might get at Canlis.
Navigation (Bring a Map!)
Your connectivity may be spotty to nonexistent in parts of the highlands. Do NOT depend on your Google maps for navigation!
Get the rental car with the GPS unit. It saved our sanity and, perhaps, our marriage.
But don’t just depend on the GPS — bring a paper map book! We used
Let’s talk about driving!
A big fear of some Americans and other people visiting from right-side-driving countries is driving. Driving was a challenge initially, but you’ll get the hang of it. Probably. Just as your trip is ending.
VisitScotland put together a handy (and comical) “Driving in Scotland” video:
Back up! Did you say one-lane roads at 60mph?
Yes. This, we found a bit unnerving.
We came to a tunnel. One lane. Two-way traffic. Couldn’t see what was in or beyond the tunnel.
We looked at each other, held hands, said, “I love you,” and hoped for the best.
Sometimes, the only way forward is through.
Animals in the Roads!
Did I mention sheep? Or cows? We also encountered an Otter warning sign, though, fortunately, we didn’t see any of the little critters crawling into the road.
If you’re driving around the highlands, you’ll encounter a bunch of very free-range livestock that will walk out directly in front of you.
Yes, the speed limit is 60, but slow the heck down if you see an animal near the road.
An aside I found a bit amusing: while I was out walking one evening, I encountered some sheep that had exited their field and headed down the road. A van drove up, and the door opened. Out jumped a border collie — the sheep ran the other direction back to their yard, and the collie hopped back into the van. Is this drive-up sheepherding common?
Etiquette for turnouts
But, not to worry — most of the time, you can see who’s coming, and there are plenty of turnouts on the roads.
It seems there’s a particular etiquette for turnouts that involves flashing your lights to let the other driver know that you’re going to turn out and let them pass.
If someone does this for you, be sure to thank them and wave.
Drivus Inversus
If you’re used to driving on the right side of the road with your steering wheel on the left, doing the opposite can be a challenge at first. My spouse did almost all of the driving on the trip, and when I did for just a bit, he freaked out.
And I can see why. I felt very vulnerable as a left-side passenger with the car veering to the left and coming dangerously close to falloffs on the roadside.
Going through Glencoe, I witnessed the car in front of us doing the same, its poor passenger waving her arms frantically. It’s good to have company in your misery.
At some of the major tourist stops, signs remind you in multiple languages about driving on the left side of the road. To my spouse’s credit, he never once (to my recollection) tried to drive on the right, and we made it back to the car rental place with both us and the car unscathed.
Gas stations in Scotland
At gas stations in Scotland, you pump your own (as in most of the United States, unless you’re New Jersey or Oregon).
However, be careful! Where I live, it’s the diesel pumps that are green. In Scotland, it was the opposite.
My husband had a large group of confused-looking non-English speaking tourists watching him pump his gas. I wanted to tell them that we were not the people to watch!
Bring a Playlist!
As they mentioned in the driving video, you should have a playlist, though it’s not currently a legal requirement.
Some suggestions for your Scottish road trip playlist
The choices here may be debatable. I threw in, for instance, Gently Johnny from the 1973 film The Wicker Man, which was supposed to take place in the Hebrides. The original song is traditional, but I’m not sure whether its origin is Scottish or English.
My spouse suggested AC/DC. While they’re considered an Australian band, the Young brothers were born in Scotland and Highway to Hell? Great song for a road trip.
I had multiple versions of the Massacre of Glencoe and Loch Lomond on our playlist, but the repetition of folk songs made Ted a bit agitated, to my recollection.
The Kiss from Last of the Mohicans? Fiddle? Yes! Scottish, not sure — but it’s fantastic, and we played it at our wedding.
If you want recommendations from Jamie Fraser himself, you can find Sam Heughan’s Wee Scottish Road Trip on Apple Music.
Again, remember to DOWNLOAD any music you want to play on your road trip. Streaming was spotty or nonexistent in some parts of the highlands and I sometimes even had issues with downloaded music on my device — Spotify seemed to demand a connection.
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