Dunrobin Castle from Inverness

We did the drive from Inverness to Dunrobin Castle last June. The only other stop we made that day was in Dornoch which is a pretty town and possibly most famous because Madonna got married there. We did a one hour stop, looked around, walked along the beach and then headed to Dunrobin. I wouldn't call the drive spectacular. Dunrobin is impressive but we preferred Cawdor Castle. The previous day we made a daytrip to Culloden, Clava Cairns and Cawdor. I thought the gardens at Cawdor were amazing.

As for driving on the other side; consider how confident of a driver you are, if you're confident driving at home you'll be fine there. I've driven a few times in the UK now and I don't find driving on the left that big of a deal. For me it was more a case of getting used to the narrower roads.

@Allan Thanks that is helpful info. I'm a confident driver, as is my sister so I think we will be okay. We are up in Fort McMurray :)

We will be doing all of those other sites in the following days including Cawdor which I'm really looking forward to. Our other option is just to spend a bonus day exploring Inverness on foot. I'm sure we could entertain ourselves. I hear there is a neat bookshop called Leakey's in Inverness that we should check out.

There are no blockbuster sites to see in Inverness, but the walk along the river is very pretty. It would be easy to kill a day there.

We visited Dunrobin Castle on a day trip from Inverness several years ago and it was great. The castle and grounds are very impressive. You are driving on the A9 the entire way up, and that's a road with plenty of space for drivers (even those of us used to driving on the other side of the road). We actually did this as part of a journey up to John O' Groats in a single day, and that is a much longer and more hectic trip. Dunrobin Castle would be a lovely and very manageable day out from Inverness.

Just about a mile past Dunrobin Castle is a lovely and largely unpromoted site, Cairn Liath. It's an Iron Age settlement with mounds and earthworks immediately off the main road (car park is on the opposite side of the road). No tickets, no entry price and no crowds, just an interesting look at seaside life in Scotland well before the Earl moved in to Dunrobin Castle. It's easily worth a 20-30 minute stop before heading back to Inverness.

@Steve Thanks for the tip on Cairn Liath. We will check that out.

We also stayed in Inverness and did a day trip to Dunrobin castle. Don’t miss the falconry exhibition! Check times on website. We drove and took a bit of a detour to Plockton, a seaside, picturesque town. You can see the link to my photobook in my profile.

The falconry really interests me so I'm going to make sure we time ourselves to see it.

Rather than sticking to the A9 all the way, take the old road the B9176 which takes you over Struie. It is signed off to the left after Evanton. If you pass Alness you have missed the turn! Have a look at teh map here.
https://www.bing.com/maps?q=alness&cp=57.68461%7E-4.295609&lvl=13.7&style=s

The views as you drop down the far side across the Dornoch Firth are jaw dropping.

I came over Struie on a cruise ship excursion from Invergordon. I can absolutely attest to the views- very well worth the diversion off the A9.
It's not a usual cruise ship excursion route- but at the time they had to run socially isolated excursions, so many places were out of bounds.