In & Around Inverness Self Tours & Travel

There are others here more familiar with Inverness than me (I just drove through it on my way from Harris and Lewis to Elgin. However, in terms of tours, Rabbies Tours is probably the most recommended here on this forum, and they have quite a number of one-day tours originating in Inverness that might interest you. https://www.rabbies.com/en/scotland-tours/from-inverness

In my five-week trip around Scotland last spring, Inverness was the least interesting place I visited. It might be a suitable base for exploring the Highlands, but it's not a place you'll look forward to coming back to every night.

It's unclear whether you are considering staying all 10+ nights in one place. I think that would not be the best strategy. Are there other parts of Scotland you are interested in seeing? I found Perthshire to be utterly enchanting, and the cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh are both world-class destinations. Not to mention Skye and other Hebrides isles.

I don't think it would feel too frenzied to break up your time among 2 or 3 different bases.

I did my entire trip via train and bus, and I did organized day tours, of which there are many options depending on where you're starting from. If you're traveling solo (as I did), I think relaxing on a train or bus and enjoying the fabulous scenery is much less frenzied than driving on often narrow roads that are not always in the best condition.

Inverness is not the most interesting town in Scotland, there are some sights in the area, such as the Culloden battlefield and visitor center, and Clava cairns, but I would never spend 10-12 days there, in fact, I only spent one night as I stopped at the sights on the way into town, and the next day I headed to Skye with a detour up to Ullapool first. The drive from Inverness to Skye was one of my favourite drives of my trip, I stopped and walked out to Rogie Falls, and Inverewe gardens, but Skye was the real treat. Public transit might get you to sights near Inverness, but it won’t work for anything further afield. Look at a Rabbies tour to get you to Skye and back, but not a day trip, one that is at least three days.

As others have said Inverness would not be my choice as a base for 10-12 days. Perhaps you could have two bases? Maybe Inverness for 5 nights, allowing you to see some of the areas to the east of Inverness (Speyside, Nairn, Elgin, Culloden, Fort George), and maybe a trip up to Ullapool, Dornoch, Dunrobin Castle. Then a west or south west base e.g. Portree on Skye or Fort William to enable sightseeing around Glencoe area. If you choose to stay on Skye then you'll definitely want a rental car, and even for the mainland a car would be a good idea unless you want to do small bus tours e.g. Rabbies or rely on infrequent buses.