Inverness airport Scotland to Inverness downtowm

Be aware that options are about to change as a bus war is erupting on this route.
Currently there is a 3x an hour local bus from outside the airport terminal.
Also the train from the station, a short walk away. You can also take the bus from terminal to station for the train and there are integrated fares.
In two weeks time Citylink/Megabus are diverting their M96 Aberdeen to Inverness bus to serve the airport station only (not the terminal). Journey time 15 minutes non stop, hourly.
Towards the "end of the summer" Ember Bus will be diverting their Aberdeen to Aberdeen airport to Inverness bus to also serve Inverness Airport, then non stop. Frequency to be advised.

I've flown in and out of Inverness a few times. I just take a cab. It's not that expensive and much easier for me as my accomodations are west of the river. (The bus and train station is east of the river.)

I don't feel like carrying my luggage on and off buses, trains, and then lugging it from the bus station to my digs across a bridge.

You do have other options:

Stagecoach Inverness runs a bus service, #11, between the airport and the Inverness Bus Station (located next to the train station.) every 30 minutes. It takes about 35 minutes from airport to city center.

The "short walk" to the train station is just over half a mile. If you want to take the bus to the station, it runs every 30 minutes and there is an extra fee.

I would just take the bus into town if I didn't take a cab. Easier than hassling with the train if only going into Inverness.

The Inverness Airport website has a page devoted to how to get to and from the airport:

https://www.hial.co.uk/inverness-airport/airport-information-8/3

Both the Airport and the Stagecoach North Scotland web pages are years out of date.
It hasn't even been Stagecoach Inverness for well over a year.

The third hourly bus is the #27 - a cross city service to Dingwall and Strathpeffer, via Culloden battlefield.

Also, in the evening, the long haul coach-bus from Aberdeen, the #10a/10b calls into the airport hourly so the last city bound bus is at 2249. That connects with the last scheduled flight arrival of the day.
From next week the last M96 will be even later at 2323.

Some people just can't give a simple answer. But I will repeat mine...

You have basically three choices for transportation from the airport to the city center.

Taxi: Dependiung on where you are staying, how much luggage you have, what time you arrive, and how much lugging of baggage you want to do, you might consider takng a taxi. It is really not very expensive and I've done it in both directions a few times. Probably a better choice if your accomodation is west of the river.

Train: There is a train that goes from Inverness Airport to the center ot town. The Inverness Airport train station is a little more than a half a mile from the airport terminal. You can walk it or take a shuttle bus for a small fee. This bus runs every 30 minutes. The train itself is approximatley once an hour but not at the same time each hour. It goes to the train station on the east side of the river. Scotrail operates this service.

Bus: There is a bus #11 that runs every 30 minutes that will take you from the airport terminal to the Inverness bus statiton which is next to the train station. It will take approximztely 35 minutes. There is another hourly bus #27 that takes 50 minutes. Stagecoach operates these services. Click ont he link for a timetable.

Thank you all very much for taking the time to provide us with your suggestions, it's much appreciated. I pulled up a map to get my geography correct in terms where we are staying in relation to the airport so we now have a good sense of that and the various transportation options from the airport to the center of the city.

We've got a couple of days in Inverness before we begin our tour. We've done a bit a research and read the Rick Steves' book as well. At the risk of asking for to much information from you all:) since you all seem very familiar with Inverness we're looking for places to eat, small mom and pop spots off the beaten path. We're very flexible and open to trying really any type of food.

So thanks again very much and we're looking forward to our visit.

Gerard & Leslie