NC 500 in the NY Times

Is this the article?

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/21/travel/scotland-highlands-nc500.html?unlocked_article_code=1.YU8.UPyj.L64agkqSipjo&smid=url-share

Highly accurate in terms of the effects of over tourism on a sparsely populated and fragile area that simply cannot cope with the number of visitors and vehicles. The Bealch na Ba, which is the high pass to Applecross from Kishorn is a single track road with signs at both ends that clearly state no camper vans or caravans, yet inconsiderate drivers choose to ignore the signs and then find the road isn't wide enough and the passing places not long enough for their vehicles. Chaos ensues.

Human waste and garbage from 'wild camping' that is not in accordance with the Outdoor Access Code is another massive problem.

I'm afraid it would appear to be a case of over publicity attracting too many people who don't really know why they are coming, apart from they've seen it on tiktok/instragram/facebook/some tv show/guide book/must see list/ etc, etc.

Sad to say that Skye suffers from many of the same issues.

We first started driving the road long before it was named the NC500 and we were definitely in the minority of American tourists. I remember being asked at a pub in Tongue almost 40 years ago "what are you doing here?"

Our most recent trip was September 2023. Definitely lots more traffic and lots of campervans.

Unfortunately, it's like so many places, not only in Scotland but everywhere, that is not just hurting from over tourism, but from inconsiderate people who don't know how to behave.

There are at least four other named road routes in Scotland which get far less attention.
The Kintyre 66, the Galloway Tourist Route, the SWC (South West Coastal) 300, and the North East 250.
There may well be others.
Just as scenic in their own way, and all in areas of more developed infrastructure, and better quality roads.

But half the problem is this naming of routes, following identikit routes.

Hi, jeanm,

My first time doing the NC500 was 50 years ago last summer. We did the Bealach before the coast road was built around to Shieldaig. So it was over the Bealach to Applecross, where we stayed the night at the hotel, then back over the Bealach the next day. There was no bridge at Kylesku - we had to wait for the ferry. Never had to call ahead for accommodation - wherever we went, we just drove in to a town or village, and found a B&B or hotel within minutes.

I really miss those days, although we're so used now to en-suite accommodation, that it would be difficult to go back to the toilet down the hall! It would also be difficult going back to those "guest lounges" at B&Bs, where a thick pall of cigarette smoke hung over the room, as we tried to watch one of the three channels on the black and white telly!

Happy travels!

Mike (Auchterless)

Mike, we loved the old "book a bed ahead" program. We would stop at a Tourist Information Office enroute and they would call a b&b in the town we were heading for the night and book our room for us.

We stayed in some lovely places and a few quirky ones too.

In some ways the problems with the NC500 mirror those with Skye.

Skye became far more accessible when the Skye Bridge was built. That removed the capacity constraints of having to take a ferry over, and no or almost no Sunday ferry service. It is undeniable that the majority of the island were in favour, but it has been a double edged sword.

The same situation now faces Shetland. There the debate wears on about whether to replace the ageing ferry fleet with undersea tunnels. That would benefit islander accessibility, but also remove the constraints of the ferry system, and potentially lead to another Skye situation where demand exceeds the available visitor infrastructure. A very hard balancing act.
Fetlar is on a knife edge at the moment with proposals to remove fire brigade cover due to lack of available personnel. That may impact insurance availability, and thus lead to people leaving an already small community. That has the potential to have a domino effect, which tunnels could solve. No easy answer.

On Skye it is all well and good complaining about the quality of the roads, but that is down to visitor pressure. And the visitors contribute very little to the tax base to keep the roads in good order.

A lot of the complaints are stemming from the large numbers coming to places where the infrastructure is limited. Although both the Scottish Government and Highland Council have spend money on improvements for the area, their funds are limited.

However the article also points to some inconsiderate visitors, dumping rubbish or worse without consideration to the residents, other visitors, or the natural environment. Compounded that although the NC500 and other routes bring in a lot of money, a lot of the visitors spend very little beyond the odd bit of diesel in Inverness. And further compounded by a misunderstanding of what Scotland's land access laws actually are.

A problem for all tourists and visitors everywhere is you are often guilty by association and guilty until proven innocent, or at best slightly less guilty, based on the worst visitors to an area.

Fetlar is on a knife edge at the moment with proposals to remove fire brigade cover due to lack of available personnel.

We did a day trip to Foula in 2005 and the two island firefighters also acted as controllers, luggage handlers, and put the windsock up for each flight, as well as shoo-ing the sheep off the runway...

Unfortunately, it's like so many places, not only in Scotland but everywhere, that is not just hurting from over tourism, but from inconsiderate people who don't know how to behave.

That says it all. We live in a FOMO driven bucket list world, and every year more places are burdened with over tourism and they are barely making a dent in the problem.

I appreciate the more recent focus on lists of "no go" places (there is a link in the NYT article to a Fodor list of places to avoid, something they have evidently been doing for a while but I had never seen). I like this kind of list more than I do the "52 places you must see" kinds of lists that the NYT and many other media sources tout every year. However, particularly post pandemic, I literally look at that NYT list year every year to cross places off my short and shrinking personal travel bucket list. I count my good fortune that I traveled extensively for the last 40+ years, particularly in the 80s, and made it to many places that are on the "no go" lists now...and I have no interest in returning to any of them today.

I'm afraid it would appear to be a case of over publicity attracting too many people who don't really know why they are coming, apart from they've seen it on tiktok/instragram/facebook/some tv show/guide book/must see list/ etc, etc.

Sad to say that Skye suffers from many of the same issues.

@skyegirl. agree. A significant element of the problems would be ameliorated if people followed the SOAC rules on wild camping, took their trash away, and read up how to drive on the single track roads.

For the latter a lot of guidebooks to the UK, even just to Scotland, only give passing measure to the single track roads. In most of the UK like most countries these roads are not going to be encountered that much by tourists except at the end of journeys. In Scotland, they are a vital part of the network that in large part the Scottish Government should be phasing out.

I really miss those days, although we're so used now to en-suite accommodation, that it would be difficult to go back to the toilet down the hall! It would also be difficult going back to those "guest lounges" at B&Bs, where a thick pall of cigarette smoke hung over the room, as we tried to watch one of the three channels on the black and white telly!

Aucterless, a Scottish TV memory Just for you

The other thread with the Fodors "No" list. Includes the NC 500.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/fodors-has-an-annual-no-list

edit: missed Phred posted both

Hi, MC,

I seem to remember seeing that ID in glorious monochrome, or black and white as we called it back in the day! I don't recall staying anywhere that had a colour telly until 1981, or possibly even later. I distinctly remember coming over for the late lamented Edinburgh Folk Festival in 1985, and staying with a friend who had colour telly. We watched EastEnders, which was in its second month.

Thanks for the memories!

Mike (Auchterless)

Colour TV came to Grampian in 1971, but the sets were still too expensive to put in common areas until the 1980s for B&B owners. My own first TV set was B&W in the 1990s lol! B&W TV licences were also substantially cheaper, still are £60ish instead of £180.