Inverness

Inverness is a functional city rather than a pretty location and I haven’t heard any contrary views on this forum - nearby Nairn is a better base IMO.

Inverness is known as the capital of the highlands, just because it's the largest town in the area. It's very much a working town and where those of us who live in the remote highlands go to buy all the stuff we need for daily life. I certainly wouldn't view it as a tourist town and would struggle to recommend a really good hotel in the town. It's also suffered (like most towns) due to the pandemic. There are a lot more closed shops now and yes there is homelessness. I am always surprised that visitors want to stay there - but I guess it makes a convenient base.

Jacqui (Skyegirl)

@Skyegirl, thats the best description of how I felt. I can totally see that its a convenient place as a jumping off point for the Highlands - IF you're using public transport. If you're driving (like we were), I'd give it a hard pass and stay at one of the smaller towns in the area - we drove through a ton of cute towns north of Inverness and I saw tons of signs for B&Bs. Just wanted to put that out as an FYI to people who are reading this forum/Ricks books and a looking for an overnight in the area.

I've been to Inverness twice. The second time was to join a Rabbie's tour of the Highlands and Skye. Both times I stayed at the Premier Inn Riverside. Quiet, clean, and there was a Tesco practically outside its back door. A seven to ten minutes walk and you're at the train/bus station.

We had a very different view of Inverness. I actually think it is underrated. It is, as others suggest, a functional transit hub for nearby Highlands points of interest, but we enjoyed the pubs, the charming riverside walk, lovely bookstores, some of the restaurants and (as with so many places in Scotland) the people. I wouldn’t go out of my way to visit just Inverness, but we definitely enjoyed it more than it seems others suggested we might. And we didn’t experience anything that made us feel unsafe at all on our 4 night stay..

I’ve been saying “Inverness is OK, but….” in all my postings that mention it. It is a good base or rather staging post to get to the Highlands using public transport and the Great Glen Way starts/finishes there for much the same reason, However as a tourist town, there’s not much to recommend it per se.

Looks like the drip, drip, drip consistent messaging from Brit posters might be starting to get through!

Ian

We were there last week and were completely underwhelmed. We stayed in North Kessock across the river for 3 nights as a base, but would come into Inverness to eat and our options were what we found underwhelming. A one hour walk along the river was about all there was to do. I didn't notice it being dirty or having a homeless problem though.

Inverness is the administrative and commercial centre for Highland and some of the other council areas. It is also one of the fastest growing towns or cities in Scotland and the UK, However you are going for Inverness as a base, for stuff Inverness has that neighbours might not have, and not necessarily for Inverness itself. It was not unusual for job adverts for jobs in Inverness to focus on the area as a draw and not Inverness itself.

In short, if there are towns and cities that can be described as a service station for the local area and not a destination in their own right, one of them is Inverness.

I think styling itself Gateway to the Highlands kind of lulls folk into thinking massed ranks of pipers wander the streets on the hour ever hour.

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Fort William is no beauty just a work a day town but I have always liked it.
Inverness just feels like a generic large town

The size of Fort William helps it and the size of Inverness harms it in terms of tourist appeal. Fort William is really let down by the A82 cutting the town off from Loch Linnhe.

I was just (June '22) in Inverness for a Steves tour. Arrived a day early and stayed at the nice Mercure Hotel. Walked and walked thru the city--could have been cleaner, but definitely better than most US cities. Quite commercial, but river walks, bridges, parks made for an enjoyable walkable city. 2 days there was enough. ab

I’ve been to Inverness and did not notice the trash or homeless. I thought it was pretty with hanging baskets of flowers and the lovely walk along the river.

Yes, Scotland has some incredible scenery, but some of us travel for more than scenery, in fact scenery is well down on my list. I love museums and history. Culloden certainly isn't scenic, but the history is fascinating and one of the highlights of the Highlands. Stirling Castle was also a highlight. I liked wandering the Royal Mile in Edinburgh every evening, loved the vibrancy of a big city like Glasgow. There was only so much rural life I could appreciate before I was happy to get back to an urban centre.

Scotland is scenic, but I found its history even more compelling; rural and urban.

We stayed one night at Ness House, a very comfy B&B just a few minutes walk from the river, although their full breakfast has been paused for Covid. Had a pleasant walk about the river and great early trad music session at McGregor's Bar. Dinner was a secondary concern, and we struggled to find something. Luckily, Guinness is food.

This tourist goes to cities/towns when visiting Scotland because I live in a mountain town with one store, a post office, and no traffic lights and sadly, no bar. The scenery from my house could compete with the best in Scotland, except it's not so green in the summer and no coo. Trad music/craic is one of our top goals, and that requires lodging in walking distance of a music bar, which means population. We see the good views, see great wildlife, visit castle ruins and examine Neolithic sites while traveling between lodgings.

We also travel to get away from the American exceptionalism we seem to have so much of lately.

As a tourist, I aim for both cities and countryside. We loved our time in Edinburgh, with its beautiful medieval architecture and amazing history, and we equally loved our time hiking around Skye. While we love beautiful scenery (and there's a ton of it in Scotland), we also love history, culture and good food, so for us, we prefer a mix.

Regarding Inverness, we only stayed one night, as we were taking the Caledonian Sleeper the next evening and wanted to visit Culloden and Clava Cairns first. We stayed at the Premier Inn City Centre, and enjoyed the little bit of time we had, but I wouldn't have wanted to spend much more time there, and will probably skip it altogether on our next visit. Dinner and music at Hootananny and our hotel breakfast in view of the River Ness were nice, but after returning our rental car at 4:30, we had several hours to wander around before boarding the train. Unfortunately, most things are closed by 5:00, so while we did have a nice stroll along the river, and a quick duck into Marks & Spencer for some snacks, there really wasn't much to keep us occupied.