To Inverness, or not to Inverness?

Skye is actually quite civilised.

I like Inverness.

Inverness is a bit like marmite - people either love or hate it. I actually like it as it always has a buzz to it yet doesn't feel too big. There is a very nice walk along the River to Ness Island.s

Any of the other places you suggest would work but they are smaller than Inverness so there will be less choice of accommodation, shops or places to eat. Of the three Dornoch with its cathedral would be my choice as it has a lot more character than Nairn or Dingwall. Dornoch Castle is also now a hotel...

Strathpeffer maybe.

Dingwall is quite a workaday town, which is not to un-recommend it. But to me it has relatively little charm. Other's MMV. It has the most Northerly (and one of the shortest) canal in the UK- at just over 1 mile.

Dornoch is a nice town (technically a city as it has a Cathedral) with a long, sandy beach- https://www.visitscotland.com/info/see-do/dornoch-beach-p2568331

Personally I like the Victorian spa town of Strathpeffer- https://www.visitscotland.com/info/towns-villages/strathpeffer-p235881

The Black Isle and it's main towns of Fortrose and Cromarty also has much to recommend it.

Having said that I am not at all disparaging Inverness.

Also, if you are going to Ballater, you could look a bit further south at Grantown on Spey.

Inverness is a bit like marmite - people either love or hate it.

Allow me to be contrarian…

I wasn't too impressed by Inverness, but I didn't hate it either. In my opinion it's a bit bland and boring but with some nice parts and certainly some things that are worth seeing. I would not go out of my way to come back, but it can be a nice stop if you are in the area. And not a bad base for exploring the area.

You won't find many shops or restaurants in Strathpeffer which is what the OP was asking about. I liked the town which has a lot of character but felt it was more geared to the day visitor than for those stopping overnight unless you are eating in the hotel.

I'd agree that Dingwall does have a rather workaday feel to it - mind you it was raining when I was there, so didn't see it at its best!

I was in Nairn in June. I think that's a good alternative to Inverness.

There's a couple of excellent restaurants (The Bandstand and The Classroom; I ate at The Bandstand).

It's a pleasant enough high street with a few shops; Co-Op, a few takeaway food places, pubs etc. I noticed the hardware store had hardly changed from what I remember it as a child.

There's two nice beaches; one has great dunes that go for miles. Pretty little harbour and a links park.

I visited Culloden and Clava Cairns on this visit but there's also Cawdor Castle nearby. I also visited Forres, a charming little town, and Culbin Forest, where there's walking trails that take you down to the dunes. Further along towards Aberdeen there's also Elgin, an nice day out driving easy roads. I took a walk along the River Nairn, though not quite as far as Cawdor. There's a well marked trail of about 8 or 9 miles. I chatted to some friendly local folk walking dogs along the way.

My mother and I stayed in a cottage AirBnB in Fishertown, the old fishing village part of Nairn. I can give you a link on PM if it interests you.

I haven't uploaded the pictures from my latest visit anywhere, but here's a link to a picture of me and my dad in Nairn the first time I visited -

https://www.flickr.com/gp/totally_pixelated/0841t73zbP

At Strathpeffer there are a couple of other restaurants/delis in the square at Strathpeffer, also the Coffee Shop, the Museum of Childhood and the Small Planet Trading shop all down at the nicely restored Old Railway Station.

So there are other opportunities.

There are 4 hotels in Strathpeffer- the MacKays (which I don't think does meals), the Strathpeffer, the Highland and the Ben Wyvis- the latter two being the big ones and the Ben Wyvis being the obvious one as the Highland is a bit tucked away up a side street. I can't speak for the Highland, but the Ben Wyvis is quite a good hotel- both for it's rooms and it's food. I've stayed there several times.

And several low intensity hikes from the village, one of which is along the old railway line towards Dingwall- the Peffery Way.

One of the other walks is this one- https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/lochness/loch-kinellan.shtml (but in Stage 1 note that the Church is now closed and sold)

Pluses and minuses to the town. As well as the hourly bus to Culloden and Inverness Airport there is also the bus to Ullapool 4 days a week.

Hi, blattner,

Like you, I have no interest in the tourist sights of Inverness. However, I have no qualms about staying there. Mrs A and I spent three nights there earlier this month. It's a utilitarian city, but it has its usefulness.

We stayed at the Premier Inn West, which is right on the bank of the Canal. It's far enough outside the city proper to avoid the crowds, but close enough to provide easy access to downtown activities.

Although Inverness is a medium sized city, it does not compare to Edinburgh in being overcrowded. Once you escape the Bridge Street/High Street crush, it's easy to get away from the crowds. We've never encountered many people on the Ness Islands or Caledonian Canal walks, but perhaps we just got lucky!

We used Inverness for day trips to Cromarty and Glen Affric; did the laundry; and had a good meal at the Fat Buddah. Parking in the Tesco car park is free, provided you leave within two hours. If you enjoy having a hunt for bargains, there are some excellent charity shops in town, especially the Highland Hospice shop in Falcon Square.

I will say that High Street east of Castle Street (the pedestrian precinct) is a bit of a mess, with a lot of louts and litter in the evenings, but apart from that Inverness does have its charms.

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Beauly as an alternative to Inverness. It's about a 20 minute drive west of the city, and has a definite small town vibe. There are a couple of good hotels and some decent restaurants.

Whatever you decide, enjoy yourselves!

Best wishes,

Mike (Auchterless)

Mike, Beauly is a brilliant tip! And I agree with your assessment of Inverness too.

Fun fact about Beauly - the railway station has the shortest platform in the UK- less than one train car long. Closely followed in length by Muir of Ord- the next station north.

Another possibility in the area is Tain- a Royal Burgh (full of history) which benefits nowadays from being bypassed by the A9-https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/tain/tain/index.html

It also has a station on the Far North Line, and also the Glenmorangie distillery just north of the town. Also an hourly bus to Inverness in one direction and Dornoch in the other.

Note I am not suggesting Muir of Ord as a place to stay- I stayed there once at the Ord Arms Hotel- maybe my worst stay in Scotland for several reasons. I note it now has new owners, but they have a lot of work to do to restore it. to it's former glory. And there isn't that much to the village either.

I personally love Inverness, though I can't honestly disagree with any of Mr Auchterless's comments. But I have to say that, unless one intends to tour the northern Highlands extensively, Tain would be an enormous PITA to serve as a base camp. Crossing both the Firths of Moray and Cromarty is both tedious and time-consuming. Nairn would be both a scenic and more convenient choice. Dornoch would be moderately less convenient than Tain, but more services would be available.

If maximum charm and beauty is your desire, head a bit farther north to Brora. Quite inconvenient, but absolutely gorgeous.

Inverness to Tain is 45 minutes by car, Nairn is 25 minutes. The one problem with anywhere North of Inverness can be the Kessock Bridge, at peak times.
Having been to both Tain and Dornoch I beg to differ on which has the more services.

We stayed in Nairn and day tripped to the area’s sites. We stopped in Inverness to walk around and a couple hours was sufficient for what we wanted to do there. We parked for free at the Tesco store and bought a couple items so we were legitimate patrons.

We found Inverness to be full of trad music choices, which is high on our list of desirables. We'd go back to Aberdeen for the same reason.

Inverness to Tain is 45 minutes by car

Took me nearly an hour and a half, and as I've said elsewhere I am not a slow driver. Lorries (trucks, to my fellow Yanks) slowed progress immensely and frustratingly.

Dornoch was maybe another 10-15 minutes.

Logging seemed to be going full tilt when I was up there in June and there were a lot of wagons hauling wood on the roads.

The facts of the matter are that on an average day it is 45 minutes from Inverness to Tain, and it is 25 minutes to Nairn.

90 minutes for a 35 mile journey is very abnormal.

The bus to Tain only takes 1hr 40 all stops (but then the bus does not take the Highway, anything but) and the train is only 1hr 10 on it's winding route round the Moray and Cromarty Firths as opposed to the A9 using the Kessock and Cromarty Bridges..

The fundamental difference is that I know where I am going. If there was that much traffic on the A9 (causing me so much stress) then once across the Cromarty Bridge I might have been inclined to take the parallel old road-the B817 from Evanton to Milton. Instead of racing to get there as fast as possible (especially when on vacation) I might have taken a stop in Invergordon (there are things to see there). The other alternative from Evanton if heading beyond Tain would be the B9716 mountain road to Ardgay and Bonar Bridge (then the A949 to Dornoch). The B9716 is well known as a scenic road, but not a very fast one. Sometimes speed is not everything, especially if there on vacation.

I'd add that I didn't find roads or traffic around Moray frustrating at all. I had logging trucks deliberately let me overtake a couple of times and I gave way to them too. It's a pleasure to yield to someone who is working hard hauling a very heavy load. I noticed a lot of the little single track roads have huge log truck - sized passing places.

It would be great to hear from the OP as there's been some good posts on the question posed.