Inverness 2 days, 2 nights accomodations

We had a great time at the Royal Highland Hotel (one of the large station hotels scattered around Britain). Lots of old world charm- a blast to the past. (It seems llike it would be conveneint for your trip back to Edinburgh). Wonderful dining room- great Scottish breakfast

I wish I had a good B&B for you, but the last time I stayed there it was a hotel and was a bit pricey and has I believe gone even more upscale. It was the Glenmoriston Hotel. But there are lots of B&Bs in the area. I would look for one on or near Ness Bank or just across the river. You will want to visit Culloden Field. There is a new visitor center that give good information on the battle. From there, if you have good weather, it's easy to walk over and see the Clava Cairns. It's not a 5 minute walk, more like 20 or 30, but it's lovely along small country roads for the most part. You can take a public bus out to Cullden Battlefield. Ask at the TI for information. Here's a great link to TripAdvisor and a discussion of Day Tours. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g186543-s407/Inverness:United-Kingdom:Day.Trips.html They mention a formal tour to Culloden. I went on the public bus. You really don't need the tour for that aspect. I also took the train to Kyle of Lochalsh and it truly is a beautiful train trip. Pam

If public transportation to Skye gets too complicated, you could instead take the (very long) day trip to visit Skara Brae and the Ring of Brodgar in the Orkney Islands. It leaves from the Inverness bus station and I think it is offered by the John o'Groats ferry company.

I looked at some of the tours from the Puffin Tours and the one for Applecrosss sounded very good. I did a similar trip in a car in the rain a couple of years ago and enjoyed it. They too have a nice one to Orkney or at least John O'Groats. Pam

Luanne - Our family stayed at the St Anne guesthouse in Inverness in 2009. The owners are extremely knowledgeable on the goings on the city. Also the garden at the house is wonderful.

We stayed last week at the Rick-Steves-recommended Ardconnel House B&B. I would definitely recommend it as well. The location was very convenient to the city center (bus and train stations, TI) and the facilities were great. John and Elizabeth were warm and charming and helpful. John provided bus information for getting to the Culloden Battlefields that was better than the information we got from Rick's guidebook or from the TI (let me know if you want details). I would agree that you don't need an organized tour to go to the battlefieldsthe city bus works just fine. The road sign near the battlefields pointing to Clava Cairns indicates that the distance is 1.5 (miles, presumably). We followed Rick's advice to, not having a car, skip it. We enjoyed the Jacobite Tours "Sensation" tour to Loch Ness, including a boat ride, Urquart Castle (underrated in my opinion), and the Loch Ness Centre & Exhibition (the only place where you can get a Ty "Nessie" Beanie Baby). We also enjoyed the Scottish Tours "Highland Roots" tour, giving us a completely different experience. These half-day tours were great as they don't involve too much time in a bus and you still have some time to enjoy Inverness. The walk up and down the river in Inverness, crossing the river across the islands, was a highlight of our trip. The live traditional music at Hootananny's was amazing.

Hi Luanne, I just got back this past Friday, 4/22 from Scotland. In Inverness, I can HIGHLY recommend staying with Mrs. Hogg at 21 Crown Drive. The house is fantastic, Mrs. Hogg is a wonderful charming hostess, great cook. We booked through the Tourist Information office because we weren't sure of where we'd end up each night. After letting the TI make the reservations for 2 of our stays we managed on our own after that. http://www.invernessbandb.com/ is the website for Mrs. Hogg's. Mrs. Hogg's has a 3 star rating. She and her husband are retired from working at a distillery. He worked at the Talisker Distillery on the Isle of Skye. They were very helpful getting us into restaurants that may have been busy, giving us directions around town, making sure we didn't go to the wrong place and getting terrible food. While in Inverness, make sure you go to Hootenany's. They have live music every night. There's rock music upstairs and Ceilidh bands playing downstairs. If you get a table near the stage try to remember they'll come and take your table away at 9:30 to make room for dancing. And be ready for a great time. You get to keep your chair and push it to the wall but the tables are removed. I didn't want to leave!!! Have a great time. Pam

We stayed at the Ness Bank Guest House
7 Ness Bank, Inverness IV2 4SF, United Kingdom back in 2004 and LOVED it. I think it still gets good reviews. Reasonable rates and very close it so you can walk the river. We came there from Loch Ness and proceeded to Cawdor Castle (etc) after it.

BTW, one of my favorite pubs for an afternoon ale when the weather is good, is up behind the castle. In fact it's called the Castle Tavern. You can sit outside and watch the castle and the people. It's great. Pam

thank you everyone! I have narrowed it to St. Ann's and Mrs. Hogg's to stay, and now am working on what is the most effective way to see the most in the 2 days we will have. Keep those suggestions coming, though! IF there is a place that we just HAVE to check out (:) This is the BEST forum!!

Luanne - Toni recommended we take a Puffin tour to the Isle of Skye when we were in Inverness. It was very enjoyable. The coach was small only held about 16 people. Here's the link to Puffin Tours. www.puffinexpress.co.uk

We've booked the Craigside Lodge Guesthouse for this June. It's recommended in Rick's book. http://www.craigsideguesthouse.co.uk/ Also as recommended above check out the tours with Jacobite. We've also booked the Sensation Tour. http://www.jacobite.co.uk/