One day in Inverness: city or countryside?

I really liked Loch Ness. It's very pretty and Urquhart Castle is fun to roam around. It doesn't take all day to see though, so you could probably see Culloden Battlefield, Clava Cairns and possibly Cawdor Castle in the same day. The Battlefield is fantastic, especially if you enjoy history. It will be light very late while you are there, so you will have plenty of time to see things.

I would be inclined just to take a nice drive. Perhaps over towards the Isle of Skye. Nice drive along the Lochs then cut across

Here is what we did on one full day (June, 2005) in Inverness: Drove south a few miles to see Culloden and Clava Cairns, then north towards Beauley where we drove up Glen Affric about twenty miles. After Glen Affric, we took a road south past another ancient cairn built to honor a woman. The road came out by Loch Ness right around Urqhart Castle. We toured the Castle and Nessie watched before returning to Inverness which had several good restaurants (we liked one called Mustards). I don't remember that there was much to see in Inverness proper beyond a walk along the River Ness and a good place to purchase a kilt. If you are interested in Skara Brae and the Orkneys, you can also take a very long day trip bus tour from Inverness.

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The Loch Ness criuse is nice- as previous poster said, Urquart Castle is also nice. There are also cruises on the firth- you can see dolphins, etc. There isa good small art museum. Culloden is good, too as is Clava Cairns. There are lots of tour companies that do 1/2 day trips- Glen Coe or Great Glen,etc. The drivers are usually well informed and share lots of history, local legends, nature info, etc. There are also full day tours- Ellien Donan and Isle of Skye, etc.