Yes, as I am sure you expected, we would not recommend this. As you have read on our blogs as well as it sounds like from other people online who have done the trip, we’d not recommend that route for you. Basically you’ll have 1.5 days or a little more since you arrive late on 24th and need to be in Inverness by the evening of 26th. If you are arriving elsewhere in Scotland or the UK, you’ll also find plenty of options around Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, London, etc. Castles and long hikes are not on our itnerary but we love unplanned stops at secluded beaches, wooded paths along the way. The only planned activity i would like to do is the full day sea kayaking near Ullapool i read about above.

Distilleries and Breweries. Scotland is well-known for its whisky and just about every visitor to Scotland wants to try at least a dram or two of whisky during his or her trip. But Scotland also has a growing craft beer industry and gin scene and you’ll find a bit of everything along the North Coast 500. If you are arriving elsewhere in Scotland or the UK, you’ll have additional options such as Rent a Motorcycle in Edinburgh. Renting a Campervan and Camping Gear It is recommended by the NC500 to not drive anything over 18 feet (about 5.5 meters) on these. Partly because of the narrow stretches and also because you need to be able to safely pull into and reverse the vehicle into passing places which are not always that long. The highlights of the route for many people are the scenic views along the coast and the feeling of “being away” from it all for a while. Scenery includes rugged coastline, beaches, rural farmland, marshland, rivers, forest, lochs, and munros (Scottish mountains over 3,000 ft high). You’ll also have the opportunity to see local wildlife such as deer, squirrels, pine martens, birds of prey, seabirds, and sea mammals such as dolphins, whales and seals.Planning a North Coast 500 road trip can be a bit overwhelming as it is a relatively new route and there isn’t as much information available online or in guidebooks compared to other top road trips around the world. But not to worry, we’ll provide all the information you’ll need to plan your NC500 road trip. The area of Lochinver offers lots of hikes, and is a popular area for the longer hikes and several munros. Many of the munros (mountains) may be a bit too much and long, but you may want to consider maybe one challenging hill walk such as Suilven. Its an iconic hill here and attracts a lot of hikers and climbers in the warmer months. Its about 12.5 miles round trip and a full day hike for most people. I’d read about it first and see if it is a good fit. If you do this, I’d recommend staying at the Glencanisp Lodge the night before and after as you can walk right from this lodge to the starting path for the hike – super convenient for this hike and most of the people who were staying here when we did were specifically here for this hike.

Drive the Drumbeg Loop to Achmelvich and Clachtoll Beaches– two beautiful beaches well worth an afternoon detour.

Ultimate 7 day North Coast 500 itinerary 

For rental cars, you can see our recommendations above in the article. We’d recommend flying into Inverness Airport or getting the train there (easy to do from most parts of the UK) and then just renting a car there. There are many rental car companies. We often use Enterprise ourselves.

Hike the Golspie Big Burn to Ben Bhraggie– At Golspie make sure you visit the beautiful waterfalls at the Big Burn, and if you are feeling energetic there are mountain bike trailson Ben Bhraggie – or you could climb to the top for a view! I’d recommend at least 3 nights to do the NC500 – 5 days is ideal. We have a NC500 hotel guide that has all the main castle hotels listed. Let us know if you have a specific question about any of them. We only have a camping itinerary up so far, but will have more NC500 itineraries up before your trip in Sept., if you want to sign up for our monthly newsletter to be alerted with our new articles. There are several places to rent campervans around Inverness, including PaulCamper, GoBoony, Highland Campervans, Loch Ness Motorhomes, Outdoorsy, and Rover Rentals.

What to read next...

This really depends on how much you want to see, how much you want to drive each day, and how many detours you plan to make. You could speed along the entire 500 miles in less than 24 hours if you don’t mind not sleeping or seeing anything along the way! Strome Castle– stop on Loch Carron to discover one of the National Trust for Scotland’s little gems.