🗺️ NC500 Attractions

Dornoch is one of Scotland's most charming small towns, a medieval Royal Burgh of honey-coloured sandstone buildings gathered around a magnificent 13th-century cathedral. The town has an extraordinary array of claims to fame: it hosts the Royal Dornoch Golf Course, ranked among the top 10 g…

Durness is the most northwesterly village on the British mainland, a scattered community of crofts and whitewashed buildings above dramatic cliffs and beaches. Despite its remoteness, it offers a surprising range of things to see and do: the expansive beaches at Sango Bay and Bal…

Gairloch is a scattered community of small settlements on the western coast of Ross-shire, centred on a beautiful bay with the mountains of Torridon and Flowerdale Forest rising behind it. The village has an excellent heritage museum, a good fuel station, a Tesco Express and several excellent cafés and rest…

Ullapool is the most lively and complete town on the western NC500, a planned village founded in 1788 by the British Fisheries Society to exploit the herring shoals of Loch Broom. The distinctive grid of whitewashed houses by the loch has a genuine charm, and the town is well-equipped with shops, re…

John o' Groats is the symbolic end of the North Coast 500 and the most famous point on the northeast tip of mainland Britain. Though not actually the most northerly point (that's Dunnet Head, 15 miles west), it holds a unique place in the nationa…