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Highland Bus tour: Experience Outlander, Culloden, Castles, and Loch Ness in One Day
4.4
162 Ratings
Highland Council
Experience the best of the Scottish Highlands on our Highland Bus tour. Explore Outlander locations, visit Culloden, discover castles, and search for Nessie at Loch Ness. Book now!
Duration:
8 hours
Cancellation:
1 day
learn more
Highlights
- Culloden Viaduct - After a half hour visit at Clava Cairns, we will pop around the corner to see the famous Culloden or Nairn viaduct, designed by Murdoch Paterson and opened as a railway crossing in 1898. It is a spectacle to behold – there will be photo opportunities.
- Inverness Castle - Journeying onwards through the city of Inverness we will pass the historic town hall and the Inverness Castle. There will be photo opportunities for the castle and Inverness Cathedral. You’ll be able to visit the castle viewing gallery and the shops, cafes or historic bars.
Photos only until 2024 as castle is being renovated.
- Cawdor Castle - Cawdor Castle is a lived in castle which is written about in Shakespear’s MacBeth, when he refers to the Thane of Cawdor and the prediction. It has spectacular gardens and guided audio tours in your own language.
- Loch Ness - Going over the River Ness onto Loch Ness, where you need to be ready to spot our legend, Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster. Enjoy the comfortable ride by Loch Ness, which takes just around 30 minutes , searching for a sighting of Nessie herself. The last famous recorded sighting of her was a few decades ago, but we live in hope she will be photographed again soon. The scenery is second to none, so have your cameras ready. In recent months there has been footage circulated online of video recordings of an animal similar to Nessie playing in Loch Ness. We will stop at the Loch Ness lay-by for photos but it isn’t possible to paddle in Loch Ness due to the steep hillside location. You’ll travel past Loch Ness for 30 minutes enjoying it and waiting for a glimpse of Nessie.
Drive by for 20 minutes
- Culloden Battlefield - We will travel to the Culloden Battlefield, where the Jacobites lost many a soul in the 1946 uprising. This was the last battle to be fought on British soil. If time allows we will give guests a chance to walk on the battlefield. Depending on tour we may not stop but just drive by.
- Beauly Priory - We will leave the castle around 2-2.30pm to journey via a scenic route to Beauly to drive by the historic priory, now a ruin, built in 1230 by a little-known French order of monks. It is also the location where Claire of Outlander fame, is supposed to have met Mairi. It is the true site of the burial ground for the chiefs of Clan Fraser of which the fictional character from Outlander, Jamie Fraser is related.
If time allows we will stop.
- Inverness - Drop off in the city for shopping or seeing the historical churches and streets. It can vary between 30-90 minutes for this stop.
- Robertson’s Farm Shop Beauly - Go see a local farm shop but most of all see the two Highland cows Jamie and Katie-Morag
What's Included
- Entrance to Inverness Castle included in the booking price.
- Note: Inverness Castle is currently closed for refurbishment.
Additional Information
Our tours have been meticulously crafted based on YOUR feedback. We have considered your desires and suggestions and integrated them into our tour planning. We assure you a high-quality experience, including complimentary rain macs if needed and a knowledgeable local guide or a driver guide on our minibuses. Our guides will share insights about the Highlands and will happily answer any questions you may have.
Do visit our website to confirm the tour schedules, which might not sync with the times mentioned here. Usually, tours start between 30 minutes to 1.5 hours post the ship’s arrival and return at least 1 hour prior to the ship’s departure timeframe. Our website will provide you with the precise departure and return times for all our tours.
Our bus tour from Invergordon brings together some stunning highlights - Outlander, Culloden, Castles, Loch Ness & Nessie! This one-day tour is extremely well-priced and designed to give you maximum value for your money. The entrance fee for the castle is covered in the tour cost. All details regarding our tours and booking procedures can be found on our website.
- Wheelchair travellers difficult
Location
37 Shore Rd
Shore Road
If docking at Invergordon pier disembark cruise ship, walk 2-5 minutes to the meeting point at the west harbour exit gates. Cross the pedestrian crossing at the traffic lights - Invergordon IV180EH or look for our Thistle Guides wearing purple and a Thistle lanyard.
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.4
(162 Ratings)
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Carol_h
Jun 1, 2024
Beautiful places - We had a great tour guide and we especially loved the drive through the countryside of Scotland as well as every stop we made.
Review provided by Viator
Brenda_k
May 31, 2024
Great tour with very professional guide - The weather wasn’t always on our side (and our ship’s embarkation process certainly wasn’t helpful!), but we had a wonderful day that was jam-packed with gorgeous scenery and information. Our tour guide was a gem! She handled the narrow roads (and sometimes ignorant tourists in opposing cars) brilliantly. She kept up a very informative commentary and also stuck to the challenging timeframe our ship had left us with. Highly recommended!
Review provided by Viator
Beverly_m
May 27, 2024
Cawdor Castle, Inverness, Culloden, Outlander and Loch Ness - Our driver, Mo, was very knowledgeable and informative. We especially enjoyed Inverness and looking for Nessie at Loch Ness. We had a lovely lunch in the Gardens at Cawdor Castle. We did not, however, visit the stones from Outlander and some of the other passengers were upset because they thought this tour would visit more of the Outlander areas
Review provided by Viator
Joanne_s
May 27, 2024
Memorable - Mo was great. Made the experience memorable. Mo was very pleasant in spite of some not so pleasant customers
Review provided by Viator
Annette_t
May 20, 2024
Must do - Mo was our tour guide she was great. All the stops we had plenty of time to walk around and explore or get something to eat. Mo gave us very informative tour throughout the day answered questions. Would highly recommend this tour, unfortunately it was unusually hot that day and no air on bus and mic kept cutting out.
Review provided by Viator
Edinburgmum
Jun 10, 2024
Special place - Lovely visit to a well cared for historic building and beautiful grounds with sympathetic restoration and friendly staff
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Dwight_p
May 22, 2024
Beautiful tour! - Very good tour with beautiful scenery on the way to the Castle and Culloden. It would have been 5 stars but a couple of things were closed and were not able to be seen, but it was still worth going. Highly recommend!
Review provided by Viator
Julie_l
Jun 3, 2024
Disappointment in Scotland - This was not what I expected. While seeing the land was beautiful, our tour guide Seoirse, was not excited at all about being there. When asked questions about the history of Scotland (we went to a major battlefield) he said “you can just google that.” I learned more about the airport and golf courses than the history and pride of the country.
Our first stop, Inverness, was a 15 minute walk from the town where we were told “you have 45 minutes to explore.” And given maps to shopping stores. It would have been nice to know about the history, the significance of the church, or even what are some interesting things to see here.
Then we went to the battlefield at Culloden. This was a humbling piece of history and while some was shared about our guides connections, there was more talk about the different flowers and plants.
There were no outlander sights. We went to Cawder Castle and again, knowing the history would have been amazing. The grounds were beautiful and sitting in the gardens was lovely.
We drove around the lake and took a quick photo…that was it. I think next time I would suggest a boat tour of the lake.
Then we ended at a farm with 2 highland cows that were orphaned. It was neat to see them up close, but it was anticlimactic to a very long day of disappointment.
Overall, I would not recommend this tour.
Review provided by Viator
Pamela_v
May 19, 2024
The tour guide, Mo, was... - The tour guide, Mo, was very good. The bus company her employer used was dreadful! Air conditioning not working making everyone onboard cranky!
Review provided by Viator
Stacey
May 19, 2024
Disappointing! - Clava Cairn was omitted from the itinerary without notice or refund. The reason given was that they booked too many people and the larger bus couldn’t travel over the bridge to it. Then don’t book that many people!! It was supposed to be included in the price. Bait and switch! And to add injury to insult the A/C on the bus did not work. It was a particularly warm day and the windows were inoperable. 54 passengers. People got sick from heat. Do not book!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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