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Highland, Visitor & Tourism Guide

Embarrassment of riches
Within the UK, there are a handful of destinations that must be visited above all else. London, Devon and Cumbria are on that list but at its top we’d place the Scottish Highlands.

Roughly speaking, the Scottish Highlands run from the Isle of Arran in the west of the country to Stonehaven in the east along The Highland Boundary Fault. They cover a number of Scottish ‘unitary authorities’* and islands but the largest by some way is called the Highland ‘unitary authority’. It’s is this area that we refer to here. You can see the outline of the Highland ‘unitary authority’ on the map provided and we recommend it so highly because it has an embarrassment of riches.

Location
In the north and north west of Scotland. Inlcudes the very popular Isle of Skye and Isle of Rum. Highland covers a large chunk of north Scotland, basically. The Orkney Islands to the north and the Western Isles to the west. Moray, Aberdeenshire to the east. Perth and Kinross and Argyll and Bute to the south.*

The administrative HQ is Inverness. Highland is the largest 'unitary authority' in Scotland.

National Park and NSAs
Home to the UK’s largest National Park, the Cairngorms. The Park is home to five of the six highest mountains in the UK and is exceptionally popular with hikers, mountaineers (especially in winter), skiers and wildlife enthusiasts.

Highland is packed with National Scenic Areas. These are areas which are exceptionally beautiful with important landscapes often supporting exceptional wildlife so they offer a great guide as to where to head on your holidays or weekend breaks.

National Scenic Areas within Highland include: The Kyle of Tongue, North West Sutherland, Assynt-Coigach, Wester Ross (including the Torridon Hills), Trotternish, The Cuillin Hills, Dornoch Firth, Glen Strathfarrer, Glen Affric, Kintail, Knoydart, The Small Isles, Moirai, Moidart & Ardnamurchan, Loch Shiel, Ben Nevis and Glencoe and The Cairngorm Mountains.

Close by are Loch Rannoch & Glen Lyon, Loch Tummel, Lynn of Lorn and Deeside Lochnagar.

Geopark
In the north west of Highland is the North West Highlands Geopark. It’s one of only fifty or so Geoparks in the world with others in the UK including the English Riviera Geopark and the North Pennines AONB European Geopark. At around 2000 square kilometres, it’s bigger than most of the UK’s National Parks. Roughly speaking, the Geopark runs from the area around Ullapool north to Cape Wrath covering coastline and pushing a fair distance inland.

The rocks up here are around 3 billion years old making them among the oldest on the Earth.

Mountains and lochs
Most come to see the breathtaking scenery, especially the mountains. Glen Coe, Ben Nevis and Liathach in the Torridon Hills are all here as are Buachaille Etive Mòr, Suilven and The Cuillin on Skye.

For lochs, visit Loch Torridon, Loch Ness, Loch Etive leading up to the beautiful Glen Etive.

Try also Rannoch Moor and The Quiraing.

Castles and historical buildings
Clearly, Scotland’s famous for its castles and historical buildings. This place is rich in them. Visit Eilean Donan Castle and Urquhart Castle, Cawdor Castle and the Glenfinnan memorial. Culloden Battlefield is historically important and Fort George an exceptional example of military might on the Highland/Moray border.

Coast
As you would expect, there’s a big and impressive coastline. From the mountainous lochs of Skye and Torridon to the sandy beaches of Sandwood Bay or The Kyle of Durness up by Cape Wrath, there are some stunning places to experience.

Walking
In particular, try the West Highland Way. This runs for roughly 150 kilometres (95 miles) from just north of Glasgow to Fort William. Given the National Park and all those National Scenic Areas, it's obvious that this is some of the UK's finest walking territory.

Museums and wildlife
Last, with such natural beauty to experience, it’s easy to forget the area has many top cultural and wildlife attractions. For example, visit the Highland Folk Museum and Highland Wildlife Park.

[Information provided by picturetheuk]

** A note on Scotland's 32 unitary authorities

External Links
www.highland.gov.uk
www.visithighlands.com
www.northwest-highlands-geopark.org.uk
www.west-highland-way.co.uk

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