How We’ve Ordered These Stops
The stops in this guide are not ranked. I wanted to give some sense of priority and share which stops are unmissable and which ones are the first to be cut if you're putting together a shorter itinerary. But comparing a beach to a hike, to a village, to a castle ruin is a tough one.
Instead, they’re listed in the order you’ll reach them if you drive the NC500 counter-clockwise from Inverness, which is the direction we recommend. Going counter-clockwise saves some of the most dramatic scenery for the west coast later in the trip and is generally a better build-up to some of the best stops. Although that's not to say that there aren't some great stops right out of the gate as well.
That means the first stop on this list isn’t necessarily the best, and the last isn’t the least impressive. If you’re short on time and need to know which stops are truly unskippable (and which to cut first), check out our 'Which Stops Along The NC500 To Prioritize' guide. It breaks down the must-sees and the easiest stops to drop so you can build a route that fits your schedule.
Location Map
All locations mentioned in this blog are pinned here so you can visualize your trip!1. Dornoch & Dornoch Beach
- Cost: Free
- Time Needed: 15 min to 1 hour
- Parking: Free Street Parking
- Bathroom: 50 pence public washrooms in town
This was our first stop on the NC500, and it will be the first stop for most people taking the route counter-clockwise. It’s a great first stop because it’s so simple: a quaint little Scottish village by the sea. There’s a food truck-style stall with a line down the street selling freshly caught fish to locals, a few charming cafes, and a cozy bookstore with a great selection of classics, popular new fiction, and a whole wall of Scottish literature.
The highlight for us was grabbing a coffee from Milk and Honey and walking around town. Strolling past the old stone buildings, sipping a latte, and watching the locals go about their day made it sink in that we’d finally arrived in Scotland and were about to start the road trip we’d been dreaming about for years.
Dornoch Beach is just outside of town. It’s about a 15-minute walk from the centre, or you can drive and park about 2 minutes from the beach. Parking right at the beach is paid, but just before that lot there’s a small field by a food truck where parking is free.
It’s a gorgeous white sand beach, with picnic tables on the hill just above it, which makes it a great place for a snack before getting back on the road. I wouldn’t spend too long here, though. There are many more and nicer beaches coming later on the route, so save your beach walk for one of those.
If you park in town, take a quick stroll, and grab a coffee to go, you’ll only need 15 minutes. You could easily spend an hour or more if you stop for a full meal or spend time at the beach.
2. Dunrobin Castle
- Cost: £16 PP
- Time Needed: 2 to 4 hours
- Parking: Free large unpaved lot
- Bathroom: Free washrooms inside and outside the castle
Dunrobin Castle looks more like a French chateau than a traditional Scottish fortress, and it’s one of the most memorable stops on the east coast. As the northernmost of Scotland’s Great Houses, it has 189 rooms, sprawling gardens, and a history that goes back to 1275. It sits about 20 minutes north of Dornoch, right off the main road, so it fits into your route without any detours.
We usually skip attractions with steep admission fees, but this one was worth the exception. The gardens were my favourite part, and the daily falcon show (11:30 am and 2:30 pm) was way cooler than I expected.
The small museum is full of surprises too, including a very large elephant head. Plan on a full half day. Tickets are £16 for adults and cover the castle, museum, and gardens, and it’s open daily from April 1st to October 31st.
Read our full guide to visiting Dunrobin Castle for ticket prices, opening hours, parking, and more details about how to time your visit and what to expect.
Visiting Dunrobin Castle In Scotland
Click here for discounts and booking tips!3. Whaligoe Steps
- Cost: Free
- Time Needed: 30 min to 1 hour
- Parking: Free Small Lot
- Bathroom: None
The Whaligoe Steps are a winding staircase of 365 stone steps tucked into a cliff on the east coast. They were built in the 1700s for herring fishing, and they were one of my favourite stops on the whole route. Parking is free, and the walk is short, though the lot only fits about 10 vehicles.
Head out to the viewpoint across the water first (go right at the trail fork, about 5 to 10 minutes) for the best view of the staircase, the cliffs, and the waterfall. You can walk down the steps too, but I honestly thought looking at them was better than climbing them. The trail gets muddy and runs along a cliff edge, so wear good shoes and take it slow.
Plan on 20 minutes to an hour. This is one of the 5 or so stops I’d say nobody should skip, especially on a sunny day.
Read our full guide to visiting the Whaligoe Steps for parking details, the best viewpoint, and what to do next.
4. Castle Sinclair Girnigoe
- Cost: Free aside from an optional parking donation
- Time Needed: 1 hour
- Parking: Large unpaved lot, free with optional one-pound donation
- Bathroom: Nearest washroom is at the cafe nearby
Like many stops along the NC500, this one sits at the end of a long single track road. Getting in is easy though, since the road is well maintained and oddly straight for Scotland, so you can see oncoming vehicles well in advance.
If you like your castles still standing tall and served up with a tour guide and a cafe, skip this one and head to Dunrobin. But if you want to feel like you’re walking into a Game of Thrones scene 1000 years too late, don’t miss this stop.
This castle is very much falling apart, but for me that’s what made it so cool. It’s perched right on the edge of a cliff by the sea, and by the looks of it, a good percentage of the original building has already tumbled in.
You can walk inside some areas of this castle while others are closed off due to safety concerns and to help preserve the structure.
There is an obvious walking path that leads from the car park, through a field, and over to the castle by the sea. If it's been raining, the path can get extremely muddy, which was the case for us. We were slipping and sliding all over the place on the way there and then doing the same on the way back while also getting soaked by a sudden torrential downpour. But this is just the price that is to be paid when travelling in Scotland, and I still think it was completely worth it for the chance to walk around those castle ruins.
5. Old Keiss Castle
- Cost: Free
- Time Needed: 45 min
- Parking: Limited free parking near the harbour
- Bathroom: None
I thoroughly enjoyed my visit here, but if you’re having trouble fitting all of these stops into your itinerary, this is one of the first I would cut. It’s an awesome castle, but there are better ones along the route, and the parking and walk-in are not the most developed.
Parking and access are a bit confusing. Google Maps might try to take you into a construction site or up some guy’s laneway (it did for us), but don’t follow it. Head to Keiss Harbour instead. It might seem like the wrong spot, but it’s actually the correct place to park.
There are no lines showing where to park, and the only reason I chose where to pull in was that there was already a BMW down there, so I lined up with it. From the “parking lot” (if you can even call it that), head up the hill toward the row of small cottages that face out to the sea.
Near the cottages, there is a gate that you can open to access the trail. Make sure you close it behind you, because it keeps the sheep in. And now that you’re in too, you’re about to meet a few of them.
There aren’t always sheep here, but there often are, and there were when we visited in 2026.
They will mostly avoid you, so there’s no need to worry, but it’s important to keep your dog on a lead if you’re travelling with a four-legged friend. The sheep are quite scared of dogs, and the farmers take what they call “sheep worrying” really seriously. Even if your dog is super well behaved, just leash them up for this quick walk.
The walk takes you through a grazing area along the sea toward the castle. There’s kind of a trail at times, and at other times you’re just walking through the field with the sheep. The terrain is flat and easy, but it can get a little muddy if it’s been raining. It was raining when we visited, and the mud wasn’t too bad. We still wore our hiking boots, but it wasn’t nearly as boggy as some of the other trails we did.
The walk to the castle takes about 10 to 15 minutes each way. You can’t actually go inside, and since it’s really falling apart, you wouldn’t want to anyway. It also looks best from a bit of a distance. We didn’t walk all the way up to it, since we were mostly there for photos, and it looked best from further back with a few sheep in the foreground.
Where To Stay Along The NC500 (2026 Guide)
Click here for discounts and booking tips!6. Duncansby Head & Duncansby Stacks
- Cost: Free
- Time Needed: 1 Hour
- Parking: Free parking on a paved lot with lots of space
- Bathroom: None
Duncansby Head is a free, easy walk to a line of sea stacks just off the northeast tip of mainland Scotland, and it was one of the highlights of our whole trip. The stacks sit in such a perfect line that they look like a giant dropped them into place. I don’t know if I’ll get everyone on my side, but I was more impressed here than I was at the Cliffs of Moher.
The road in is single track, and the lot can fill up, so go early if you're visiting in peak season and don't want to wait for a spot.
The trail is muddy and cuts through a field of sheep, but it’s an easy walk, and you can make it as long or short as you like. You’ll get your first view of the stacks after about 10 minutes, but the best angle is around the 30-minute mark. This is one of the 5 or so stops I’d call unskippable.
Read our full guide to Duncansby Head and the Duncansby Stacks for parking tips, the walk, and what to do next.
7. John o’ Groats
- Cost: 3 pounds
- Time Needed: 15 min to 1 hour
- Parking: Large paved lot; 3 pounds for the day
- Bathroom: Free clean washroom at the parking lot
You’ll probably end up stopping here anyway, but if you’re really short on time, it’s an easy skip. There isn’t much here, but relative to where you are, it’s a bustling hub.
Reasons to stop:
- A nice washroom in a bit of a bathroom desert
- A fun signpost (one of those ones that points in a bunch of directions to far-off places like New York and the North Pole)
- A few cafes and a very cute-looking pub
We were here too early for the pub and had already had our coffees in the van, but we took full advantage of the washrooms and took the obligatory photo with the sign.
The coastline here is gorgeous, but you have a few more days of even better coastline coming up. If you don’t need a washroom, a bite to eat, or a photo with the sign, you can keep pushing on and save the £3 on parking.
8. Dunnet Head & Dunnet Beach
- Cost: Free
- Time Needed: 1 Hour
- Parking: Free at both locations
- Bathroom: No washrooms at Dunnet Head, but there is a free washroom at the community centre where you park for the beach
Dunnet Head is the most northerly point in Great Britain, with sheer cliffs that drop 300 feet into the sea below.
Be warned that it’s often very windy here. When we visited, it was so windy that a waterfall pouring off one of the cliffs only fell a few feet before being blown back upwards as a fine mist.
The lighthouse itself isn’t as picturesque as others around the country. It’s a working lighthouse with quite a lot of support buildings nearby. From the parking lot, there’s a short walk to a viewpoint, an odd little cement structure at the top of a small hill. From here you get 360-degree views down the coast and back across the headland.
The views are good, and the cliffs are cool, but it’s not as impressive as the coastline at the Duncansby Stacks. If you only have time for a few coastal stops like this, this is the one to skip.
It’s also a very popular spot for bird watching, and it’s most famous for its puffins. Other sightings may include fulmars, guillemots, kittiwakes, great skuas, arctic skuas, and razorbills, plus gannets and herring gulls out at sea.
Dunnet Beach is nearby, closer to the town of Dunnet. It’s a beautiful white sand beach that’s perfect for a long walk, but it’s not the most impressive beach in the area, so skip it if you’re short on time.
9. Smoo Caves
- Cost: Free, with optional £15pp tour
- Time Needed: 45 min to 1 hour
- Parking: Free small paved parking lot at trailhead
- Bathroom: Free public washroom at the car park
Smoo Cave is where you get to go inside the Earth and see where all that Scottish rain is actually going.
It’s actually two cave systems that have eroded from separate sources until they joined up, with a main chamber carved by the sea and inner chambers shaped by fresh water. It’s open 365 days a year, right off the main route, and a short 10-minute walk from the parking lot.
You can explore the main chamber and the viewing platform in the second chamber for free, or take a 30-minute guided boat tour to reach the third chamber when water levels allow.
Fair warning: after heavy rain or strong winds, the waterfall gets powerful enough to soak you in seconds, and tours may not run. Honestly, I wasn’t as wowed here as other people seemed to be, but it’s an easy stop and well worth at least 30 minutes.
The coastal cliff walks are skippable, since there are better ones elsewhere on the route and these get very muddy. Dogs are welcome in the cave, but not on the tour.
Read our full guide to visiting Smoo Cave for tour hours, what to expect, and what to do next.
10. Durness & Balnakeil Beach
- Cost: Free
- Time Needed:
- Parking: Small but free
- Bathroom: No washroom at the beach, but there is a washroom for customers at Cocoa Mountain.
Durness is a tiny little town without too much going on. There are a few places to get some food and a well-stocked but small Spar where you can re-load on some road trip snacks.
If you're travelling via campervan, the campsite in Durness was one of my favourites from the entire trip. They have top-notch camping facilities: showers, washrooms, and dishwashing stations. They also have a little stand that opens in the morning that sells coffee and small breakfast items like sausage and bacon rolls.
But the best part is the pub. The campsite has its own pub that is spacious and welcoming. There is a pool table, a full bar, and free wifi. The vibe inside is great since it is all campers getting some respite from the constant wind and incessant tasks that camping demands.
Just outside of Durness is Balnakeil Beach. This is one of the more impressive beaches in the area and is a popular place for a long walk. The most popular trail here is the Faraid Head trail that starts with a walk along the beach before heading up onto the cliffs.
Trail Map
The winds were gusting at 40mph when we visited, so we opted to skip the walk, although we would have been keen in nicer weather. Instead, we hid from the wind in Cocoa Mountain, a cafe just down the road from the beach that is famous for its incredible hot chocolate. It was a great hot chocolate, and it sure beat being battered around by the wind.
11. North Coast Beaches
There are several stunning white sand beaches dotted along the northernmost portion of the NC500, but they're incredibly dependent on the weather conditions.
The amount of sun and wind make a huge difference to whether or not these stops are worth it. On a sunny day with no wind, these stops are some of the most beautiful beaches in the world, with wide stretches of white sand and calm turquoise water. If it weren't for the temperature of the water, you could squint and think you're in the Bahamas.
But on a dull grey day, the beach doesn't pop in the same way, and when the wind is thrashing the coast, the water is churned up into a frothy mess that ruins the magic of the calm turquoise water.
There are quite a few beaches to pick from, and they are all pretty similar, but each does have its own unique pros and cons. If you get a sunny day with low or no wind while going through the north coast, a beach-hopping day could be the highlight of your whole trip.
But if the weather isn't cooperating, or if you just don't have time for every beach, here is how I would choose which one to prioritize.
Melvich Beach
If you're only making one beach stop along this section, I would recommend Melvich Beach.
You can park for free here, and it's just a short walk over to the beach. You can either just walk along the huge dune that towers over the beach, or you can make your way down onto the big stretch of white sand for a nice beach walk.
I would prioritize this one because it is one of the easiest to get to, and the option of the dune walk or the beach walk makes it a good option for any type of traveller. It was quite cloudy and windy when we visited so we didn't hang around long, but even in the bad weather, it was well worth the visit.
Strathy Beach
This would be my second pick for beaches in this area.
You can park for free by the cemetery, and there is a free and well-maintained washroom right next to the parking lot.
A sandy path leads from the car park to the beach. It’s mostly flat and takes about 5 minutes to walk.
The real selling point here is the hidden sea caves along the east end of the beach, which can only be accessed at low tide. We came a bit too late, when the tide was already coming back in. We were able to stand on a big rock at the far end of the beach and sneak a quick look at the caves, but at lower tides you can walk right into them.
We visited this beach the same day as Melvich, so we had the same overcast weather and high winds rushing us along, but it was still beautiful to see, and it's easy to see that it would be a stunning place to spend a longer time on a nicer day.
Farr beach
This one is great, but it just really doesn't offer anything that Melvich or Strathy don't. It's a great spot for a long beach walk, and on a warm summer day it's a great place for a swim. But on the windy and cloudy day we visited, there were just a few couples bundled up and enjoying a walk and a couple of dogs having a blast and not minding the weather at all.
You can park here for free, and there is a footpath that takes you down to the beach. It takes about 5 minutes to walk to the beach, and the footpath is mostly flat and well maintained.
Overall, it would make a great and easy addition to a beach-hopping day, but it is one of the last ones I would prioritize.
Oldshoremore Beach
This is actually the very last one I would recommend. It is really beautiful, but it is more out of the way than the other beaches. One big perk is the huge group of cows that hang out on the cliff near the beach.
There is a big free parking lot here. There are washrooms at the parking lot, although they were closed for maintenance when we visited in September 2026, so don't count on them.
From the parking lot, there is an obvious path over to the beach. It only takes 2 minutes to walk the path over to the top of the cliff that looks down at the beach. It would take a few more minutes to take the steep trail down to the beach itself.
The parking lot is at the end of a long and narrow single-track road. You can make it down fine, even in a large vehicle, but given how many other similar beaches there are that don't require this kind of detour, I would opt for one of those instead.
This is also the starting point for the hike out to Sandwood Bay Beach, so that is the reason most people end up coming all the way out here. If you're not taking on that hike, this is probably the beach on this list I would prioritize.
12. Tongue & Abla Cafe
- Cost: Free or less than £ 10 pp if you get coffee and snacks at Alba Cafe
- Time Needed: 30 minutes to 2.5 hours
- Parking: Free parking at the cafe and in town
- Bathroom: Washroom available for customers at Alba Cafe and a public washroom available in the centre of town
Tongue is a cute little town with not much more than a few hotels and a general store, but the real selling point for me was Alba Bakery. This farmhouse bakery serves amazing coffee and baked goods, and there’s a little farm shop if you want to pick something up for the road. The town itself is another amazingly charming one along the route, and it’s worth a little walk around.
There’s also a great longer walk that starts in Tongue and heads up to Castle Varrich, a crumbling two-storey stone tower that looks over the village. The trail starts near the Ben Loyal Hotel and is 3.2 km round trip with 110 m of elevation gain. Plan for about 1.5 hours round trip.
Trail Map
The castle itself is cool to see, though it's not the most impressive one along the NC500. But the views from atop the hill are well worth the climb.
13. Bone Caves & Sovi’s Coffee
- Cost: Free or less than £ 10 pp if you get coffee and snacks at Sovi’s Coffee
- Time Needed: 2 to 2.5 hours
- Parking: Free parking at the cafe and in town
- Bathroom: None
The Bone Caves are one of the best short hikes on the NC500. The trail climbs to four natural limestone caves with rolling Highland views in every direction, and there’s a coffee stand at the trailhead waiting for you when you get back down.
The caves are named for the bones and fossils found inside them, but don’t worry, there aren’t any left.
Do the loop counter-clockwise so you climb the steep section on the way up and come down the longer, gentler slope. The trail is well defined, but it gets very muddy after rain, so wear boots.
The caves are big enough to walk into, but they are just the size of a small room, so you won't be delving deep into the mountain or anything like that. The highlight of the caves for me was the photo opportunity. From inside the caves looking out, the mouth of the cave frames the mountains across the valley in a really cool way that will let you get an epic silhouetted hiking shot.
It's worth timing your visit around the coffee carts' hours. Sovi’s Coffee is open 11 am to 4 pm, Friday to Sunday, seasonally and weather permitting. It’s run by one person who posts changes to her hours on Instagram, so check there if the coffee is part of your plan.
Read our full guide to the Bone Caves and Sovi’s Coffee for parking, the hike, and what to do next.
14. Allt Chranaidh Waterfall (Wailing Widow Falls)
- Cost: Free
- Time Needed: 30 to 45 minutes
- Parking: Free but limited and uneven roadside parking
- Bathroom: None
Wailing Widow Falls is one of the easiest stops to reach on the NC500, and it blew me away even though I’m a bit of a waterfall skeptic. A wide 30 metre (100 foot) cascade pours into a dramatic gorge, and it’s even better after a few days of rain. The trailhead is right on the route between Loch Assynt and Kylesku Bridge, so there’s no detour.
The hike is only about 600 metres round trip, but there’s no maintained trail. Expect mud, slippery rocks, and a bit of scrambling, so wear waterproof boots. I made it nearly all the way back with clean and dryish boots before plunging one leg knee-deep into the stream, so save this stop for the end of the day so you can change and dry off. It’s also a great spot to fly a drone if you’re up for it and it's not too busy.
Read our full guide to Wailing Widow Falls for more details about the parking, the hike, and what to watch out for during your visit.
15. Ardvreck Castle
- Cost: Free
- Time Needed: 15 to 30 min
- Parking: Free large paved lot
- Bathroom: None
This is my personal favourite of the older, crumbling castles on this list. We’ve been here a few times now, and it’s quite different in different conditions.
The first time we visited, you could walk right up to the castle and get close enough to touch it. The second time, it had been raining so much that the water level in the loch rose high enough to form a natural moat keeping people away.
The first visit was great for getting right up close with the ruins, but the second was great too, because we were able to get nice photos of the castle with the loch behind it without tons of people in every shot.
It’s totally free to visit, with a large free parking lot just a short walk from the castle and no entry fee to see the ruins.
16. Kylesku Bridge
- Cost: Free
- Time Needed: 10 minutes
- Parking: Free large paved lot
- Bathroom: None
This is one of the coolest bridges you will cross along the NC500 route, and it makes for an easy stop. The bridge spans over nearly 400 feet of river and curves around in a way that looks honestly just super cool.
There are free car parks on the north and south ends of the bridge, but I would suggest pulling into the one on the north side. It's bigger, and the views of the bridge are better from here.
There isn't actually much to do here. It's just a spot to hop out and go take a look at the huge bridge. It's also just a beautiful area, so we chose to stop here for a while in our campervan and make some lunch and have a coffee.
We spent around an hour, but you could easily make it a quick 10-minute stop just to check it out and snap a photo.
17. Achmelvich Beach & Clachtoll Beach
- Cost: £3 per vehicle
- Time Needed: 1 Hour
- Parking: 3 pound minimum for 4 hours in a large paved lot
- Bathroom: Free public washrooms at the car park
Achmelvich Beach is hands down my favourite beach along the entire NC500.
It's at the end of 3 miles of single-track roads with pretty poor visibility, but in my opinion it's 100% worth it. There is one main large beach, but there's also a collection of small sandy nooks scattered around the rocky coastline.
We were lucky enough to be here on a sunny day when there was nearly no wind, and it's still one of the best experiences we've had in all our time travelling around Scotland.
There is a large paved parking lot right next to the beach here.
The parking is paid between March 1st and October 31st, between 9 am and 5 pm.
- Up to 4 hours: £3
- Up to 6 hours: £4
- Up to 8 hours: £5
If you're travelling by campervan, you can make the singletrack road even more worth it by spending the night at the caravan park that is right next to the beach.
Getting to Achmelvich Beach, you will take the B869 single-track road and fork off to the left towards Achmelvich. If you continue along the B869, you will continue on to the little village of Clachtoll, which is home to Clachtoll Beach.
Parking for Clachtoll beach is a bit more limited. There is a small unpaved lot not far from the beach, but it can get pretty full in the summer. You are invited to pay for parking here, which means you don't absolutely have to pay to park, but the payments they receive help support local facilities and services.
- Up to 2 hours: £1
- Up to 4 hours: £2
- Up to 12 hours: £3
- Up to 24 hours: £5
Clatchtoll Beach is another stunning white sand beach surrounded by a rocky coastline that is quite similar to Achmelvich. Personally, I find Achmelvich a bit more impressive, but they are both worth checking out.
Both beaches are beautiful, but nothing too different from the rest of the white sand beaches on this list. What makes this part of the coast stand out for me is the rolling rocky hills that cover the coastline. It's pretty classic rugged Scottish-style beauty, and there's not really any other part of the coastline that looks quite like this.
Where To Stay Along The NC500 (2026 Guide)
Click here for discounts and booking tips!18. Gruinard Bay
- Cost: Free
- Time Needed: 30 minutes
- Parking: Large paved layby with optional donation
- Bathroom: None
This is some of the most beautiful and interesting stretches of coastline you can find anywhere along the NC500.
The beach itself is gorgeous, but no more impressive than the others mentioned on this list. What makes this place stand out for me is the amazing rocky headlands that surround it. The base of the miniature mountains are all lush and mossy and slowly becomes bare and rugged further up, culminating in rolling peaks of rock that look like they could be wavy flowing lava streams frozen in place millions of years ago.
Parking for the beach can be found just on the other side of the road here. It is a large paved layby that can fit around 20 vehicles. You are invited to pay at a machine here, which means the payment is not strictly required, but the money received goes towards maintaining local facilities and services.
You won't need more than 30 minutes to head over to the beach and stroll around it, but it's a gorgeous area to slow down a bit and take it all in. When we stopped here, we had dinner and had a little campfire. You can't have a fire on the sand, but we took down our little portable metal fire pit that suspends the wood above the sand, which is allowed.
We stayed here and watched the sun sink below the horizon, and it's one of the most memorable nights to look back on from our trip.
19. Stac Pollaidh
- Cost: Free
- Time Needed: 2.5 hours
- Parking: Small dirt lot at trailhead
- Bathroom: None
This is a moderately challenging hike that is a great option for a serious mountain hike without too big of a time commitment.
The hike is quite steep, climbing 455m over just a 4.3km loop. The terrain is pretty easy and alternates between rocky portions and well-maintained dirt paths. The main obstacle you might face is the wind. The trail goes in a loop around Stac Pollaidh mountain, meaning you're fully exposed the entire time.
When we did this hike, the wind was so bad that we met a few people on the trail who were turning back, since the wind got stronger and stronger as you curved around the mountain. We decided to keep going, and it was really windy, but we felt pretty safe since you're not really walking along any dangerous cliffs or anything.
We didn't do it as a loop; we went counterclockwise to the viewpoint and then turned back. We just did this because the wind whipping around the section past the viewpoint was so strong. Otherwise, we would have continued it as a loop.
The viewpoint is at the far end of the loop, making it a fun loop hike with the payoff at the midpoint. From here you get great views of Assynt to the north, the Summer Isles and Achiltibuie to the south and west, and the Isle of Skye to the east.
Because of how steep this trail is, I would only recommend it to people with some experience hiking. But if you hike at all, you probably won't find this trail too challenging, and the views are well worth the effort.
The trailhead is really easy to reach; just follow the GPS directions to Pollaidh Coffee & Bakes. There is a big dirt car park next to the cafe, and the trailhead is just across the road. There is also a washroom next to the car park if you need it.
20. Torridon & Shieldaig
- Cost: Free
- Time Needed: 20 min to 1 hour
- Parking: Free street parking
- Bathroom: By-donation public washroom on the edge of town
There are a lot of cute towns everywhere in Scotland, and by stop #20 you will have passed through dozens of them, but Torridon and Shieldaig are in a league of their own.
These little towns are built along the coast, and they both have a main street of buildings all facing out towards the sea. They are both pretty small, but Shieldaig is the slightly larger of the two.
Check out both if you have time, but if you need to pick just one, I would suggest heading to Shieldaig for a pint or a meal by the sea. There is a great pub in Shieldaig right along the main road. It's a cozy place to warm up in bad weather, or if the sun is shining, you can take your pint across the street and out to the picnic tables by the sea.
Aside from the pub, there are a few small shops, but the real attraction here is just taking a stroll around and feeling the sea breeze blow by while you daydream about a quiet life living in a little town like this.
21. Bealach na Ba Viewpoint (Applecross Pass)
- Cost: Free
- Time Needed: 10 minutes
- Parking: Free parking lot by the viewpoint
- Bathroom: None
If you're going counter-clockwise, this will end up being one of the last stops along your trip. And hey, what better way to end than taking on one of the most ridiculous and harrowing single-track roads along the entire route.
This is a viewpoint along an iconic stretch of single-track road that is famous for its tight hairpin bends and steep gradients (up to 20%). Lots of big campervans take on this road, but just make sure you are really comfortable behind the wheel before you set out. This is a much more challenging drive than anything else you've encountered on the route so far, especially if you're driving anything with a big overhang or anything with a manual transmission.
We did this in a small automatic VW camper, and it was actually pretty chill, but longer vehicles can get pretty stuck on the hairpins, especially if two meet at the wrong time.
In the summer you should have no issues with weather, aside from the occasional fog. When we went through the fog near the top of the pass was so dense we could only see a few feet in front of us. It was fine for driving, but we completely missed out on the iconic viewpoint.
If you visit outside of the summer, take extra care because the pass can be blocked by heavy snow and ice during winter. When this happens, they actually close down the whole road with gates at both ends.
The viewpoint is at the highest point of the pass, and it looks down to the narrow hairpin turns that wind their way down the other side of the pass and out into the valley. Or at least that's what I assume you would see; the fog was so bad when we were here that we barely even saw each other.
You won't need long for this stop since the view is just from the parking lot, but you may want to take a moment to appreciate the view and take a few deep breaths before taking on this final driving challenge of the trip.
Final Thoughts
The NC500 is a road trip that’s hard to do justice to in a single week, and you don’t need to see all 21 of these stops to have a great trip. Some of my favourites were the big, free, wild ones: the Whaligoe Steps, the Duncansby Stacks, Wailing Widow Falls, and Achmelvich Beach on a sunny, windless day. Others, like the crumbling castles and the little towns, were just as memorable for the slow wandering and the coffee stops in between.
The weather will shape your trip more than anything else on this list. A beach that looks like the Bahamas on a calm day can be a frothy mess in the wind, and a waterfall that’s average in a dry spell can be thundering after a few days of rain. We even drove the Bealach na Ba in fog so thick that we missed the view entirely. Build a bit of flexibility into your plans, keep a few cafes and pubs in your back pocket for the rainy hours, and don’t be afraid to skip a stop if the conditions aren’t cooperating.
If you’re short on time, check out our stops to prioritize the NC500 guide to see which stops are truly unskippable and which to cut first. And use the free interactive map to plan your route and see how all of these stops fit together. However many you end up visiting, I hope the drive is as good as ours was.
FAQ
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