Inverness - Guide

Inverness - General Information

A vibrant city, Inverness offers the visitor plenty to do whether it's visiting the local museum and art gallery, taking a trip to Culloden Battlefield, or a cruise on Loch Ness. The city itself has an array of small, independent shops with a range of goods you would not normally find in the high street stores - although the recently expanded Eastgate Shopping Centre ensures that you'll find those too!

Inverness Castle

INVERNESS MUSEUM & ART GALLERY: The museum covers all aspects of the culture and history of both Inverness and the Highlands in general. All exhibits have a connection with the Highlands, creating a very diverse and interesting display. The Museum & Art Gallery is just off the High Street, up the steps to Castle Wynd and is open all year.

CULLODEN BATTLEFIELD & VISITOR CENTRE: The National Trust for Scotland maintain this important heritage site and have a visitor centre telling of the bloody, but short, battle of Culloden, the last hand-to-hand battle on British soil.

FORT GEORGE: After defeating the Jacobites at Culloden, King George II decided to construct a garrison to ward off any further uprisings and Fort George (named after the King himself) was built. The Fort was, and still is, the "mightiest artillery fortification in Britain" and remains largely unaltered since its completion in 1769. Tourists can visit the historical barrack rooms as well as learning about life in a working army barracks. On site visitors will find the Regimental Museum of the Queen's Own Highlanders as well as a gift shop and cafe.

GLEN ORD DISTILLERY: Located in Muir of Ord, just 15 miles west of Inverness, the Glen Ord Distillery provides an excellent introduction to the process of making whisky.

LOCH NESS: AT 23 miles long and over 750ft deep (at the deepest point), Loch Ness is the second largest loch in Scotland by surface area and is the most northerly loch in the Great Glen, a fault line which runs from Fort William north to Inverness. Famous for the legendary Loch Ness Monster, allegedly first sighted by St Columba in 565AD and the subject of many reported sightings since, the loch has a fairly romantic reputation and the surrounding scenery can only reconfirm that image in people's minds. Cruises are available on the loch and there are a couple of visitor centres in Drumnadrochit telling the history and mythology of the loch and the area around it.

URQUHART CASTLE: On the bank of the loch, just south of Drumnadrochit, visitors will enjoy the ruins of this castle which dates from 13th century. Maintained by Historic Scotland, the castle is open to the public and has an informative and interesting visitor centre, with gift and coffee shop, which leads down to the castle itself. The castle was destroyed in 1692 by government troops to ensure that it did not become a Jacobite stronghold.