Cawdor Castle, Inverness, Culloden, Outlander and Loch Ness Tour
Description
Return journey: We WILL have you back to your ship around 1 hour prior to its departure time. We nearly always arrive back BEFORE the ship’s own buses. We’re very efficient and have been doing this for 7 years, serving thousands of cruise passengers every summer season. This bus tour from Invergordon features highlights from Outlander, Culloden, Castles, Loch Ness & Nessie! It packs in a lot for one day's tour and is very affordable and good value for money. Entrance to castle is INCLUDED. Our tours are specially put together after taking feedback from YOU. We have surveyed your desires and requests and put them together in our tours. We provide a quality experience and a guide or driver guide on our minibuses or buses. Our guides are always excellent. Please check the tour times on our website, as the times listed here are approximate. Please arrive 15 minutes prior to start. This tour is usually in a large bus unless it’s a small ship then it may be in an 8 seater minivan.
Tour Options
Itinerary
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.
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.
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.
Drop off in the city for shopping or seeing the historical churches and streets. It can vary between 30-90 minutes for this stop.
We will leave the urquhart 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.
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.
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 30 minutes. We will try to stop for photos
Go see a local farm shop but most of all see the two Highland cows Jamie and Katie-Morag
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Specialized infant seats are available
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Wheelchair travellers difficult
Reviews(356)
This was an excellent excursion to end our trip to Scotland. Our guide, Mo, was engaging, knowledgeable and very informative. Even though the start was delayed because of issues some had exiting the ship (totally the fault of the port), we still visited all the promised sites and had adequate time at all. Most importantly we arrived back to the ship on time as promised.
Well organized, nicely narrated and covered a lot of ground. We enjoyed the informative tour and the included stops.
We recommend this excursion: it was interesting, plenty of time to explore on our own and looking at historical sites. The only stop, we thought was kind of shallow, was seeing the highland cows. We saw two cows…. And that was yet. It would be more impressive to stop by herding cows in the plains somewhere. Our tour guide Mowe was very knowledgeable.
Our tour guide Mo and driver Ewan were amazing. They gave us history, a safe ride and lots to see. This day was just the right amount of time at each stop! We were gone by 9:05 and back 15 min before sailing away! The bus times were perfectly planed. We did not feel rushed and yet we did it all!
Not as expected for the price. We had a private tour on the same trip for less. The lochness which we were looking forward to the most, was only a hectic :15 stop. And it shows a castle ruins in the advertisement that my husband wanted to do, but it wasn’t included. Just a blah tour.
Most of the time on this trip seemed to be spent driving from place to place. Due to sailing schedules, it felt rushed. Our guide was knowledgeable, and shared a lot of information, not all of which was needed.
Comprehensive knowledge by guide added to the interesting places visited. Well organised for meeting etc
Thank you Dave Very kind of you.
Lorraine was fabulous. The trip was informative and very worthwhile. A great experience and highly recommended.
Thank you
Gavin Fraser was our guide and he was very knowledgeable about all things Scottish. We learned a lot about the battle at Culloden, Clava Cairns and Cawdor Castle. He even wore his kilt for the tour.
Thank you
Our Guide was 87 years old. A wonderful day with him! Such a personality! We are german and he spoke such an understadalbe English. A wonderful Tour. Thank you!
Thank you Seoris is a star.
