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(373)
We were fortunate enough to have Danny as our driver/guide. He was very informative and friendly. Highly recommend the tour.
Thank you Mark We really appreciate your review. Glad you enjoyed your tour with Thistle Excursions.
This was a great excursion. We got picked up from the port. Danny, our driver and tour guide was very knowledgeable and provided history of all the area we visited or passed by. He manages our time well. We didn't feel rushed. As a matter of fact because there were just 6 of us in the minivan (plenty of room) we even have extra time to walk around the beautiful city of Inverness to eat and shop. We got to see the Highland cows at Robinson's farm, which was awesome! Loch Ness was a sight to behold! The view was spectacular. The water is clear, however we didn't see " Nessie". Next stopped was the historical Culloden battlefield, we walked around the field and even have time to have lunch afterwards. Then off to Clava Cairns to see the ancient standing stone and burial cairns. Afterwards we went for a self guided tour of Cawdor Castle , we were provided with an audio device to listen to while walking inside the castle. The castle gardens are beautiful and well maintained. We had an enjoyable drive through out the beautiful countryside . Thank you Danny. No boring moment. This was one of our best Scotland excursion. I highly recommend this tour. And of course we got back to our ship with plenty of time to spare!
Thank you so much for this wonderful review! We’re delighted you had such an enjoyable day exploring the Highlands with Danny. It sounds like you managed to fit so much into your tour while still having plenty of time to enjoy each stop at a relaxed pace. We’ll be sure to pass your lovely comments on to Danny — he’ll be especially pleased to hear that there was “no boring moment”! 😊 Thank you for choosing Thistle Excursions and for recommending us so highly. We hope your visit to Scotland has left you with some fantastic memories — even if Nessie did manage to hide from you! 💜🏴
Extensive tour! A long day. Small group. She added 3 extra stops! Highly recommended. Educational day
Thank you so much for your wonderful review! We’re delighted you had such a great day with Mo. She loves sharing her knowledge of the Highlands and, whenever time allows, adding a few extra stops along the way. We’ll be sure to pass your lovely comments on to her. Thank you for highly recommending us, and we hope you take home some fantastic memories of Scotland! 💜
Andrew was magnificent. Great presentation, lots of information, clearly passionate about Scotland Bus was comfortable
We think this is not our review as we do not have a guide called Andrew. You might been Simon?! Thank you.
New, clean comfortable bus driven excellently by our driver Jordan. Moe our tour guide provided historic-information at each of the sites we visited in Inverness and surrounding towns. Cawdor castle was a delight and comfortable trek. Many thanks to Moe to quick wit and vast information.
Thank you for your wonderful comments about Mo and Jordan. Mo has a remarkable amount of Highland history and local knowledge to share, and Jordan will be pleased to hear his driving was appreciated too. It sounds like Cawdor Castle was a particular highlight. Thank you for spending your day ashore with us!
This was a wonderful tour covering a great deal of ground and a lot of information. The guide was very knowledgeable and made schedule adaptations based on her knowledge of the traffic and the on and off rain so that we were able to enjoy the trip to the maximum.
We’re delighted you had such an enjoyable day. Highland weather certainly keeps us on our toes, so it’s lovely to hear that your guide adapted the schedule to make the very best of the changing rain and traffic. Sometimes a little flexibility makes all the difference. Thank you for joining us!
Our guide, Mo, packed in so much to 8 full hours. It was great that the group was small enough for a van and some personalization of the itinerary. All of the included sites and visits were well chosen, organized, and she was full of information and stories! The day was definitely long but we really got a wonderful sense of the region. Booking was easy, thistle was very accommodating when we needed to change the date we booked, and the tour was well worth the price! Highly recommend!
Thank you for such a thoughtful review. Mo certainly knows how to fit a lot into a Highland day while still making it feel personal! We’re especially pleased you enjoyed the balance of history, stories and sightseeing, and that we could accommodate your date change. It means a lot to hear you felt the tour was worth the price.
Our guide was very knowledgeable in the history surrounding us. She was light hearted and personallble to all the guest on the bus. Hwf and the driver made the trip fun.
Thank you for your lovely review. We’re delighted you enjoyed your day exploring the Highlands. It’s wonderful to hear your guide’s knowledge, humour and friendly approach made the tour so enjoyable. We hope to welcome you back to Scotland again soon!
Absolutely loved this day. A bit pricey but a good choice for the entire day. Eleanor was our guide and was friendly and knowledgeable. The sites were great, time alloted good. Loved Cawdor Castle and gardens. Battlefield history was very interesting.
Thank you for your review. We appreciate your comments about the price and are very pleased that you felt the full day was a good choice and thoroughly enjoyed it. Eleanor will be delighted to hear that her friendly manner and knowledge added to your experience. Cawdor’s beautiful gardens and the extraordinary history of Culloden make quite a contrast, so it’s lovely that both stood out for you. Thank you for joining us for the day.
Niall MacLean was our tour guide today and we couldn't have had a better guide. Well versed in history and articulate! We had the best day!! I recommend this tour for sure.
Thank you for your fantastic review! We’re thrilled Niall made your day so memorable. His passion for Scotland’s history and storytelling really shines through, and he’ll be delighted to hear your kind words. We hope to see you again on another Highland adventure!
