Secret Loch Ness, Inverness Castle visit, Culloden, Clava Cairns
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. Check out special offers at Thistle Excursions too - save, save, save! This tour is DIFFERENT as it takes you to the very edge of Loch Ness where you can touch it or walk in, unlike nearly every other tour company who visit Loch Ness on the steep side, only stopping in a lay-by for photos. This minibus 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. Our website contains full details of all tours and booking. Please check the tour times on our website, as the times listed here are approximate. We try to take this tour in a 4, 8 or 16 or 33 seater vehicle. Thank you
Tour Options
Itinerary
Visit the famous historic battlefield featured in Outlander series and book plus the visitor centre.
We may sometimes visit Clava cairns which was the inspiration for the book and tv series Outlander
You’ll look around the city seeing the old churches, shops, river Ness, castle, cathedral etc. - if you’re interested in Outlander the guide will point out these locations. Try local bars dating back to the 1800s. The Gellions and Black Friars.
Key Features • Striking red sandstone towers above the river. • North and South Towers, with commanding views over Inverness and the Great Glen. • A statue of Flora MacDonald, heroine of the Jacobite Rising, stands outside, facing the River Ness. Undergo the castle experience and Inverness shopping or history sites for 3 hours. Split your time between the two. Entry included into this magical new experience costing £40 million to refurbish.
See south Loch Ness and paddle in the clear waters. Stop off the beaten track at Dores which is a quaint village on the banks of Loch Ness. Bonus if you get to chat to Steve, the local Nessie hunter.
Visit a quaint farm shop near Beauly. Touch or feed Highland cows. Jamie and Katie-Morag wait you.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Specialized infant seats are available
- Not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries
- Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Wheelchair travellers difficult
Reviews(151)
Our tour guide June was amazing. She knew history and modified our tour to add extra experiences (wool demonstrations, Invergordon murals). Provided time to explore, restroom breaks, and even umbrellas since we forgot ours. Also she was en excellent and safe driver. Highly recommended!
June will absolutely love reading this! She enjoys adding those little unexpected touches to a tour, so we’re delighted you got to experience the wool demonstration and Invergordon murals as well as the main sights. And we’re glad the umbrellas came in handy! Thank you for such a fantastic recommendation.
Extremely disappointed. The tour was titled “ Secret Loch Ness, Inverness Castle visit, Culloden, Clava Cairns”, but we did not go to Loch Ness! I would not have booked the tour if I had known that we were not going there! June was very knowledgeable about what we did see, which is why I gave 2 stars instead of 1 star. Viator needs to make sure the descriptions match the actual tour stops or offer a refund for inaccuracies.
Hi Tom/Thomas, (you booked in both names) I’ve now fully investigated what happened regarding your tour, and I’d like to explain how the mix-up occurred. You had originally made two separate bookings through Viator: one for Secret Loch Ness & Cawdor Castle and another for Secret Loch Ness & Inverness Castle. One booking was made under Tom Stevenson and the other under Thomas Stevenson, so on my master schedule you appeared on both tours. The tour you had intended to take had eight guests in total, including yourselves. The other tour had four guests, also including you. At some point, I received your cancellation for one of the bookings and removed it. I also agreed with the remaining guests on that tour that they would spend additional time at Inverness Castle so not go to Loch Ness. So the itinerary for June was drawn up by me and she followed it. Unfortunately, on the morning of the tour, I overlooked removing your name from the second tour list, so you were still showing on both departures. It was actually our guide, June, who spotted the duplication. As we had several tours departing at the same time, I had to make a quick decision. I moved you onto June’s tour, as she only had two guests, bringing her group up to four, which I felt would provide a better experience for everyone. What I failed to remember was that June’s itinerary had already been changed and no longer included Loch Ness. That oversight was entirely my mistake, and I sincerely apologise. There was a great deal happening that morning, but I fully accept responsibility for that error. Had I realised the itinerary change, or had it been mentioned during the tour, June would have happily taken you to Loch Ness. Unfortunately, I wasn’t aware of the issue until after the tour, when your request for a 50% refund was submitted. It was something that could have been resolved very easily on the day had we known. I was also disappointed to receive both a two-star review and a request for a substantial refund before having the opportunity to discuss the matter with you directly. While I acknowledge my mistake, the initial confusion did arise because two separate bookings had been made under different names before one was cancelled. I’m but sure why you did that. That said, I do apologise for the inconvenience this caused. This is certainly not representative of the standard of service we aim to provide, and fortunately, situations like this are extremely rare. Kind regards, Maxine Director Thistle Excursions PS should you ever be back we will be lore than happy to provide a free your for two. Email us.
We had a great tour today with June. Starting with the pre-communication, the meeting point, and the entire tour, everything went well. June explained everything and led us through the tour, fabulous. I think she knows everything. And despite our somewhat limited English skills, we understood and took away a lot. The tour was so brilliantly planned that we were always there before everyone else and could relax and enjoy the nature and sights. Many thanks for the great day with June
Danke schön
We had a great day with Danny from Thistle Excursions. It was just our family of five in the van, which made the tour feel much more personal. Danny arrived fully dressed in traditional Scottish attire, including the kilt, and he kept us entertained all day with his stories, humor, and knowledge. Because he was born and raised in Scotland, he knew the history, culture, and every location we visited extremely well. Our stops included Inverness Castle, the city of Inverness, Culloden Battlefield, Clava Cairns, Loch Ness, and Robertson’s Farm, where we got up close with Jamie and Katie, two Highland coos. Danny made the entire day fun, informative, and memorable. Maxine was also very responsive to all of our questions from the time we booked until the day of the tour. We would absolutely recommend Thistle Excursions.
Thank you so much for this lovely review.
We had an excellent tour with Thistle Excursions, Danny was our guide and driver.we thorougly enjoyed our day. It was well worth the $
Thank you so much.
My wife and I went on a tour with June and had a great time! She was delightful and knowledgeable about the area and its history. We really enjoyed how personable she was and how easy she made everything on our trip. Would highly recommend for anybody wanting to learn more about the area in a fun and accessible way!
Thank you so Much.
Danny did a wonderful job on this tour! I would highly recommend it. Seeing the countryside and hearing about it from Danny was a great experience.
Thank you for the kind comments.
With our tour guide Mo, we had an absolutely perfect day – a solid 10/10! She created an unforgettable and wonderfully varied experience for us. We were especially impressed by her warm and friendly nature. As we were traveling as a family, she was very considerate of our two-year-old daughter, which we truly appreciated. Mo was not only highly entertaining and pleasantly relaxed, but also shared a wealth of interesting and informative insights. She made the entire day a truly memorable experience for all of us. We can wholeheartedly recommend this tour to anyone!
Thank you so much for writing this. Mo will be so pleased. She’s great.
We were surprised about the size of the tour group. It was my family and another couple so the tour was very relaxed. And since it was a small group, we spent more time at each place. Our tour guide, Mike, was awesome! He was funny and anecdotal. He checked on us regularly making sure we were comfortable in the van. It felt like a friend was doing the tour. Our favorite part was the stop at a small beach at Lochness. There were no crowds so we were able to get beautiful photos of the loch. I would highly recommend this tour! It was a perfect blend of small and well known spots in Scotland.
Thank you Noreen for your kind review from a tour you took with us last season in 2025. Hope to see you again one day.
Cawdor Castle was really nice. The gardens were especially beautiful to walk around and enjoy. We didn't spend much time at Loch Ness, but there wasn't much to see anyway, no Nessie to be found. The tour guide did a nice job.
Thank you so much for taking the time to give Thistle a great review. It helps the guides feel really appreciated and gives them huge job satisfaction. It also helps the company know we’re getting it right. So very kind of you.
