Urquhart Castle, Culloden, Clava Cairns, Loch Ness
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. You’ll see Clava Cairns from Outlander fame, Culloden battlefield, Urquhart Castle, Inverness, Loch Ness and the famous highland cows at Beauly. This tour is taken usually in an 8 seater minivan but sometimes up to a 33 seater which is still a small bus. Our tour is based on a quality experience from feedback from our customers in 2019. We are a new company who aim to please and our guides will offer you local knowledge and answer all your questions. Our tour will depart 30 minutes to 1.5 hours after the ship’s arrival. This tour can be in anything from 8 seaters to 33 seaters depending on numbers. You will love our experienced tour guides in their purple uniforms or tartan and kilt attire.
Tour Options
Itinerary
⸻ Culloden Battlefield • Culloden Moor, just outside Inverness, is the site of the Battle of Culloden (16 April 1746), the last pitched battle fought on British soil. • It marked the end of the Jacobite Rising of 1745, when Prince Charles Edward Stuart – “Bonnie Prince Charlie” – tried to reclaim the throne for the exiled Stuart dynasty. • The Jacobite army, made up largely of Highland clansmen, faced the government forces of the Duke of Cumberland. This includes travelling time to get there from port of 45 minutes. 30-45 minutes on site.
• The Clava Cairns are a group of Bronze Age burial cairns, about 4,000 years old, located near Culloden Battlefield, just outside Inverness. • The site includes passage graves, ring cairns, standing stones, and kerb cairns, arranged in a circular pattern. • Fans of the TV series Outlander will recognise Clava Cairns as the inspiration for the fictional Craigh na Dun, where Claire Randall is transported back in time through the standing stones. • While Clava Cairns itself doesn’t have a magical “split stone” like in the series, the setting – with its circle of standing stones – feels very similar. Includes 15 minutes travelling time from last location.
Arrive Inverness city centre where your entrance is included to Inverness Castle’s new viewing gallery. See right across the city. Visit Flora MacDonald’s statue outside the castle and see the shops and cafes in Inverness. Maybe try a local beer in the oldest bar in Inverness, the Gellions, dating back to 1841. Unfortunately only photos until 2024 as vast he is clouded for complete renovation. Includes 30 minutes travelling time from last location
Travel beside Loch Ness for 15 miles, stopping for photos of Nessie (if you’re very lucky).
Pass through the quaint village stopping when you visit the Nessie centre and gin shop
Visit the ruins of Urquhart Castle as well as the video centre. Watch a 6 minute historic video with own language subtitles. Wander down to the ruins or browse the shop or cafe. Includes driving by loch ness for 30 minutes
See real life highland coos and alpacas at Robertson’s farm on the outskirts of Beauly. Includes 30 minutes travelling time from last location.
Structure • The viaduct is the longest masonry viaduct in Scotland, stretching 1,800 feet (549 metres). • It is made of red sandstone and consists of 29 graceful arches, each about 50 feet high. • The viaduct has a sweeping curve, giving it a very elegant appearance across the landscape.
Leave the village Drumnadrochit then back to the ship via wild land 1000 feet up a mountain the dropping down into the village of Beauly, passing by the ancient Priory.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Wheelchair accessible
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Specialized infant seats are available
- Transportation options are wheelchair accessible
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
Reviews(125)
Rabbie is wonderful. An authentic Highlander.
What a lovely description of Rab — “an authentic Highlander” is a compliment we know he’ll appreciate! We’re very fortunate to have guides who bring their own personality and love of the Highlands to our tours. We’ll be sure to pass this on to him.
I can’t say enough good things about Thistle tours. Our guide was so friendly and knowledgeable and customized the tour to our interests. The second half of the day was rainy but it was still great! The rain made for excellent moody castle and Loch Ness photos! So many thanks to our guide June for making this such a memorable day!
We love that you embraced the Highland rain — it really can make Loch Ness and the castles look wonderfully atmospheric! June will be thrilled to know that her friendly approach, knowledge and willingness to tailor the day helped make it so memorable for you. Thank you for choosing Thistle for your Highland adventure.
Great experience at Invergordon, they picked up us at the port just outside the ship, excellent guide tour, Robbie was great, lot of knowledge and very friendly, we really enjoyed, we really recommend this tour.
It’s great to hear that everything went smoothly from meeting you at the port through to your day exploring the Highlands. Robbie/Rab will be very pleased to know that his knowledge and friendly nature made such a good impression. Thank you for choosing to spend your time in Invergordon with us and for recommending the tour to others!
We booked a Thistle Excursion as an alternative to a more expensive Princess Cruise Tour. It well-exceeded our expectations! Though it was rainy, Thistle tour guides were right where they said they would be when we disembarked the ship, and we had no trouble finding them! We were pleasantly surprised to find that our transportation for the day would be a Mercedes van as opposed to a larger coach bus. This made it much more comfortable and easy to hear our tour guides and to get in and out at all of the stops. Speaking of tour guides, Simon was AMAZING! He shared so much knowledge and history of Scotland and the highlands with us. He also had a way with his storytelling that was engaging and never felt like too much or a bore. We learned the whole time we were with him, and I think he went above and beyond to share his country with us. The highlights of the trip for our family were Urquahart Castle and Loch Ness, but we also appreciated Clava Cairns, Culloden, and the Highland Cows. As far as timing, it was definitely a busy day, but we felt like we had enough time at each of the stops. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this tour to anyone!!
What a wonderful review — thank you! We’re especially pleased that choosing a smaller independent excursion over the ship’s larger tour worked so well for your family. Simon has a real gift for bringing Highland history to life without making it feel like a history lesson, and we know he’ll appreciate your comments enormously. It’s also lovely to hear that the smaller Mercedes made the day more comfortable and personal. Thank you for trusting us with your day in port and for recommending us so highly.
Aileen was an absolute joy and an amazing guide. We saw all of the local highlights and had an exceptional day seeing ancient burials, historic battlefields, the loch, the castle and even highland cows. My family said it was the best excursion we have ever done. Aileen made the day perfect and allowed my family to create lifelong memories.
Thank you so much for this wonderful review. We’re delighted Aileen helped make your day so special. Knowing your family described it as the best excursion you’ve ever done means the world to us. We hope those Highland memories stay with you for many years, and we’d love to welcome you back again!
Our day with Danny, exploring the Scottish Highlands was amazing. Danny made our whole experience special. We loved the small group tour. I would highly recommend this experience, Thistle Tours and Danny.
Here’s a friendly, professional reply: Thank you so much for your wonderful review! We’re delighted to hear you had such an amazing day exploring the Scottish Highlands with Danny. Small group tours really do make for a more personal experience, and we’re so pleased Danny helped make your day extra special. Your recommendation of Thistle Excursions and Danny means a great deal to us. We hope to welcome you back to the Highlands again in the future. Safe travels and thank you for choosing Thistle Excursions!
Very nice day, guide Rab did well, although Scottish for NL is quite difficult to understand.
Thank you so much for your lovely review. We’re delighted you had such a good day with Rab. 😊 We completely understand that the Scottish accent can take a little getting used to! We hope Rab’s enthusiasm and local knowledge still made the tour enjoyable and memorable. We’d love to welcome you back to Scotland again one day. Safe travels!
Wonderful introduction to the Scottish Highlands. The best part was Urquhart Castle overlooking the Loch Ness. Oh, and the brief visit to the Highland Cow farm. We could have spent less time in Inverness, though that could have had something to do with the early timing of our arrival (and therefore too early for lunch). Our guide was very knowledgeable and pleasant - and he got us back to the cruise exactly on time.
Thank you so Much.
I really enjoyed this tour! The journey was beautiful and our guide, Seoris, is from the area and has such an intimate and personal knowledge of Scotland as a whole and every site we visited. He is so informative and engaging and I loved each and every stop along the tour! The pickup and drop off from port could not be more convenient. I would highly recommend this!
Thank you for your kind words.
My wife and I can confirm that this operator’s aggressive and sarcastic responses to their one-star reviews are authentic, since my wife received a similar diatribe with a logical red herring thrown in: “You not being in the queue at the earlier time was not my fault either.” Here’s what happened: our cruise ship, the Norwegian Star, apparently has a reputation among Inverness area tour guides for disembarking at a snail’s pace. Maxine had emailed us the night before to say that the Thistle tour’s departure would be adjusted to between 9:30-10 to accommodate a new face-to-face UK immigration process aboard the ship. Strangely enough, Maxine’s email directed us to meet at “Invergordon Tours,” and so I thought it would make sense to send a WhatsApp message to tell Invergordon Tours that we were on our way and update our progress through the immigration queue. (My wife and I were too flustered by the possibility of missing our tour to coordinate on the name of Thistle.) The gentleman on the other end of that WhatsApp chat was indeed quite helpful, though he had nothing to do with Thistle Tours. He was appalled by how Maxine treated us. Read on: We arrived at 10:05 after a 2.5 hour wait to meet one of the TWO immigration agents apparently necessary to match our faces to our passport pictures for thousands of passengers. Another tour operator (Invergordon Bus Tours; please take them instead!) let us know that Thistle had been there last time he had turned around, but apparently had left without us. Maxine cannot decide whether the tour left at 10:02 or 10:08, but the fact is that the tour had left before we arrived at 10:05 and that one of her tour guides told us that *she was not there.* We immediately booked a tour there at the port with Invergordon Bus Tours then logged on to TripAdvisor to request a refund from Thistle for missing the departure due to circumstances far outside our control. Maxine will not refund our money after several requests. Some losses due to clients’ unforeseen circumstances are certainly par for the course in the tourism industry. Treating customers in the way that she has us and others dissatisfied with Thistle’s services should not be. (Please see attached screenshot of one of her email responses to our request for a refund.)
You were at fault. Everyone else was waiting for you over 40 minutes. We were under pressure to go but we waited until AFTER 10am. Of course you’re upset because you lost money but if us refunded you then I’d lose the money for the seats I kept for you plus the castle entry. Yes it’s par for the course but you were at fault.
