NC500: Scotland's road trip - a travel guide
- rosalindstevenson6
- Nov 6, 2025
- 8 min read
I thought it was about time that I wrote a bit about my wonderful homeland, Scotland. I’ve seen a lot of my country and been to some truly gorgeous places, but I still have loads to cover in Scotland and I am looking forward to exploring this amazing country even more. If you’ve never thought of visiting Scotland, I would strongly suggest changing that.
The North Coast 500, more commonly known as NC500, is a road trip around the north coast of Scotland – pretty self-explanatory I’d say! However, there aren’t any set rules or specific routes to take, you have the glorious freedom of mapping it out yourself to suit exactly what you want to do and where you want to go. Personally, I would recommend starting in the east and finishing in the west. As the saying goes, “west is best” and although I may be a little biased in my belief of said saying (being from the west of Scotland myself) I have to say it really is true in this context. It goes without saying that the Scottish Highlands are one of the most beautiful places on this earth, but when we got to the west coast, the beauty stepped up just that bit more. The North Coast 500 obviously isn’t the ONLY road trip you can take in Scotland, there are plenty of routes, this is just the most famous.
In September 2021, we set off with our good old (operative word) tourer caravan hitched to the back of the car to see what all the fuss was about with the Scottish Highlands. Below is an 8-day itinerary of our trip that you can either copy and paste as is or take bits from and add in to your own plans.
Day 1: Starting the trip – Loch Ness & Evanton
After driving up to Loch Ness, we had time to grab a quick lunch at the Clansman Hotel on the banks of the loch before heading on a boat trip on the loch itself. We booked this though Jacobite Cruises and the boat was a good size with both indoor and outdoor seating and even a bar. Cruising along Loch Ness, we of course kept an eye out for The Loch Ness Monster (affectionately known as Nessie) but she was not to be seen. We also sailed past Urquhart Castle, on a bit of land that juts out on to Loch Ness and had the choice to get off and explore the castle grounds. This was a great way to start our trip and it got us excited for the rest of it.
Following this, we drove further north to Evanton to our first caravan park. We stayed at Black Rock Caravan Park and we had a very handy pitch right next to the bathroom and shower facilities which were well equipped and clean. We would use this park again if we were staying in the area in the future.
Day 2: Up the east coast - Evanton to Wick
On our departure from Black Rock Caravan Park, we headed for Struie Hill to take in the vast views it has to offer. We just stopped at an appropriate place at the side of the road (easier than you'd think with a trailer attached to the back of the car!) and jumped out to enjoy the view.
Lairg was our next stop to go and see "The Wee Hoose" in the middle of Loch Shin - although not a real, habitable house (you'll understand when you see just how small it is) it is a cute little sculpture worth the visit and perfectly sums up our Scots' humour.
Heading further north up the east coast, we stopped at Dornoch Beach, an expansive, golden sand beach, and had a picnic. On to another beautiful beach, Brora Beach, accessible from the car park of Brora Golf Club. Unfortunately, we didn't have the weather for swimming or relaxing on the beach which made missing out on splashing around in the BIG waves even more upsetting.
From there, we made the journey to the Whaligoe Steps - 337 steps (to be exact) down a cliff side to Whaligoe Harbour. It's definitely a sight worth seeing but the steps are a little uneven and steep so make sure you are fully able to deal with them.
Our second night was spent in Wick Caravan and Camping Site, the facilities weren't open at this site unfortunately but fortunately our caravan is equipped with a toilet (thankfully I'm not the one that empties it!) so it wasn't a huge problem for us - just something to bear in mind when booking campsites.
Day 3: To the top of mainland Scotland - Wick to Tongue
Our first stop of the day was Duncansby Head to see the lighthouse and the Duncansby Stacks - some very impressive looking rock formations from eroded cliffs in the sea, these make for an unreal photo.
John O'Groats was next. We got a photo at the famous sign, after waiting in line to do so (talk about a tourist attraction) and spent some time at the port watching the ferries come and go to the truly northern islands of Scotland such as Orkney and Shetland.
We moved on to Dunnet Head from John O'Groats, which is the true most northerly point of mainland Britain. Here, we saw another lighthouse and some amazing views out across the water. You can also get married at Dunnet Head as we saw some signs for a wedding there the next day, it would certainly be a unique setting.
The final stop of the day before pitching our home for the night was Farr Beach. This was such a stunning beach and we caught some good weather while we were here. I would love to have spent an entire warm, sunny day here - maybe one day.
The pitch we had at Kyle of Tongue Hostel and Caravan Park didn't have electricity and we couldn't use our generator which was a bit of a pain, luckily, we had portable chargers and lights with us.
Day 4: Along the top of Scotland - Tongue to Durness & Balnakeil
Starting the day off at Weavers Café, we had breakfast with a view then on to Durness we went. Durness is home to some really gorgeous beaches including, Ceannabeinne Beach, a huge stretch of white sand with the Golden Eagle Zip Line above it. Sadly, the zip line was closed while we were there due to the weather, so just another reason to go back. Here, we also visited Smoo Cave, both a fresh water and sea water cave with a 50ft entrance and an internal waterfall, definitely worth adding to your NC500 must see list.
We wanted to stay at Sango Sands Caravan Park in Durness, which sits on top of Durness Beach - said to be the most beautiful beach on the NC500, if that is true then it has some pretty stiff competition - but it was full so we ended up at Balnakeil Motorhome Stopover. This is essentially an unmanned plot of land, the bathrooms weren't in use but it had electricity and water hook up so it worked well for us. It was fate that we ended up here as we saw the start of one of the most amazing sunsets we have ever seen from here and sprinted down to Balankeil Bay to get the perfect view of it.
Day 5: On to the west coast - Balnakeil to Achmelvich Bay
On to Blairemore we went, to go to Sandwood Bay, a 16km round trip walk from where you park your car but very much worth it. The walk itself is nice but Sandwood Bay is incredible to see, an enormous, white sandy beach with amazing views and massive (very loud) waves. We walked along the beach for a while (safe to say we got our steps in this day) then settled down for a picnic before we made the pilgrimage back to the car. It is a long walk but seriously consider including it in your NC500 itinerary, I doubt you'll be disappointed.
After arriving back at the car, we headed straight to our next campsite, Shore Caravan Park, right next to Achmelvich Bay. On the way, however, we were stopped by a police barricade for a good few hours due to an unfortunate paragliding accident. We finally made it to the caravan park but it was pitch black so we couldn't see much. Despite this, we set up the caravan and took our camp chairs down to the beach to sit with a drink for a while to make the most. The next morning, I got to see why Achmelvich Bay is such a popular location, it is stunning and I definitely want to go back and spend more time there.
Day 6: Heading down the west coast - Achmelvich to Achiltibuie
The weather wasn't great again this day but we stopped off at Clachtoll Beach anyway as it is a hugely popular, unspoiled beach known for its turquoise water (although it was more grey when we were there). We then moved on to Clashnessie Beach and headed for the trail to Clashnessie Falls - this is a bit of a difficult, unsteady walk crossing the river at different stages so it might not be the best for those who are not fully able. If you can make it, it's very impressive to see and very much worth the visit, just take a raincoat as you are sure to get soaked if you stand too close!
The drive to our next campsite was a tough one made even more so thanks to our home attached to the back of the car. My partner is a saint for getting through that drive, I fell asleep due to motion sickness - thankfully I wasn't the driver! Our penultimate night was spent at Port a Bhaigh Campsite in Achilitibuie near Ullapool. We had such a nice night here with stunning views across the water, a fire pit that we hired from the site's shop and a great sunset, topped off with the clearness of the night sky and thousands of clearly visible stars - unreal.
Day 7: On to our last campsite - Achiltibuie to Gairloch
We started our second last day off with a visit to Corrieshalloch Gorge, set in a nature reserve with walkways very high up above the gorge (maybe not the best for those that get jelly legs with heights), it is very cool to see.
We had a quick stop at Gruinard Bay then on to our final campsite in Gairloch, Sands Caravan and Camping, right next to Big Sand Beach. After dropping the caravan off, we took off in our unweighted down car to see Loch Maree, known for its wildlife.
That night, as it was our last, we took the camping chairs down to the beach again, with a cooler and some wine and sat and enjoyed a drink or two playing some music. It was bliss.
Day 8: En route home - Gairloch to Inverness
On our way down to Inverness, we made a few flying visits to Achnasheen and Loch Torridon viewpoint, before stopping for lunch in Shieldaig with its array of pubs, restaurants and cafés to choose from.
Our final stop on the NC500 was Rogie Falls, a series of waterfalls found among a choice of several short woodland walks - definitely worth a visit on your way back down south. We stopped in Inverness for dinner before heading home and completing our wonderful trip around the Scottish Highlands.
A truly unique and unforgettable holiday that we are so lucky is virtually on our doorstep. There are a lot of places we would 100% go back to and spend more time at and there are also a lot of places that we didn't make it to that we want to see. On that list are Dunrobin Castle near Dornoch, Stac Pollaidh mountain near Loch Lurgainn, Bealach na Bà pass (a famous winding, single-track road that we couldn't do as we had the caravan attached to the car) leading to Applecross.
You could easily spend two weeks on NC500 and still not see everything or go everywhere. So, it is safe to say we will definitely be doing it again at some point.
What a great travel site! So informative! Makes me want to experience so much or of the world!
Wow!!! Just amazing! In my bucket list if only I had someone willing to go with me!! I’ve seen a lot of my beautiful homeland but not gone so far North! If only I had someone willing to go with me! Just amazing!!!