Visiting Scotland? A Guide to the Best Places to Explore

The Highlands are the Scotland of the imagination, a land of heather-clad hills and deep, silent glens.

Glencoe is perhaps the most dramatic of all, its mountainsides rising sheer from the valley floor. A little further north, Ben Nevis rises to 1,345 metres above Fort William, the highest mountain in the British Isles.

Then there is Loch Ness, a long, dark ribbon of water running through the Great Glen, with the ruins of Urquhart Castle standing on its shore. We explore it further in our guide to the lochs of Scotland.

Aboard Lord of the Highlands, a voyage along the Caledonian Canal carries you through the heart of it all at a wonderfully unhurried pace.

Skye is one of Scotland’s best-loved islands, and it is easy to see why. The jagged peaks of the Cuillin, the lonely pinnacle of the Old Man of Storr and a coastline of towering cliffs give it a drama all of its own.

Linked to the mainland by the Skye Bridge, it is one of the most accessible Scottish islands, yet its loveliest corners are often reached from the sea. Depending on the itinerary, Hebridean Princess sails into Loch Scavaig for a walk to Loch Coruisk, in the shadow of the Black Cuillin, as captured in our Western Isles Wildlife cruise log.

Mull is one of the largest islands in the Inner Hebrides, an island of sweeping moorland and quiet bays that seems to change colour with every passing cloud.

Its capital, Tobermory, is a picture of brightly painted houses curving around a sheltered harbour. To the east, Duart Castle stands guard on the cliffs, as it has for the Clan Maclean for more than 700 years.

Small and peaceful, Iona holds a special place in Scotland’s story. St Columba landed here from Ireland in AD 563 and founded the community that helped carry Christianity across Scotland.

The restored abbey remains a place of pilgrimage, and beyond it lie white sands and water of an almost Mediterranean blue. It is a place to slow down, perhaps with a walk to the Bay at the Back of the Ocean, much as described in our Autumn Surprise cruise log.

Staffa is one of Scotland’s great natural wonders. This small, uninhabited island is built from tall hexagonal columns of black basalt, formed by the same volcanic activity as the Giant’s Causeway.

At its southern tip lies Fingal’s Cave, whose echoing sea chamber inspired Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture. With no road and no harbour, Staffa can only be reached by boat, which is all part of its magic. On some Hebridean Princess itineraries, guests continue from Iona to Staffa by local boat, while others cruise slowly past its cliffs.

Scotland is one of the finest wildlife destinations in the UK, and much of the best is found on the west coast. Minke whales and dolphins are regularly seen in the waters around Mull, while puffins nest on Staffa and the Treshnish Isles in late spring and early summer.

Some of the most memorable moments happen from the deck itself. At the right time of year, you may be lucky enough to see dolphins racing alongside the ship or a whale surfacing close by. A local boat trip to Lunga to see the puffins, sometimes with a sea eagle overhead, is another highlight, as our Wildlife of the Western Isles cruise log describes.

Scotland’s larder is one of the finest anywhere, from langoustines and oysters fresh from the sea lochs to hill lamb and venison. Whisky lovers will find their spiritual home in Speyside, with its cluster of famous distilleries, and on Islay, where the peaty single malts are known the world over. Distillery visits feature on many of our itineraries.

History is never far away in Scotland. Edinburgh Castle crowns the capital, Iona Abbey recalls the dawn of Scottish Christianity, and castles such as Dunvegan and Duart have been home to the same clans for centuries.

In the Hebrides, Gaelic is still spoken, and an evening of traditional music or a local storyteller can reveal more about a place than any guidebook.

For walkers, Scotland is a joy. The West Highland Way runs for 96 miles from the edge of Glasgow to Fort William, while gentler coastal paths lead to hidden beaches. Our Footloose cruises combine walks in places often only accessible from the sea with the comfort of returning to the ship each evening.