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These are my favourite almost-secret beauty spots in Scotland
The North Coast 500, a loop of about 500 miles from Inverness around the northern Highlands, may only be marking its tenth anniversary this year, but it's already become the stuff of legend. Eye-popping crowds, imposing campervans, magnificent traffic jams — those superlatives once used to describe the scenery now more commonly used with a side of weary overwhelm to tell tales of overtourism. Who would want to join such a scrum? Fortunately you don't have to, because after more than a decade of rootling around back roads, clanging on to car ferries and nosing along promising-looking tracks and trails, I've found plenty of tucked-away spots across Scotland. These are some of my favourites.
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Before the NC500 brought bucket-list tourism to the Highlands, the entire northwest was like this: deafening silence punctuated by seabird calls, a solitary single-track road slowly egging you on through ancient forest and across salt-sprayed moorland. Driving on to the Ardnamurchan peninsula on Scotland's west coast, you'll hug the coast of sinuous Loch Sunart, the Isle of Mull swinging in and out of view as you coil around chunky Ben Hiant and onwards to Ardnamurchan Lighthouse and Corrachadh Mòr, mainland Britain's westernmost craggy reach. It's worth pushing northwards to white-sand Sanna Bay for a bracing dip in turquoise waters, then stopping at West Ardnamurchan Community Garden's honesty shop for salad leaves and homemade sauces. Mingarry Park has contemporary bedrooms with private hot tubs, local venison for dinner and endlessly distracting mountain B&B doubles from £181 (
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At the far northern reaches of the Scottish mainland, the land seems taken over by water, pooled with lochs and sodden with bogland as the triangular wedge of Caithness and Sutherland extends into the North Sea. It's also often overtaken by NC500 road-trippers, rushing through on a loop that never veers too far from the coast. They're missing the real highlight: the UK's newest Unesco world heritage site, the Flow Country. These peatlands are like nowhere else on earth. Take the boardwalk through Forsinard Flows nature reserve and you'll see why, the colours underfoot shifting like an opal in the light as the wildlife darts out to meet you. You'll spot lizards, frogs and dragonflies plus birds aplenty and can climb the lookout tower for a hen harrier's view of it all. Forsinard Lodge has straightforward rooms a short amble from the nature B&B doubles from £115 (
Getting to Britain's most northerly inhabited island is an adventure in itself, leapfrogging via ferry from Shetland's mainland first to Yell, then on to Unst. Once you're here it's all big skies and broad landscapes, from creamy windswept beaches up to clifftop moorlands, with a generous scattering of Viking longhouses (at least 60) and even a spaceport licensed to send small rockets into orbit. For now, though, those skies are the preserve of the seabirds (puffins, gannets, guillemots) and dark enough by night to see the Milky Way or even the Mirrie Dancers from August to April (Shetlandic for the northern lights). One of Britain's most northerly country houses, Belmont House, has cosy bedrooms with a touch of Georgian grandeur, walled gardens and candlelit B&B doubles from £180 (
Calm waters dotted with tiny rock islands, romantic ancient castles and a climate gently warmed by the Gulf Stream make the Appin peninsula just north of Oban ideal holiday territory. Here you could paddleboard on tranquil Loch Linnhe, take the boat over to Castle Stalker for a tour with the family who own it or stroll the octagonal walled garden at Kinlochlaich, blooming with vivid rhododendrons and azaleas. My top pick, though, is the Isle of Lismore, which rises to barely more than hillock height between the peaks of Morvern and Mull. It's a cracking spot for gentle walks with mountain views, as listed in detail on the Walk Lismore website ( and in summer is carpeted in wildflowers. The Pierhouse on the shoreline in Port Appin has views from the beds over Loch Linnhe to Lismore and local seafood B&B doubles from £155 (
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Sometimes decline means preservation and Cromarty's lack of modern industrial success — not to mention its location just off the choked NC500 on the Black Isle near Inverness — has left it largely unmessed-with since its 18th-century heyday. That means plenty of grand Georgian merchants' houses and clustered fishermen's cottages, given a buzz in more recent years by the regular dolphin-spotting trips leaving from the harbour. These ply the sheltered Cromarty Firth in search of marine life, weaving around a quasi-parking lot of unused oil rigs that form an atmospheric backdrop. There's a buzzing arts scene here too, with exhibitions, live music and even sewing classes open to all at the Old Brewery, plus a seafront community cinema. Stay at the Factor's House B&B, its three bedrooms arranged around an almost 200-year-old home with views over the private gardens to the Cromarty Firth waters B&B doubles from £185 (
Despite being one of the best places in Europe to spot bottlenose dolphins, this slice of Scottish coastline near Inverness attracts a mere sprinkling of tourists. Why? You'll wonder as you winkle around in postcard-worthy villages that tumble down to ancient fishing harbours and burrow your toes into the sands of vast Findhorn beach. You'll want to visit Cullen for a bowl of the town's famous smoked haddock soup, Cullen skink, of course, plus cliff-clinging Findlater Castle; but if it's those dolphins you're after, among the best spots is Burghead, where the whitewashed visitor centre looks out over waters rich with marine life including dolphins, seals and whales. The former coaching inn, the Seafield Arms in Cullen, has stylish bedrooms with just-subtle-enough tartan decor, a lounge for whiskies beside the fire and easy strolls to the Room-only doubles from £150 (
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The single-track road may initially lack promise: a ribbon of tarmac plunging along a furrow in the landscape. But persist through the steep-sided grey of Glen Valtos on Lewis's far west coast and eventually you'll emerge at the most incredible beach you've ever seen. A bold claim perhaps, but Uig Sands has that effect on people, generally rendered speechless by this expanse of golden sand, deposited and smoothed to a sheen between one set of hills and the next by the retreating Atlantic. You'll romp, you'll whoop, you'll write in the sand — then it's time to head to wee Abhainn Dearg Distillery for a dram of whisky, and to wait for an incredible sunset. Afterwards, continue enjoying the view from Uig Sands, a restaurant with rooms that stares out across the beach and serves seafood suppers fresh from the Room-only doubles from £120 (
Ripples of sand rush up to meet you before a delicate thud and a gentle spray of seawater herald your arrival into Barra on the world's only scheduled beach landing. The second-southernmost of the inhabited Outer Hebrides islands defies easy pigeonholing: is it remote because it's 60-odd miles west of the mainland, or accessible because it's a one-hour direct flight from Glasgow? Either way, it's a beauty — its shell-rich beaches backed by tufty machair grassland, its largest village, Castlebay, low-slung around a curved shoreline that protects the offshore medieval stronghold Kisimul Castle. Take a coastal hike to spot seals basking on the rocks of Seal Bay and view a rainbow of summer wildflowers blooming in the machair. The Castlebay hotel in the centre of the village has simple sea-view doubles, Barra seafood dinners and trad music in the B&B doubles from £125 (
If the waters off Coll were Mediterranean not Atlantic, the island would be overrun, and the price you pay for its tranquillity is that near-constant breeze keeping your jumper in place. Despite its exposed location to the west of Mull, though, Coll clocks up some of the highest sunshine hours in the UK, tempting visitors to the beach (there are more than 30), onto boat trips to look for basking sharks and out for corncrake-spotting strolls through the RSPB reserve. It's a Dark Sky island too, with virtually zero light pollution to detract from the stars, while dinner is taken seriously here and might feature local lobster and brown crab alongside Coll-reared Hebridean lamb. The Coll hotel is the hub of the community and has bright and breezy rooms, creel-caught seafood and free bikes for B&B doubles from £145 (
Where have we missed? Let us know about your favourite under-the-radar Scottish spots below
