Highland Highlights Shore Tour from Invergordon

After disembarking you’ll be greeted by your WOW guide and shown to our executive 32-seater mini-coach. Settle in as your expert guide takes the wheel and your Highland adventure begins. Gliding along the firth, keep watch for seals, oystercatchers and elegant herons while your guide shares local tales—from the US Navy’s unlikely WWI base at a nearby distillery to a mutiny that rattled Britain’s economy. Crossing the Kessock Bridge , enjoy sweeping views of the compact Highland capital, Inverness. From here, we continue straight to our first stop at Cawdor Castle.

Your visit begins with a self-guided audio tour (available in 10 languages), allowing you to move at your own pace through the castle’s richly furnished rooms. Highlights include the stately Drawing Room, showcasing ancestral portraits and intricate period detailing, and the Tapestry Bedroom, hung with vibrant 17th-century Flemish weavings. One of the castle’s most intriguing features is the Thorn Tree Room—home to the ancient tree at the heart of Cawdor’s founding legend, still rooted in place beneath the floorboards.

Outside, you’re free to roam three distinctive gardens.  The Flower Garden delights with its symmetrical design and fragrant borders, while the Walled Garden charms with its maze, exotic specimens, and secluded corners like the Paradise Garden. Nature lovers can follow winding trails into the Wild Garden and surrounding estate, stretching across 750 acres of Highland woodland.

You’ll have approximately 90 minutes here—ample time to explore, enjoy a homemade scone in the café, and browse the well-stocked gift shops.  We’d recommend picking up lunch to-go here, and WOW guests have exclusive access to a packed/box lunch offer (see our FAQ section below for details).

Dating back around 4,000 years, the site features passage graves, ring cairns, a kerb cairn and sentinel standing stones—each element offering a window into ancient beliefs and astronomical alignments. Outlander enthusiasts love the site’s atmosphere; after visiting, author Diana Gabaldon noted the striking presence of a split standing stone so near Culloden, inspiring many to view Clava as the spiritual kin of the fictional “Craig na Dun.”

Your knowledgeable guide will decode the stones’ significance and share the latest theories and folklore. We spend approximately 30 minutes here—enough time to absorb the setting and capture evocative photos.

On 16 April 1746, Culloden’s brutal clash concluded in under an hour, with over 1,600 men killed—around 1,500 of them Jacobites. Your guide will bring the terrain to life, exploring the tactics, heartbreak, and far-reaching consequences: the curtailing of Gaelic language and the dismantling of clan culture that reshaped Highland life.

Fans of Outlander will recognise the emotional resonance of this ground, deeply woven into the story of Bonnie Prince Charlie.

Expect a 35-minute guided walking tour, followed by free time to explore independently, grab a coffee or browse the gift shop. We spend around 1 1/4 hours at Culloden Battlefield.

Please note that there is generally not enough time to visit the museum, although you are free to forgo the walk, and do this independently (separate charges apply).

Recently voted among the UK’s top views, Dores Beach pairs sweeping panoramas with a peaceful, less-visited feel. Stroll the shingle, frame that perfect loch-and-mountain photo, or relax with a coffee, whisky or beer in the traditional loch-side pub (subject to opening hours). Keep an eye out for Nessie Hunter Steve Feltham, who has kept a record-breaking vigil here since 1991 and sometimes sells his handmade monster ornaments by the shore.

We spend about 30 minutes at Dores Beach—just long enough to feel the legend in the landscape.