Area Guide - Inverness

Inverness City Centre

The "capital of The Highlands", Inverness, is around 30 miles from The Bridge Suite and is the largest urban area in the north of Scotland where all of the usual city centre facilities such as large supermarkets, petrol stations, shops, bars and restaurants can be found. The city is centered around the River Ness and the northern end of the Caledonian Canal, both of which provide for pleasant walks for the visitor with time to kill.

One of the most noticeable buildings along the riverbank in the city centre is Inverness Castle which due to its prominent location is likely to draw visitors to its doors but is sadly not open to the public (aside from a single viewing tower). Elsewhere in the city centre are a few places of particular note to the visitor such as the Inverness Museum and Art Gallery which is next to the castle, Inverness Town House in the same part of town: a magnificent building (especially when illuminated after dusk) which ocassionally offers guided tours and St Andrew's Cathedral on the opposite side of the river where The Scottish Kiltmaker's Visitor Centre can also be found.

The nightlife in Inverness is usually lively and there are a number of entertainment venues with regular events such as Eden Court theatre and cinema, Ironworks and Hootananny for live music, a Multiplex Vue Cinema and Northern Meeting Park which ocassionally stages live music but is otherwise not open to the public.

Tours of the city are available by various methods, City Sightseeing run a Hop-on, Hop-off open-top bus tour around the city and there is also the opportunity to take a cycling tour with Inverness Bike Tours as well as a tour on foot with Inverness Walking Tours.

For something a little different to the usual holiday activities Inverness has two different Escape Room providers: Breakout Games and Lockdown, both of which are in the vicinity of Union Street. For book lovers a visit to the magnificent Leakey's Bookshop could easily make the most of a rainy day! Inverness boasts several golf courses; Inverness Golf Course is not far from the city centre, the others are in the outer Inverness area.

Outer Inverness Area

For golf fanatics there are three courses outside the central area of Inverness, Torvean Golf Club and Fairways Golf Course are both in the outskirts of the city and Castle Stuart Golf Links is a little further afield on the Moray Firth coast not far from Inverness Airport. The Moray Firth is well known for its population of dolphins which can often be seen up close on Dolphin Spirit Boat Trips which operate from Inverness Marina. Jacobite Cruises, operating from both Tomnahurich Bridge and Dochgarroch Loch on the south side of the city, offer cruises of Loch Ness and The Caledonian Canal.

A short distance to the east of Inverness is Culloden Battlefield which is a popular destination for those interested in Scottish history. Also nearby to here are the Clava Cairns bronze age burial site and the quirky and rather poignant Culloden Clootie Well (there's another clootie well not far away at Munlochy on The Black Isle if you like that sort of thing).

Nature lovers with time to spare in the city may enjoy a stroll around the small, but diverse, Merkinch Local Nature Reserve, a walk along the river to Ness Islands, or a visit to Inverness Botanic Gardens. If something a little less sedate is in order then Indoor Go-Karting is available at Inverness Kart Raceway, there's a multi-plex Vue Cinema showing all the latest films and Scottish Championship football can be enjoyed at Inverness Caledonian Thistle stadium.

Inverness city centre is the natural place to go locally for a shopping trip and there is a decent range of shops to choose from but as with all cities nowadays there are also several out of town shopping areas to choose from also - a popular one with visitors being Holm Mills Shopping Village which is owned by the Edinburgh Woolen Mill group.