A Camping Guide To The North Coast 500 In Scotland

A few months ago, my friend and I set off on a week-long adventure around Scotland, with a focus on the famous North Coast 500 route. We were doing it all on a budget, which meant taking my car and camping in a tent as we went. Luckily, camping in Scotland is made even easier than usual by the fact you can wild camp for free.

That said, sometimes you want a few more amenities than nature will give you, so most nights we found ourselves checking in to a proper campsite. I think we worked it all out pretty well, so today I’m sharing our itinerary and where we stayed each night.

The North Coast 500 begins and ends in Inverness, encompassing a five hundred mile loop around the north coast of Scotland. It is ultimately a marketing ploy as “our version of Route 66” but don’t be fooled – the whole route is AMAZING, and in fact more scenic than a lot of the real Route 66.

Technically, we joined the North Coast 500 about an hour and a half into the route – after a couple of days on Skye, we got back to the mainland and drove north to meet up with our first stop on the “official” route, Lochcarron.

Day 1 – Lochcarron

Lochcarron is a gorgeous little village surrounded, unsurprisingly, by a loch. Handily, there is also a basic campsite offering showers, toilets, plug sockets… and lots and lots of spiders. Don’t let the spiders put you off though – the campsite itself was absolutely fine! We also made friends with a pig in the field next to our tent, and the guy who runs the campsite was incredibly welcoming (as is the Scottish way!) and we had a lovely chat about Orkney.

It was actually the perfect start to our North Coast 500 road trip, with a meander along the scenic waterfront to pick up some supplies from the local shop, and as we had hit the route right at the end of its busy season, we had the campsite practically to ourselves!

I’d recommend booking in advance if you’re travelling the North Coast 500 between June and August, but by the end of September it was easy just to turn up.

Day 2 – Applecross and Torridon

I knew from the start that Applecross was going to be a highlight of the North Coast 500 trip.

The now infamous pass of Bealach Na Ba causes panic amongst American tourists, but for someone who’s used to single track roads, it was a lot of fun to drive!

When we set off from Lochcarron, the sun was shining and the sky was bright blue. Unfortunately, as is the way in Scotland, this didn’t last until we got to the Applecross pass. But even with the grey skies, it was still stunning and of course it didn’t take away from the fun drive!

Everybody takes photos of the above view, but once you clear the top, the pass carries on down the other side for miles and miles. We were really lucky as we only met a handful of cars on the entire road, but I can imagine in summer it could get pretty hairy.

Eventually, we arrived in Applecross, and the car park by the inn was packed; the first sign we’d had of a lot of people, and in fact one of the busiest places we experienced on the entire route. I’d been recommended the food at the Applecross Inn by three separate people at work, so we’d timed it perfectly for lunch, and luckily we managed to grab the last parking space – and one of the last tables!

That’s when the rain hit, for the first time on our trip. And it hit hard – we decided to stick around for dessert at the pub while we waited for it to subside, but it was still drizzling when we decided it was time to leave.

Onwards then, to Torridon, another highly anticipated stop on our journey.

The route from Applecross to Torridon is another really fun single track road that snakes around the coast, making it incredibly scenic with views over to Skye. The weather didn’t exactly help, but it did add an air of mystery to the view. Plus, every corner we turned seemed to lead to another epic view like this.

Read more: Photo Friday: 40 Amazing Views From The NC500 Road Trip In Scotland

Of course, the traffic along here was absolutely terrible.

Even when you beep your horn at them, they don’t give a crap!

We made it to Torridon just before it started getting dark, and although there’s a really good hostel in the village, we were opting for a free “campsite” a few minutes away. In reality, it was just a field, and a pretty wet one at that. But we managed to find a clean and dry spot, and the field ended up filling up quite a bit after it got dark. There’s also a public toilet block a couple of minutes walk away, which was well maintained and perfect for brushing our teeth etc.

We managed to make it down to the shore front just in time for an absolutely gorgeous sunset over the water.

Torridon is a beautiful little village and I would happily spend a bit more time there, especially as there are a lot of great hikes in the area! I think most of the hikes require a little more expertise and fitness than I have, but there must be some “easy to moderate” ones around!

Check out WalkHighlands for more – it’s my go-to resource for hiking in Scotland.

Torridon also treated us to our best night of star gazing on the whole trip! If only I’d invested in a tripod before this trip, I might actually have been able to get some really good photos.

Bonus tip: there’s another bealach beyond Torridon village, called Bealach Na Gaoithe. I didn’t know about it on this trip, but I have visited since. Absolutely make the effort to visit if you don’t mind driving up a steep, narrow single-track road. It’s one of my favourite views in the whole of Scotland.

Day 3 – Ullapool, Assynt & Achmelvich Beach

From Torridon, we took the beautiful Kinlochewe pass towards Loch Maree, and onwards through Gairloch to Ullapool.

On a brighter day, I think Loch Maree could have provided much better views than it did, but we stopped to see a lot of views on the way, including the charming Victoria Falls. While I’m sure you could spend longer in these areas, we were just enjoying the drive with the chance to pull over every now and then and savour the views.

(I have found out since that by driving via Torridon, we missed the view of Loch Maree down through Glen Docherty. This is worth a short detour!)

By lunch time, we were already in Ullapool, which I wasn’t sure whether we would be (you never know how long it’s going to take on rural roads in Scotland), so we were making good time.

Ullapool is WAY smaller than I was expecting! I always thought it was at least the size of Kirkwall in Orkney; at the very least, the size of Stromness. It’s smaller than both. Where Stromness has over 2,000 residents (and Kirkwall almost 9,000), Ullapool has a mere 1,500. Colour me shocked!

It has a really nice small town feel though, and the surroundings are gorgeous. We found ourselves down by the water twice during our short time there, the second time with added ice cream.

We had been debating where to go for lunch as there are a few fish & chip shops around, but as soon as we noticed a street stall called The Seafood Shack advertising that they had won BBC awards, we knew we had to try it.

IT. WAS. DELICIOUS! I’m not even a huge fish fan but it was soooo good! (Obviously I had to wash it down with Irn Bru, I’m Scottish after all.)

There’s limited seating, so we ended up joining a Canadian couple, which led to a lot of chatting about my time living there, and their time in Scotland. An enjoyable experience all around.

We also took the opportunity to do some souvenir shopping while there were plenty of options, and I was pleased to note that much like most of the rural areas of Scotland, the souvenir shops were full of good quality local arts & crafts as opposed to the cheaply made tat you’ll find on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile.

Outside of Inverness, Ullapool is probably the best place on the North Coast 500 to pick up gifts and souvenirs.

We had decided to camp at Achmelvich Beach for the night, which meant another reasonable drive, but the day had cleared up and I was looking forward to a brighter drive through Assynt.

I didn’t realise that the views were about to get better and better.

Assynt has rocketed itself to become one of my favourite areas of Scotland! We turned off the main road towards Stac Pollaidh to be immediately greeted by mountains in all directions. This was one of my favourite drives of the whole trip, and even though we missed some of the highlights of the main road (like Loch Assynt itself, with the wrecked Ardvreck Castle hanging onto its edge), I’m really glad we made the detour.

Don’t worry, I’ve made it back to Assynt SEVERAL times since, as I love it! In fact, I have an entire post on Assynt right here.

It ended up being a surprisingly long drive to Achmelvich, considering the distance we were covering was nothing compared to what we had already done that day. As I said before, you never really know how long journeys will take in rural Scotland! The single track roads became narrower and narrower, and the drive became slower and slower.

By the time we got to Achmelvich, we only had a short time to enjoy the beach – luckily, the sun had stayed out and people were actually sunbathing on the beach. In Scotland. In September. Who needs the Caribbean?

This was followed by the best sunset of the trip, although typically I was stuck on cooking duty and couldn’t wander out to the edge of the coast to see the best of it!

We stayed on a proper campsite at Achmelvich, and it really is one of the best places you can camp on the North Coast 500! I highly recommend it, the facilities were exactly what we needed and the views and area are wonderful.

There is also a basic hostel if you’d rather be indoors. And there’s even a fish & chip shop onsite, so if you don’t fancy cooking, you’ve got options, or in nearby Lochinver there are a few places as well.

Tip: Looking for a cheap, excellent lunch? Make sure to check out the Lochinver Larder for their absolutely delectable pies. Genuinely some of the best I’ve ever had. And I’ve been to New Zealand.

Day 4 – Waterfalls, Assynt & Durness

We had been planning a hike up Stac Pollaidh (known locally as “Stac Polly”) but we had barely recovered from our Glencoe hike (Jesus, we’re unfit) and the many walks since, so we decided to skip it in favour of some shorter walks to some waterfalls.

As much as I’d love to have done the Stac Pollaidh hike with my friend, I’m really glad we didn’t miss the waterfalls.

Spoiler alert: I ended up doing the Stac Pollaidh hike on my own another time! It was so fantastic that I’ve written an entire blog post about the hike. Wait til you see the VIEWS!

First up was Clashnessie Falls, a lovely waterfall you can see from the road. Clashnessie itself is worth a stop because there’s a beautiful beach, sheep alongside the road, a scenic phone box; it’s just a charming, very rural Scottish village.

The waterfall is beautiful too, and one of the best I’ve seen in Scotland.

I had no idea that I was about to see another one which would blow it out of the water (excuse the pun).

When we arrived at a car park near the Wailing Widow falls, the weather had turned hideous. We hid in the car for about 20 minutes, eating snacks and trying to decide what to do! (Story of my life, even without the rain, to be honest…)

Eventually, we braved the cold wind, and we took the non-existent path towards the edge of the loch in the rough direction of the waterfall – or as best as we could in a boggy marshland of heather. When we reached the waterfall, it was nice, but it wasn’t spectacular and I wasn’t convinced that it had been worth the walk.

“Look!” my friend suddenly shouted. “There’s a path down there!”

So there was.

And so we found ourselves back at the car, driving down the road to a completely inconspicuous parking space / lay by on the corner. There was NOTHING to give away that anything was there – the waterfall is completely hidden in a cove around the corner, with no obvious path to lead you to it. It was, however, a delightful little walk alongside a stream; far more pleasant than the boggy land we had traversed up above!

And when the waterfall came into view – WOW!

One of my favourite sights on the North Coast 500 road trip, and we had it all to ourselves!

And to think we had almost completely missed it.

From there, it was only an hour’s drive up to Durness, and we were on the fence whether to pay for another campsite or find somewhere ourselves. We turned up to enquire, and being that the weather was suddenly the worst it had been on the trip, we decided it was safer to be in a designated area.

The campsite was great, overlooking a beautiful beach and plenty of amenities on site. We spent most of the evening charging our things and playing catch up. One thing about camping on the North Coast 500 is the internet is really patchy! But to be fair, if you’re going on a camping trip in a beautiful area and you’re worried about internet, I think ya need to sort out your priorities. 😉 Still, it was nice to update people and post a few pics!

The wind into the night got really bad, and we felt like the tent was going to take off!!! Thankfully it didn’t, and in the morning we emerged unscathed. Success!

Day 5 – Durness, John O’ Groats & Brora

The most famous thing in Durness is a cave.

A massive, MASSIVE cave.

We wandered down to Smoo Cave after breakfast to see if we could get on one of their boat trips, and we were in luck – one was going to leave in the next few minutes!

The boat ride only costs £5 (update: I believe it’s £10 now) and it’s well worth it for a totally unique experience of going to the back of the cave and walking through some tunnels.

Our guide was really informative and passionate about the geology of this fascinating cave, and we learned about the people who may have used to live there thousands of years ago, before it was underwater.

We really enjoyed the trip!

It’s worth pointing out that we headed over to Cocoa Mountain for breakfast – a cafe famous for its really rich hot chocolates! And they really were rich! I’m not sure if I’d go back for another one, but it was fun to check out, and I made the mistake of going for a chocolate croissant… to go with my super rich hot chocolate. Worst sugar rush ever.

It’s nestled in a little “village” of local craft shops, so it’s worth heading over there for some unique souvenirs, and if you don’t fancy an uber-rich hot chocolate, they also sell lots of their own chocolates which make great gifts! Sam & I both bought some for our parents.

After the cave tour, it was time to make our way over to the east coast of Scotland, after over a week on the west.

I thought the views were going to diminish as we headed towards Caithness, but…

The beaches got even better, too. In fact, I thought the best beaches would be on the west coast hands down, but the north coast really gives them a run for their money.

Now I’ve got to admit I’m not a fan of Thurso, and even though it’s the biggest place we’d been since Fort William, we skipped straight through it towards John O’ Groats.

I did take us on one detour though – John O’ Groats is famous for being the most northerly point of Britain… except it’s not.

We stopped at Dunnet Head, the actual most northerly point of the mainland. I was very excited to point out to Sam that you can see Orkney in the distance!

We even managed to spot – pretty much anyway – my childhood home!

Read more: Why You Should Visit Orkney

The weather was trying to put a dampener on the day, so we got back on the road and got to John O’ Groats with time to head up to Duncansby Head for the incredible sea stacks.

We had missed the puffins, but if you’re here between April and August, you might just see them!

Tip: on the walk down from the car park, there’s a small inlet of cliffs on the left – that’s where I’ve seen puffins in the past!

There’s not much in John O’Groats itself, so I was debating whether to camp there or get further down the coast. The only problem with the east coast is a lot of it is agricultural land, and I had no idea where we could wild camp.

We ended up camping just outside Brora, on a proper campsite again, which put us in a great position for seeing Dunrobin Castle the following morning.

It also meant that we could go and grab dinner at the really pretty pub in Golspie that I’ve passed a million times… except they weren’t serving food. So we headed back to Brora as we’d seen another pretty pub. It was packed with diners, but they had just stopped serving food (at 8pm!).

We’d been recommended the Indian restaurant in Brora by people in both pubs and the lady who owned the campsite, and we were surprised. But, given no other choices, we decided to see what the fuss was all about at Sid’s Spice.

I’m not gonna lie… it was EXCELLENT! It’s been voted the second best Indian in Scotland, and I can see why!

I have to admit, we skipped a lot of the east coast, which seems a shame as I know everybody bangs on about the west, but I really think the east is overlooked. I’ve driven it dozens of times and know most of it like the back of my hand, yet there are plenty of places I haven’t stopped.

We even skipped Helmsdale, a village I always love to stop in, and we missed Castle Sinclair Girnigoe and Keiss Castle. We didn’t traverse the Whaligoe Steps or stop at any of the Caithness cairns. I’m not Wick’s biggest fan, but I’m sure I would have pointed out to Sam the world’s shortest street as we passed. And one of my east coast highlights, the Berriedale Braes, was nothing more than a drive through.

Day 6 – Golspie & Inverness

Our final day of the road trip – and we were ending on a bang!

The absolute highlight of the east coast is this incredible fairytale castle. I think Dunrobin might just be my favourite castle in Scotland (although it’s got tough competition!).

Dunrobin is a family home and is still owned by the Sutherland family, but it’s open to the public in the summer months, and the grounds in particular are spectacular.

We luckily got to explore the interior while it was raining, and by the time the falconry show was due to start, the sun had (mostly!) come out. If you’re there between May and September, the falconry show is the highlight of a trip to Dunrobin. It’s hilarious, the falconer is incredibly informative, and the birds are wonderful!

Ordinarily, we would have spent the rest of the day in Inverness, walking along the river and exploring the wonderful Harry Potter-esque Leakey’s Bookshop. We might have even taken a wander around Culloden battlefield or headed out for a quick jaunt to Loch Ness.

We had more pressing matters though – I was trying on wedding dresses! Okay, so this probably won’t be on your itinerary, so I’ll leave it there and just say I SAID YES TO THE DRESS!!

Inverness is a really nice city to end the trip, and I’m sure I’ll actually write about it properly some time. I’ve visited lots but not enough as a “tourist”.

That, though, marked the end of our epic nine day road trip around Scotland, and I have been left with my mind blown by the North Coast 500. I’m kind of sad that it’s taken a huge marketing campaign for me to discover it, but better late than never!

Camping North Coast 500 round-up

Day 1 – Inverness – Lochcarron (we drove from Skye)
Highlights: if you’re coming from Inverness, Rogie Falls is well worth a stop
Where we stayed: Lochcarron – The Wee Campsite

Day 2 – Lochcarron to Torridon
Highlights: Bealach Na Ba, Applecross, Torridon
Where we stayed: Torridon – free campsite by the public toilets as you enter the village

Day 3 – Torridon – Achmelvich
Highlights: Endless! Ullapool, Stac Pollaidh, Achmelvich beach
You should also check out: Knockan Crag, Ardvreck Castle, Lochinver pies (!), Gairloch
Where we stayed: Achmelvich – Shore Caravan Site

Day 4 – Achmelvich – Durness
Highlights: Clashnessie, Wailing Widow falls, Kylesku Bridge
You should also check out: Kinlochbervie, Sandwood Bay
Where we stayed: Durness – Sango Sands Oasis

Day 5 – Durness – Brora
Highlights: Smoo Cave, Dunnet Head, John O’ Groats, Duncansby Head
You should also check out: Castle Sinclair Girnigoe, at least one of the Caithness brochs
Where we stayed: Brora – Brora Caravan and Motorhome Club

Final day – Brora – Inverness
Highlights: Dunrobin Castle, Leakey’s Bookshop

Want to see more of the North Coast 500? Check out my post with 40 Amazing Views From The NC500 Road Trip In Scotland!

Or how about more of Scotland?

⭐ A Day On Skye (Which Is Definitely Not Enough)
⭐ 20 Photos Of Glorious Glencoe
⭐ An Anniversary Trip – Staying In A Castle In Argyll & Bute
⭐ Exploring The Cute Coastal Towns Of Fife, Scotland
⭐ 7 Coastal Walks In Orkney You Need To Take

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