Inverness travel guide

Top 10 sights in Inverness

Ranked by Wikipedia language editions — proven fame.

1. 

   1© Lucas Kendall · CC BY-SA 4.0

   Inverness Cathedral

   A Scottish Episcopal cathedral of 1866-69 on the west bank of the Ness, built in red Tarradale sandstone and the first cathedral completed in Britain after the Reformation. Its spires were left short of the design for want of money.

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2. 

   2© Stephen Branley · CC BY-SA 2.0

   Fort George

   An eighteenth-century artillery fortress at Ardersier northeast of Inverness, begun in 1748 to hold down the Highlands after Culloden and finished in 1769 at a cost greater than a year's Scottish revenue. It has never been attacked and is still an army barracks.

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3. 

   3© Diliff · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Inverness Castle

   A red sandstone castle of 1836 above the River Ness, on a site fortified since the eleventh century — the medieval castle was blown up by Jacobites in 1746. It served as the sheriff court until 2020 and reopened as a visitor attraction after conversion.

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   Cawdor Castle

   A castle built around a fifteenth-century tower house at Cawdor in Nairnshire, still lived in by the Cawdor family. Shakespeare made Macbeth Thane of Cawdor, though the castle postdates the historical king by three centuries; a holly tree in the vaulted basement is dated to 1372.

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5. 

   5© Duncan David McColl · CC BY-SA 2.0

   Beaufort Castle

   A baronial mansion of 1880 near Beauly incorporating older work, and the seat of the chiefs of Clan Fraser of Lovat. The earlier Castle Dounie on the site was burned by government troops in 1746 after the Frasers backed the Jacobites.

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   Brahan Castle

   A castle 5.6 kilometres southwest of Dingwall, seat of the earls of Seaforth and chiefs of Clan Mackenzie. It was demolished in the mid-twentieth century and only outbuildings remain; the Brahan Seer, the Highland prophet, is associated with the estate.

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7. 

   7© Jrimas · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Castlecraig

   A sixteenth-century tower house on the north shore of the Black Isle above the Cromarty Firth, held by the bishops of Ross and later the Urquharts. It stood roofless for a long period before restoration.

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8. 

   8© Otter · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Fortrose Cathedral

   The ruined cathedral of the medieval diocese of Ross at Fortrose on the Black Isle, of which the south aisle and chapter house survive. Cromwell is said to have taken much of its stone to build the citadel at Inverness.

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9. 

   9© Bubobubo2 · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Beauly Priory

   A Valliscaulian priory founded about 1230 at Beauly, one of only three houses of that French order ever established in Britain. The roofless church stands in the middle of the village with an ancient elm in the graveyard.

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10. 

    10© Wojsyl · CC BY-SA 3.0

    Kilravock Castle

    A castle near Croy between Inverness and Nairn, begun about 1460 and the seat of Clan Rose ever since. Bonnie Prince Charlie was entertained here two days before Culloden, by a laird who supported the other side.

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Popular tickets & tours in Inverness

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Based on 2025 Wikipedia pageviews — popular places beyond the top 10.

1. 

   1© Peter Moore · CC BY-SA 2.0

   Tulloch Castle

   A castle at Dingwall dating in part to the late fourteenth century, birthplace of Mariota Leslie, and rebuilt in the sixteenth. It is now a hotel, with a reputation for the Green Lady said to haunt it.

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2. 

   2© dave conner · CC BY 2.0

   Aldourie Castle

   A mansion on the south shore of Loch Ness incorporating a castle of 1626, rebuilt in Scottish baronial style in the nineteenth century. Its 39-hectare parkland runs down to the loch at its northern end, and it operates as a private-hire house.

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3. 

   3© King-of-no-pants at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Foulis Castle

   A whitewashed mansion southwest of Evanton incorporating an older tower house with gun loops, and the seat of Clan Munro. The Munros fought for the government in 1746 and the house was burned by Jacobites, then rebuilt.

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4. 

   4© User StaraBlazkova on cs.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Castle Stuart

   A restored tower house of 1625 on the Moray Firth about ten kilometres northeast of Inverness, built for James Stuart, Earl of Moray. It stood as a ruin for three centuries and was rebuilt in the 1970s.

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5. 

   5© Dr Julian Paren · CC BY-SA 2.0

   Redcastle

   A medieval castle at Killearnan on the Black Isle, in origin twelfth-century and claimed as one of the oldest continuously inhabited houses in Scotland until it was abandoned in the 1950s. It is now a decaying red sandstone shell on private land.

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   Dingwall Castle

   A royal castle at Dingwall in eastern Ross-shire, thought to have been established by Norse settlers in the eleventh century — the name is Norse for the field of the thing, or assembly. It was a seat of the earls of Ross; only fragments of wall survive.

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   Cawdor

   A site near Easter Galcantray, twenty-four kilometres east of Inverness, excavated in the 1980s on the theory that it was one of the northernmost Roman forts in Britain. The evidence has not held up and the identification is not accepted.

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8. 

   8© Webrazor · CC BY-SA 4.0

   Kilcoy Castle

   A Z-plan tower house of about 1618 near Muir of Ord on the Black Isle, built by a branch of the Mackenzies. It was restored in the twentieth century after a fire and is a private residence.

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9. 

   9© Dave Napier · CC BY-SA 2.0

   Moniack Castle

   A tower house of 1580 eleven kilometres west of Inverness, built by the Frasers. Since 1979 it has held a country winery making fruit wines and liqueurs, which is what most visitors come for.

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10. 

    10© Christian David · CC BY-SA 4.0

    Old High St Stephen's

    The oldest church site in Inverness, on a mound above the river where the parish church has stood since the medieval period, with the present building of 1772. Jacobite prisoners were held here after Culloden and some were shot against the graveyard wall.

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