North Coast 500 (NC500) 5-day Itinerary

This fabulous fairytale castle was designed to resemble a fancy French chateau by Sir Charles Barry (who also designed the Houses of Parliament in London), with ornate formal gardens, modelled on those at Versailles, sloping down to the sea on Scotland’s north-east coast.

It’s the ancestral seat of the Dukes of Sutherland and with 189 rooms, it’s not on the bijou side. Continually inhabited since the beginning of the 14th century, it was used as a naval hospital during the First World War and boys’ boarding school in the 1960s.

The self-guided tour of the state rooms and older sections of the castle offers a wonderful insight into centuries of clan history.

The spellbinding daily falconry displays in the gardens – featuring peregrine, gyrfalcon as well as Harris hawks – are also well-worth hanging around for.

This exquisite, honey-hued manse on the edge of the golf links and endless dune-backed beach in picture-postcard Dornoch, oozes luxury and old-world style. The passion project of an American businessman, he transformed what was a rundown property on the northeast coast into a palatial pad.

There are now 15 rooms, scattered across three buildings, all named after Scottish salmon rivers, and peppered with the finest antiques, gilt-framed oil paintings and trimmed with tartan and tweed. Along with a fine dining restaurant, Mara, they have a bistro, the Courtroom, in the village for more relaxed dining.

This sumptuous little hotel is the perfect choice for well-heeled golfers and classic car, top-down, wind-in-your-hair motorists on the North Coast 500.

Famously ‘the end of the road’ and touted as the most northerly point on the UK mainland (although that’s actually Dunnet Head nearby), this once tacky tourist spot has now been spruced up. There are wildlife-watching boat trips from the little harbour and spectacular clifftop walks.

This small artisan distillery produces award-winning Rock Rose seasonal gins and vodka made from Holy Grass (once laid on church floors to scent the air). The copper still is named Elizabeth in honour of the late Queen Mother who summered at the Castle of Mey nearby – and famously liked a G&T.

Originally built for George, the 4th Earl of Caithness, this graceful turreted 16th-century castle was the traditional seat of the Earls of Caithness. Looking out towards the Orkney islands on the wild north coast – it’s the most northerly castle in Britain.

It was purchased by the late Queen Mother in 1952. She summered here for fifty years, restoring the castle to its former glory, and creating a beautiful walled rose garden, before bequeathing it to the Castle of Mey Trust upon her death. Listening to the personal anecdotes from her old staff as you wander around brings the place to life.

Today, Prince Charles works closely with the trust to continue the castle’s preservation. He’s an annual visitor, renting the castle for two weeks in summer.

Until Prince Charles opened this luxury B&B in the old grain store just across the fields from his late grandmother’s Scottish holiday home, the Castle of Mey, it was slim pickings up here in terms of upmarket holiday accommodation.

The 17th-century granary has been painstakingly restored and converted into a cosy, chintz-clad guesthouse with stellar green credentials, of course, by the Prince’s Foundation.

There are 10 individually designed rooms and suites in fabulous fabrics, a log fire-basted drawing room and a corridor lined with black and white photographs of the Queen Mother enjoying blustery picnics – one for Royalist road trippers.

There are sweeping views out across the Pentland Firth to Orkney, and it’s the perfect pitstop if you’re driving the North Coast 500.

Watch the fishing boats unload their catch through the panoramic picture windows as you tuck into breakfast in the architect-designed wooden extension of this quaint 19th-century coaching inn in the northwest Highlands.

Right on the water’s edge, overlooking Loch Glendhu, it’s a gourmet bolthole, famous for its seafood and the perfect pitstop if you’re driving the North Coast 500.

This relaxing retreat, with books to thumb and a telescope for wildlife-watching, is also dog-friendly. Some hotels claim to be dog-friendly, but here they’re really welcome – in the bar and restaurant as well as rooms.

There are 11 rooms in all, four in the modern annex, Willie’s Hoose next door – two with a loch-facing balcony. Ideal for seafood-loving sea dogs and dog lovers.

Bagging a Munro sounds far more exciting than ‘climbing a mountain’ but that is essentially what it boils down to.

Munros are Scottish mountains over 3,000ft high, named after Sir Hugh Munro who first catalogued the peaks as ‘Munro’s Tables,’ in 1891. There are 282 munros in Scotland, the most famous, Ben Nevis, is the country’s highest peak at 4,411ft.

Bagging munros is a traditional Scottish activity, the ultimate goal to reach the summit of all 282. The first person to achieve this was A.E. Robertson in 1901 and since then over 6,000 ‘compleatists’ or Munroists have bagged them all.

If it weren’t for Nessie, this would be just another loch: admittedly the second largest in Scotland and the deepest, containing more water than all the lakes in England and Wales combined. But it’s the legendary Loch Ness Monster that put it on the map. There are ‘Nessie hunter’ boat trips available all around the loch.

Start your visit at the informative, award-winning Loch Ness Centre & Exhibition in Drumnadrochit for the low down, and to delve into the scientific findings. Then head off for some monster spotting, while taking in ruined castles, waterfalls and mountain trails.

Just off the winding, often a single-lane track that snakes its way along the south side of Loch Ness, this Victorian lodge has tree-fringed views over the water and cool, vintage chic interiors.

The characterful conversion, peppered with eclectic auction and antique store finds – as well as a smattering of taxidermy – gives it a theatrical vibe.

There are eight bedrooms up the grand staircase; walls daubed in dramatic tones of aubergine, forest green and teal, bare-board floors strewn with rugs, and bathrooms of Victorian porcelain.

There’s a cosy, tartan-trimmed sitting room where you can hole up with a dram, a peacock (stuffed) and a piano in the Art Deco-styled drawing room and bar.

This is one for design-conscious couples, looking for a funky Highland hideaway.