Ross-Shire is an historic county, with a spectacular landscape from the long coastline with its deep-sea lochs, to the mysterious peat bogs, and the mountains — especially the Torridon Hills, with the peaks of Beinn Eighe and Liathach. The best places to stay in Ross-shire are a wide ranging selection with everything from boutique hotels, pubs-with-rooms and converted country houses that suit not only hikers, hill-walkers, and outdoors-folks. Many are family friendly too and all are ideal if you're looking for a proper escape.
Some of the best places to stay in Ross-shire have truly incredible views. We have discovered a number of country house properties right on the shores of long, narrow lochs, and a couple of hotels with views of the coastline. Most are also united by the high quality of their restaurants. Not all of them are exceptional, but there are a lot of very excellent picks, along with some seriously impressive whisky bars.
Ullapool, Applecross, Dingwall and Gairloch are some of the old Ross-shire centres, if you’re looking for museums, or historic architecture, and the hills are littered with ruins and old country estates. Ullapool is the ferry gateway to the islands, but also a harbour town with some great pubs, surrounded by nature reserves known for their bird-watching potential. Gairloch is the place to head towards for fisher-folk, or dramatic ocean scenery, and Applecross is an ancient charmer with a rich, individual culture.
The area is also known for the NC 500 road trip. It's a stunning 500 mile circular route from Inverness that takes in large swathes of Ross-shire. So if you find that the roads are a bit busy, be patient there's plenty of stunning scenery to admire!
However don't forget that this part of Scotland is incredibly busy during the peak summer season. If you want to guarantee a room in one of the best places to stay in Ross-shire during July or August, get organised and book well ahead.