Thanks for the link, GreenDragon - you've taken some lovely photographs! I think we're going to settle on Nairn, now though.

I would never use a tour company in the UK, but I'm sorry Dylann didn't enjoy her experience.

I'm female, btw.

Skin so Soft really does work against midges.
We found it on sale everywhere, even in little village shops.

Oh, and we found the midges in August (in clouds!), but not in June. My husband had a few bites, but not one on me this year. In both cases, it was on Skye they found us.

Dylann made 5 posts all with the complaints about the same Globus tour & hasn't been back since.

Nonconformist, while we haven't actually stayed there yet, we are booked at the Invernairne Guest House in Nairn for April.

www.invernairne.com

Nairn is really not a touristy place, and such as it is is very refined. Your mother has nothing to worry about.

There are a few decent places to eat, and a few more within easy driving distance. This area, however, is not a culinary hotspot. Is there a reason you want to be near Inverness?

To see the dolphins in the Moray Firth, principally. My parents have done that before, actually staying in Inverness, which they didn't like very much, and they wanted somewhere out of the city this time. I want to see historic things, and there seems to be areasonable choice in that area.

Anyway, we've gone ahead and booked accommodation in Nairn, and I'm sure it will be fine. Thanks for the reassurance. I think my mother took alarm when she saw something about it being called "the Brighton of the north"; she did not regard this as a recommendation (g). We don't need haute cuisine, just to be able to eat out rather than cooking most or all of the nights we're there, preferably without having to take the car every time.

Sounds OK to me, then. Please only use wildlife approved dolphin boats

Another option to the boats is Ft George. Each time I've visited, there have been dolphins in VERY close to shore. Easy to see from up on the fort's walls and on the adjacent beach. I have several photos of dolphins very close in.

I know they saw them from shore last time - there was some special spot someone told them about where you're pretty much guaranteed to see dolphins. If we do do a boat trip, I'm sure we'll pick a genuinely dolohhin-friendly one (g).