70 Best Sights in The Northern Highlands and the Western Isles, Scotland

Once a fishing and crofting center, Plockton today attracts visitors for its natural beauty and its warm microclimate, which allows palms to grow all along the main Harbour Street. Situated just 6 miles northeast of Kyle of Lochalsh, its natural bay is an ideal space for the small yachts that make their leisurely way to the coast and beyond, where gray seals can often be seen. Park at the car park at the entrance to the village and stroll along the main street, ideally with an ice cream as your companion.

The B8083 leads from Broadford to one of the finest vistas anywhere in Scotland. This road passes by Strath Suardal and little Loch Cill Chriosd (Kilchrist), and it takes in breathtaking views of the mountain Bla Bheinn en route. As you near Elgol, look out for a gathering of traditional crofts that descends to a pier, and then admire the heart-stopping profile of the Cuillin peaks from the shore. Seek out the path, around halfway down the hill, that leads across rough grasslands into the mountains.

Billed as "a museum without walls," this collection of 13 open-air, geological and social exhibits dots the landscape of the peninsula. Follow the map along the coastal route, and you will discover dinosaur footprints, a healing well, a deserted village, and more.

Discover the old crofting ways of the local population at this collection of traditional thatched cottages close to the tip of the Trotternish Peninsula. Informative displays and exhibits, from reconstructed interiors with traditional implements to historical photographs and documents, show life as it was on the island merely a century ago.

A free 15-minute tour of this working tannery gives visitors excellent insight into the process of salting, washing, and preparing sheepskins. You'll learn the source of such phrases as "on tenterhooks" and "stretched to the limits," and you can buy sheepskins, sheepskin garments and footwear, and tweed and woollen wear from the on-site shop (there's another outlet in Portree). In summer, there's also a lovely little yurt café around the back.

Set right on the shore in Lochmaddy, the well-run Taigh Chearsabhagh is an informative museum and arts center, complete with two exhibition spaces, a working printshop, and a permanent exhibition that reveals what life is really like on North Uist. The café serves a selection of cakes and soup, as well as excellent French-press coffee.

No longer the only distillery on the Isle of Skye (since the opening of Torabhaig Distillery in 2017), Talisker still remains one of the best in Scotland. The distillery produces a sweet, light, single malt that has the distinctive peaty aroma of island whiskies, yet with less intensity—making it a great introductory dram for newcomers to Scotch. Robert Louis Stevenson called Talisker "the king of drinks," and the inhabitants of Skye are very proud of it. Classic tours here take about 45 minutes, while tasting tours (available weekdays) take between 90 and 120 minutes. Book ahead, as tours are very popular.

This thought-provoking mix of displays, artifacts, and audiovisual materials portrays the history of the area, from the Stone Age to the brief 1869 gold rush in the Strath of Kildonan. There's a geology exhibit in the garden and a tour of the Kildonan gold-rush site. The complex also includes a café and an art gallery that often hosts visiting artists and changing exhibitions.

Films, photographs, and audiovisual displays tell the story of Ullapool and the local area, from the Ice Age to modern times. There's a particularly fascinating display on the the "klondyking" period between 1970 and 1990, when foreign boats, mainly from the former Eastern Bloc, filled the loch to fish the mackerel. The historic church building that houses the museum was designed by Thomas Telford and dates from the early 19th century.

The locals who run this lovely town museum are real enthusiasts, and they will take you through Wick's history from its founding by the Vikings to its heyday in the 1860s as a leading herring port. The collection includes everything from ancient fossils and a 19th-century cooperage to the Johnston Photographic Collection, a set of 40,000 images that show more than a century of life in Wick through one local family's eyes. There's also an art gallery and lovely terraced gardens that overlook the town.