Things to Do in Inverness

1. Inverness Castle Experience

The biggest thing to happen to Inverness in years. The castle reopened in late 2025 as a £39 million immersive visitor experience after a three-year transformation. It's no longer a courthouse - it's now a proper attraction with interactive exhibitions, digital installations, storytelling in both towers, a roof terrace with panoramic views across the city and the Great Glen, and a Tapestry of the Highlands stitched by over 660 people from communities across the region.

The South Tower follows a seanchaidh - a traditional Gaelic storyteller - through the history and myths of the Highlands. The North Tower houses the Ceilidh Rooms, including a Runrig exhibition celebrating the band's impact on Highland culture. The roof terrace alone is worth the visit - on a clear day you can see for miles.

2. Walk the River Ness

This is the thing everyone should do and most guides undersell. The River Ness runs right through the centre of Inverness, and walking along it is one of the best free things to do in the city.

Start at Inverness Castle, head down to Bank Street (you'll pass several of the city's best restaurants along the way), cross at one of the footbridges, and continue south to Ness Islands - a chain of small wooded islands connected by Victorian suspension bridges. The round trip takes about 30-40 minutes and it's flat, easy, and beautiful in any season.

On a good day, the light on the river in the late afternoon is genuinely stunning. Bring a camera.

3. Inverness Cathedral

A 5 minute walk along the river from the castle. The cathedral's sandstone exterior and Gothic Revival architecture are impressive from the outside, but the interior is worth stepping into - Scottish granite columns, oak choir screen, and stained glass depicting scenes from the life of St Andrew. It's an active place of worship, so it's quiet and peaceful even when the city centre is busy.

4. Inverness Museum & Art Gallery

Right at the base of the castle, and free to enter. The museum covers the natural and social history of the Scottish Highlands - Jacobite artefacts, Highland wildlife, Pictish stones. It's not huge, but it's well done and you can see everything in under an hour. A good option if the weather turns.

5. Inverness Botanic Gardens

A surprising find in the Highlands - a subtropical garden with cacti, pitcher plants, tropical flowers, and fish ponds, all housed in glasshouses in the middle of Inverness. The outdoor gardens are well maintained with colour in every season. It's free, peaceful, and a good option if you need a break from the city centre. About a 20 minute walk along the river from the castle, or a 5 minute drive.

6. Leakey's Bookshop

One of Scotland's largest secondhand bookshops, housed inside a converted 17th-century church on Church Street. Thousands of books across every subject, a wood-burning stove in winter, and the kind of atmosphere that makes you want to stay for hours. Even if you're not a reader, the building itself is worth seeing. They also do good soups and cakes from a small cafe counter inside.

7. Eden Court Theatre

The main arts venue for the Highlands, with two theatres, two cinema screens, galleries, and a regular programme of shows, comedy, live music, and film. Worth checking what's on during your visit - it's one of the best things to do in Inverness on a rainy evening.

The Inverness Food Scene

Inverness has a genuinely good food scene now - much better than it was five or ten years ago. There's everything from fine dining to proper pub food, riverside restaurants to Napoletana pizza. I wrote a full guide to the best restaurants in the city - read it here.

These are the three I'd point you to first:

Milk Bar

The best coffee in Inverness. Milk Bar's riverside spot has outdoor seating, coffee roasted locally by The Inverness Coffee Roasting Co., and ice cream from Black Isle Dairy. Rated 4.9 on TripAdvisor. Perfect for a morning flat white before you start exploring.

Hootananny

If you want live Scottish music and a proper pub atmosphere, Hootananny on Church Street is the one. Live folk and ceilidh music every night, two shows a night, plus solid Scottish pub food - the Balmoral chicken and sticky toffee pudding are both excellent. Book a table if you want to eat.

Half the reason people visit Inverness is to use it as a base for exploring the Highlands. These are the best day trips - all within an hour's drive.

12. Loch Ness & Urquhart Castle

The most famous loch in the world is less than 20 minutes from the city centre. You don't need to do a boat tour to enjoy it - drive down to Dores Beach on the near side for views straight down the loch, or continue to Urquhart Castle for the classic postcard shot of ruins overlooking the water. The castle ruins have a good visitor centre and are worth an hour.

If you're driving the full length of the loch, stop at Falls of Foyers on the south side - a short woodland walk to a dramatic waterfall dropping into a gorge. It's one of the best waterfalls in the Highlands and most visitors miss it.

13. Culloden Battlefield

The site where the last pitched battle on British soil took place in 1746 - the Jacobite army's final stand against government forces. The visitor centre is excellent, with an immersive film and battlefield audio tour that brings the history to life. Walking across the actual battlefield is a sobering and powerful experience.

It's only 15 minutes from the city centre and easily combined with Clava Cairns (next on this list). If you have any interest in Scottish history, this is unmissable.

14. Clava Cairns

About 4,000 years old, these Bronze Age burial cairns surrounded by standing stones are one of the most atmospheric prehistoric sites in Scotland. Three well-preserved cairns, stone circles, and passageways aligned with the midwinter sunset. It's also the real-life inspiration for Craigh na Dun in Outlander - which means it can get busy in summer.

It's a 5 minute drive from Culloden, so do them together.

15. Chanonry Point - Dolphin Watching

One of the best places in Scotland to see wild bottlenose dolphins, and it's only 30 minutes from Inverness. Chanonry Point is a narrow spit of land jutting into the Moray Firth where dolphins come to feed, often very close to shore. Time your visit around an incoming tide for the best chance of seeing them.

On a good day, you'll see dolphins leaping and feeding within metres of where you're standing. It's free, it's magical, and it's the kind of experience that makes a trip to the Highlands unforgettable.

16. Fort George

A massive 18th-century military fortress on the coast, built after Culloden to prevent another Highland uprising. It's one of the best-preserved artillery fortifications in Europe. The ramparts have sweeping views across the Moray Firth, and on a clear day you can sometimes spot dolphins from the walls.

17. Cawdor Castle

One of the best castles near Inverness - a proper Highland castle with beautiful gardens, woodland trails, and a lived-in feel that the bigger tourist castles lack. The Shakespearean connection (Macbeth's Cawdor) adds a layer of intrigue, though the castle itself dates from the 14th century, well after Macbeth's time.

18. Ness Islands Walk

The Ness Islands are a chain of small wooded islands in the middle of the River Ness, connected by Victorian suspension bridges. In autumn the colours are spectacular. In summer the shade is welcome. It's one of the most peaceful spots in the city and most visitors walk right past without realising it's there.

19. The Great Glen Way

If you're a serious walker, the Great Glen Way starts (or finishes) in Inverness. It's a 125km trail running from Inverness to Fort William along the Caledonian Canal, passing Loch Ness, Loch Oich, and Loch Lochy. Most people take 4-5 days. Even if you're not doing the full route, the first section along the canal from Inverness is a beautiful half-day walk.

20. The Caledonian Canal

Built by Thomas Telford in the early 19th century, the canal connects the North Sea to the Atlantic through the Great Glen. You can walk along the towpath from Inverness, watch boats navigate the locks at Dochgarroch, or hire a bike and ride to Loch Ness along the canal. It's flat, scenic, and a good way to escape the city without needing a car.