Self Catering Holiday Cottages Homes and Apartments in the Highlands of Scotland

Inverness is the largest town in the region and 'capital of the Highlands'. It lies at the north eastern end of the Great Glen, which cuts diagonally across the southern Highlands to Fort William, linking deep and mysterious Loch Ness with the west coast and giving access to Glencoe, one of the most beautifully evocative Highland glens and a major climbing and skiing centre. Inverness is also ideally situated for exploring the northeast coast, with its charming old fishing ports, and the storm-lashed north coast, running west from John O'Groats to Cape Wrath, as wild and remote a place as you could ever wish for.

One of Scotland's biggest attractions is the narrow gash of Loch Ness, Britain's deepest body of fresh water, stretching 23 miles from Fort Augustus in the south almost to Inverness in the north. The loch is scenic in its own right, with rugged hills rising steeply from its wooded shores, but visitors don't come here for the views. They come every year, in their hundreds of thousands, to stare across the dark, cold waters in search of its legendary inhabitant, the Loch Ness Monster. A huge tourist trade has grown up around 'Nessie', as the monster is affectionately known, and every summer the main A82 which runs along its western shore is jam packed with bus-loads of eager monster-hunters, binoculars trained on the loch surface, desperate for one glimpse of the elusive beast.

Scotland's rugged north coast attracts few visitors, but those who do venture this far find that's there's plenty to write home about. This is some of Britain's most spectacular and undisturbed coastline, from the wild and remote Cape Wrath in the far northwest, to John O'Groats, that perennial favourite of sponsored walkers, in the far northeast. In between lie over 100 miles of storm-lashed cliffs, sheer rocky headlands and deserted sandy coves, all waiting to be explored. It's also a great place for bird watching, with vast colonies of seabirds, and there's a good chance of seeing seals, porpoises and minke whales in the more sheltered estuaries.