24 Hours In Scotland’s Northernmost City

Just outside the city, a battle took place that changed Scotland forever. Nearby are mysterious stone monuments built over 4,000 years ago, and right through the centre flows a river that begins in the legendary Loch Ness. This is Inverness, the capital of the Scottish Highlands. Hello from Inverness, the northernmost city in Scotland. This city is home to around 48,000 people, and I'm starting my time exploring this city here at the end of the Caledonian Canal, which you can see behind me. A really interesting thing about this canal is that only around a third of it is actually man-made. The rest of it flows through natural lochs, and it was built so that ships didn't have to take the treacherous journey around the north coast of Scotland. The Caledonian Canal stretches for around 60 miles across Scotland, from coast to coast, and it's considered one of the great engineering achievements of the Scottish Highlands. The canal was designed by the famous Scottish engineer Thomas Telford. Construction began in 1803, and after nearly 20 years of work, it officially opened in 1822. These days, the canal is mostly used by leisure boats, sailing yachts, and canal cruisers. It's actually so interesting to see the end of the Caledonian Canal, where it enters into the sea. I don't think I've ever seen a canal that actually enters into the sea before. The canal goes out into this area here, which is called the Murray Firth, and this is a well-known spot for seeing dolphins, actually. So cool if one just jumped up right now. I have parked up the van. I've paid £4 for all-day parking at the theatre, and I'm going to make my way into the city now to explore a little bit. There is a river running through Inverness, and there's a lovely walkway down by the river, so I'm going to head along here into the city. The River Ness is surprisingly short, running for only about six miles, carrying water from the vast Loch Ness through Inverness and into the sea. It's also one of Scotland's fastest-flowing rivers. Recently, I visited the Loch Ness area, which is really close to Inverness, and it is home to the famous Loch Ness monster. And the first ever sighting of the Loch Ness monster was actually in the River Ness, which is this river just here. In Scottish Gaelic, Inverness means mouth of the River Ness. People have lived here for thousands of years, and the area around Inverness has evidence of Pictish settlements. Despite its long history, Inverness only officially became a city in 2000, when it was granted city status as part of the Millennium Celebrations. Today, Inverness is one of Europe's fastest-growing cities, and roughly a quarter of the highland population lives in or around the city. So, quite a few of my friends are from Inverness, and they suggested that I go to a bakery. There's quite a few of this branch in Inverness, and it's called Harry Gow. And they suggested to order a dream ring, I think it's called. Oh my gosh. So this is basically a doughnut, ice doughnut, with cream in the middle. It looks more like a brioche than a doughnut. Look at that. Wow, so much cream in there. Very nice though. Very sweet. Before I continue with the video, I'd like to say thanks to Incognite for making it possible to film this video today. I'm always on the road in my van, Ernie, and I'm constantly having to book ferries, download apps to find campsites or walking trails, and also order things for my van. Every time I'm doing these things, I'm handing over my personal information. Emails, phone numbers, addresses, and even financial information. This can all end up in the hands of data brokers. Unfortunately, once that information is out there with these data brokers, they can buy and sell it, and this can lead to spam emails, scam phone calls, and in some situations, even identity theft. I've been aware of this for quite a while now. So about a year ago, I started using Incogni. 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I've now arrived at Inverness Castle, and it recently opened as a visitor centre. It was previously used as a courthouse. I've read that this castle is a little bit of a different style of visitor experience compared to visiting a normal castle in Scotland, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what it's like. Outside Inverness Castle is a statue of Flora MacDonald, who became famous for helping Charles Edward Stuart escape after a failed rebellion in 1746. After his army was defeated at the Battle of Culloden near Inverness, he fled into the highlands and islands while government troops searched for him. Flora helped him escape to the Isle of Skye by disguising him as a maid, and from there he eventually made it to France. Inverness Castle sits on a cliff above the River Ness, and there has been a fortress on this site since at least the 11th century. The red sandstone castle you see today was built in 1836. For most of the 19th and 20th centuries, it was used as courts and government offices, so the public couldn't normally go inside. After a major redevelopment, the castle reopened at the end of 2025 as a visitor attraction, celebrating the history, landscape and culture of the highlands, with viewing terraces overlooking the river and across the city. Inside there's also an exhibition about Runrig, one of Scotland's most famous bands. I have just finished the Inverness Castle experience, and it was fantastic. It cost £22 to go in, which I did think was quite a lot, but it was so much better than I expected. It's not really like a traditional castle, it's much more of an immersive experience, and it talks about lots of different things in Scottish history, but if you're in Inverness, that experience is a must-do, and the views from the top as well were amazing over Inverness, and you can also see down to Loch Ness as well. Inside the castle there is also a restaurant or bistro, and lots of different highland dishes on the menu in there, and I think you can go into the bistro even if you're not going to the castle. There's an old market here in Inverness which I'm really keen to see, so that's where I'm going to go next. Just opposite Inverness train station is the Victorian Market. Wow, it's in such an impressive old building. It feels like going back in time, walking down here. The Victorian Market dates back to 1890, and is a historic cupboard shopping arcade. Inside there are more than 30 independent businesses, many of which have been trading here for generations. The market still has its traditional arcade layout, and is home to a mix of local shops, food stalls and cafes. There's venison, which is a very popular food to eat in Scotland and in the Highlands. This building here is said to be the biggest second-hand bookshop in Scotland, but I thought that was in Wigtown. But when I was reading online, it seems that this one claims to be the biggest second-hand bookshop. Let's go inside and have a look. Leakey's Bookshop is set inside a former Gaelic church, built in 1793. The building is filled with tall wooden shelves, a spiral staircase and thousands of second-hand and antique books. In the centre of the shop, there's a large wood-burning stove. I think it's one of my favourite bookshops I have ever been inside. Both the Victorian Market and Leakey's Bookshop were so interesting to see. Both of them felt like stepping back in time. I'm now going to head back down to the river and go and see an old bridge where you can get a good view over the river Ness. Although I think this bridge looks quite modern, it was actually built in 1880. It's called the Gregg Street Bridge and locals often call it the bouncy bridge because when people walk or jump, the suspension cables make the bridge wobble. This bridge is a pedestrian bridge which crosses the river Ness. It's actually quite sugary when you walk on it. Oh, there's lovely views over to Inverness Castle from here. This has actually been my first proper time exploring Inverness and my first impressions are really good. I really like it. It's such a small and compact city and very walkable. It reminds me a little bit of Stirling actually. I've now made it to Inverness Cathedral which is officially called St Andrew's Cathedral after the patron saint of Scotland and it's possible to go inside and have a look at the cathedral. So let's go in. Inverness Cathedral was built between 1866 and 1869 in a gothic revival style. It's known for its beautiful stained glass and riverside setting. Self-guided tour. 18 pounds plus six pounds. I don't know, that seems quite a lot of money to go inside a cathedral, doesn't it? It says here six pounds. Oh, 18 years plus. I thought it said 18 pounds plus six pounds. The cathedral is so beautiful. It looks like they're setting up for an event in there at the moment so I didn't do the guided tour but I left a small donation since I had a look inside. Now I'm going to continue walking down the river because there's more things to see here along the river. Wow, the walk along the river Ness is incredible. Along here there is the shinty club so if you haven't heard of shinty before it's a popular sport in the Scottish Highlands. There is the shinty pitch right there. So shinty is closely related to the Irish sport called hurling and Scottish shinty teams and Irish hurling teams actually play games against each other. So the players hit the ball in the air or along the ground so the game is very fast and physical. I've come round to the side of the shinty pitch and there's meant to be a museum inside this building here. Shinty is one of Scotland's oldest traditional sports and has been played in the Highlands for hundreds of years. Some of the earliest formal rules of the sport were developed in the Inverness area in the 19th century and the main trophy in the sport is the Camanacht Cup, first played for in 1896. Players used curved wooden sticks called camans to strike a small hard ball and unlike some similar sports the ball can be played on both sides of the stick. The sport is still popular across the Highlands today although many clubs were deeply affected during the First and Second World Wars when large numbers of young players never returned. I've come outside to take a closer look at the pitch and I was speaking to somebody who works in there and he was saying it's actually a third longer than a football pitch and the museum in there only opened in October last year. It is excellent. If you are in Inverness definitely go and check out that museum. There's so much in there to learn about shinty. I grew up in Scotland and I find it a real shame that I never have had a chance to even try playing shinty. I played field hockey when I was younger and I was quite good at field hockey. I scored so many goals and I think I probably would have been quite good at shinty but it's just not a big sport in all parts of Scotland. It's becoming more popular with females though and the man was saying that there's some clubs down south as far as Edinburgh and Glasgow. I have just come back down to the River Ness and there's actually some islands on the river. I'm really excited to see these because I've not seen any pictures. I've never been here before so let's go and see what it's like. The Ness Islands are a group of small wooded islands in the River Ness. They're linked by a series of Victorian suspension footbridges so you can walk from island to island through the trees. The area was developed as a public park in the 19th century and today it's a really popular place for locals to come for a walk. This place is so gorgeous. It's so peaceful, so tranquil. There's people out walking, running. I have been very surprised by Inverness. I really like Inverness. I wonder if it might be my favourite Scottish city. I'm not sure. I think that's a hard one to decide. Haven't been to them all yet. This is actually like walking through a forest wonderland. I love it here. I think this might be my favourite part of Inverness. I have had such a good time exploring around Inverness. However, I haven't finished quite yet because there are a few other sights to see just on the outskirts of the city. That's where I'm going to head next. I have made it around 15 minutes outside of Inverness city centre to the Culloden Visitor Centre and maybe some of you have heard of Culloden before because of the Battle of Culloden which took place here. The Battle of Culloden took place on the 16th of April 1746 and is a very significant moment in Scottish history. The Battle of Culloden was the final battle of the Jacobite Rising. Supporters of Charles Edward Stuart, often called Bonnie Prince Charlie, tried to restore his family, the Stuarts, to the British throne but they were defeated by the British Government army led by the Duke of Cumberland. The battle itself was very short, lasting less than an hour, but it was devastating. Thousands of Jacobite soldiers, many of them Highlanders from different clans, were killed or wounded. After the battle, the Government moved to crush Highland culture and weaken the traditional clan system. After this battle, harsh rules were brought in against Highlanders so they were forbidden to wear tartan and Highland dress. There were also a lot of rules about suppressing the speaking of Scottish Gaelic, the language that so many people spoke in Scotland and even though this was so long ago, that has had a direct impact on things even into the modern day because these days less than 1% of Scottish people can speak Scottish Gaelic which is such a shame that one of the languages of Scotland has dropped, the number of speakers has dropped so much but there is a lot of people doing a lot of great work to keep Scottish Gaelic alive through music, through poetry, through schools, through events, through BBC Alba so it's really great. Culloden is often remembered as a turning point that changed life in the Scottish Highlands forever. Culloden is now cared for by the National Trust for Scotland and is the sixth most visited paid visitor attraction in Scotland. The museum costs £12.50 to enter. The battlefield here has been preserved and is pretty much exactly as it was in 1746 when the Battle of Culloden happened. I've wandered to the middle of the battlefield where there is a big memorial and here there's old stone markers with the names of the different clans on them. Here's one here, Clan Macintosh. Even though this happened almost 300 years ago, it still feels quite an eerie place here. There's one more place really close to here that I would love to visit before it gets completely dark. Let's go! I have made it to my next stop which is the Clava Cairns and these are over 4,000 years old. So this site is actually made up of three chambered cairns and these were burial monuments where people were laid to rest. The ones here are quite interesting because they are surrounded by standing stones. So here you can see the standing stones around the chambered cairn. What's quite interesting about these chambered cairns is that there's different types of stone that's been used to build them. There's granite that's been found and red sandstone as well so people think maybe they were chosen to symbolise something perhaps. This site was once part of a much larger prehistoric landscape with many more cairns and ancient monuments spread across this area. It's so fascinating that we're all here today and we can see we're witness to those decisions that people made and some of these people could have been our ancestors because yeah we all exist now. I think I know my family tree about 300 years back but if you know how long your family tree goes back please share in the comments. I'm very interested to know because I know some families know their history back like 500, 600, 1000 years. It's amazing. So with these the burial chamber has the stone circle surrounding it. I have never seen that. Almost feels like it would have been someone very special buried in there because they've built both. I was a little bit apprehensive about coming at this time of day but actually it's great. I think this is the best time to come and visit a stone circle. It feels very atmospheric. The passage of the central cairn is aligned with the midwinter sunset so on the shortest day of the year the setting sun shines directly into the chamber. This is what it's like inside. Wow this place is incredible. I think I definitely saved the best for last. I love it here. In recent years it's also become quite popular because the stones resemble a fictional location in Outlander although this site is thousands of years older than the story. I have really had the best time exploring Inverness. I think it might have taken the top spot as my favourite city in Scotland so far. If you're considering visiting Inverness I highly recommend it. Thank you so much for watching and I'll see you next time.