North Coast 500
| Route information | |
|---|---|
| Length: | 516 mi (830 km) |
| Major junctions | |
| South end: | Inverness |
| North end: | Inverness |
| Location | |
|
Primary destinations: |
Inverness, Lochcarron, Applecross, Gairloch, Ullapool, Lochinver, Durness, Thurso, John o' Groats, Wick, Helmsdale, Dornoch, Invergordon, Dingwall |
| Road network | |
The North Coast 500 is a 516-mile (830 km) scenic route around the north coast of Scotland, starting and ending at Inverness Castle. The North Coast 500 (Also known as NC500) was created by the North Highland Initiative and was designed to bring together the best of the north Highlands of Scotland in one iconic touring route.
The route runs through the traditional counties of Inverness-shire, Ross and Cromarty, Sutherland and Caithness.
Working clockwise, the route starts at Inverness and runs via Muir of Ord, Applecross, Gairloch, Ullapool, Durness, Thurso, John o'Groats, Wick, Dunrobin Castle, Dingwall then back to Muir of Ord and Inverness.
The concept of the North Coast 500 was launched in March 2015 by the Tourism Project Board of the North Highland Initiative (NHI) in an attempt to work with all aspects of the tourism sector to bring unified benefits to businesses across the route. It was identified that a gap existed in the market within the North Highlands for a tourism offering that included each county of the area (Caithness, Sutherland & Ross-shire) and that the North Coast 500 would address that. The initiative was supported by Visit Scotland and Highlands & Islands Enterprise.
In 2015 the route was named fifth in Now Travel Magazine's "Top 5 Coastal Routes in the World". It has been described as "Scotland's Route 66".
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Wikipedia