West Coast Scotland & Outer Hebrides Campervan Expedition
52 stops, mainland driving route and ferry crossings.

1. Glencoe — Three Sisters Viewpoint
Photography — Glencoe. The roadside viewpoint over the Three Sisters of Bidean nam Bian — the great glaciated ridges that define Glencoe. Pull-in directly off the A82.
photo

2. Buachaille Etive Mòr & Lagangarbh
Photography — Glencoe. Scotland's most photographed mountain — the pyramid of Stob Dearg rising above the white Lagangarbh hut and the meanders of the River Coupall.
photo

3. Glen Etive (River Etive wild spots)
Wild / off-grid — Glen Etive. A dead-end single-track glen running 14 miles to Loch Etive, lined with river pools, falls and the 'Skyfall' viewpoint. A wild-camping heartland.
wild

4. Red Squirrel Campsite, Glencoe
Campsite — Glencoe. A relaxed, characterful riverside campsite near the Clachaig Inn — the classic Glencoe basecamp for walkers and campervanners.
campsite

5. Glenfinnan Viaduct
Photography — Road to the Isles. The 21-arch curved railway viaduct made world-famous by the Hogwarts Express, arcing above Loch Shiel and the Glenfinnan Monument.
photo

6. Camusdarach Beach
Beach — Arisaig. A perfect curve of white shell-sand with views to Rùm and Eigg — the beach from the film 'Local Hero'.
beach

7. Silver Sands of Morar
Beach — Arisaig. A run of dazzling white-sand coves and tidal lagoons between Arisaig and Mallaig, backed by dunes.
beach

8. Mallaig — Ferry Port & Seafood
Ferry port — Road to the Isles. Working fishing harbour and CalMac hub: ferries to Skye (Armadale), the Small Isles, and Lochboisdale (South Uist).
ferry

9. Eilean Donan Castle
Photography — Kyle of Lochalsh. The postcard castle on its own islet where three sea lochs meet, joined to the shore by an arched stone bridge.

10. Sligachan, Isle of Skye
Photography — Isle of Skye. The crossroads of Skye beneath the Cuillin, with the old stone bridge framing Sgùrr nan Gillean and a vast informal parking moor.

11. Fairy Pools, Glen Brittle
Hiking — Isle of Skye. A string of crystal blue-green plunge pools and waterfalls tumbling off the Black Cuillin — Skye's most popular short walk.
hike

12. Old Man of Storr
Hiking — Isle of Skye. The great basalt pinnacle on the Trotternish ridge — Skye's most iconic skyline and a steep, rewarding hike.
hike

13. The Quiraing
Photography — Isle of Skye. A surreal landslip landscape of pinnacles, plateaux and hidden tables high on the Trotternish ridge, with a serpentine single-track road over the pass.

14. Neist Point Lighthouse
Photography — Isle of Skye. Skye's westernmost tip — a fin of cliff running out to a lighthouse, with the Outer Hebrides on the horizon.

15. Talisker Distillery, Carbost
Distillery — Isle of Skye. Skye's original distillery (est. 1830) on the shore of Loch Harport — peppery, maritime single malt.
distillery

16. Talisker Bay
Beach — Isle of Skye. A wild black-and-white sand beach with a 60m waterfall spilling off the cliff and a sea stack offshore.
beach

17. Glenbrittle Campsite
Campsite — Isle of Skye. A spectacular shoreline campsite at the foot of the Black Cuillin, right on the beach at the head of Loch Brittle.
campsite

18. Portree — Skye Service Hub
Fuel — Isle of Skye. Skye's pretty harbour capital and the island's main hub for fuel, supermarkets, services and the famous painted harbour houses.
fuel

19. Bealach na Bà / Applecross Pass
Photography — Applecross. Britain's most dramatic mountain road — a single-track Alpine pass climbing to 626m (2,053 ft) with 1-in-5 gradients and hairpin bends, over to Applecross.

20. Applecross — Campsite & Inn
Campsite — Applecross. A remote shoreline village famous for its inn and a friendly campsite with a renowned café (Flower Tunnel).
campsite

21. Torridon & Liathach
Photography — Torridon. A village at the head of Loch Torridon beneath Liathach and Beinn Alligin — among the oldest, most majestic mountains in Britain (Torridonian sandstone, 750m+ walls).

22. Loch Maree & Beinn Eighe
Hiking — Torridon. Britain's first National Nature Reserve — ancient Caledonian pinewoods, a loch scattered with islands, beneath Slioch and Beinn Eighe.
hike

23. Gairloch — Big Sand & Beaches
Beach — Gairloch. A scattered crofting community with golden beaches (Big Sand, Gairloch Beach), a renowned campsite and superb whale/dolphin watching.

24. Ullapool — Ferry Port & Hub
Ferry port — Ullapool. A handsome whitewashed herring port on Loch Broom — the NC500's best town and the CalMac gateway to Stornoway (Lewis).
ferry

25. Ardvreck Castle, Loch Assynt
Photography — Assynt. A ruined 16th-century tower on a promontory in Loch Assynt, with the spectacular peaks of Quinag rising behind.

26. Stac Pollaidh
Hiking — Assynt. A miniature mountain with an outrageous spiky summit ridge above Loch Lurgainn — one of the best short-but-mighty hill walks in Scotland.

27. Achmelvich Beach
Beach — Assynt. A dazzling white-sand cove with turquoise water in a sheltered Assynt bay — plus a tiny castle folly (Hermit's Castle) nearby.

28. Lochinver & Clachtoll
Campsite — Assynt. A working fishing village (and the world-famous Lochinver Larder pie shop) beneath the unmistakable dome of Suilven; Clachtoll beach & campsite just north.

29. Kylesku Bridge
Photography — Assynt. A sweeping curved concrete bridge over the meeting of three lochs, framed by Quinag — an NC500 signature shot.

30. Sandwood Bay
Beach — Far North-West. A mile-long pink-tinged sand beach with the Am Buachaille sea stack and a haunted bothy — reached only by a 4-mile walk from Blairmore.

31. Durness — Sango Sands & Smoo Cave
Campsite — Durness. The NC500's far north-west corner: Sango Sands campsite perched above a golden beach, and the vast sea-and-river cave of Smoo just east.

32. Castlebay & Kisimul Castle, Barra
Ferry port — Barra. The southern gateway to the Outer Hebrides — a horseshoe harbour with a medieval castle (Kisimul) sitting on a rock in the bay. Ferry from Oban arrives here.
ferry

33. Vatersay Beaches
Beach — Barra/Vatersay. Connected to Barra by a causeway, Vatersay has back-to-back white-sand bays (Bàgh Siar & Bàgh a Deas) on a sandy isthmus.

34. Barra Airport — Tràigh Mhòr
Photography — Barra. The world's only scheduled airport using a tidal beach as its runway — planes land on the cockle sands of Tràigh Mhòr at low tide.

35. Eriskay — Prince's Beach (Coilleag a' Phrionnsa)
Beach — Eriskay. The white-sand beach where Bonnie Prince Charlie first set foot in Scotland in 1745; connected to South Uist by causeway, reached from Barra by the Sound of Barra ferry.

36. South Uist — Howmore & the Machair Coast
Wild / off-grid — South Uist. A 20-mile ribbon of flower-rich machair backing onto an almost continuous white-sand beach down South Uist's Atlantic shore; Howmore has a romantic ruined chapel cluster and hostel
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37. Lochboisdale — Ferry & Service Hub
Ferry port — South Uist. South Uist's main port — the Mallaig ferry arrives here, and it's the southern service hub for fuel, shop and harbour.

38. Benbecula — Culla & Poll na Crann Beaches
Beach — Benbecula. The flat, loch-spattered island linking the Uists by causeway, with quiet west-coast beaches (Culla, Poll na Crann 'Stinky Bay') and the main island airport & supermarket.

39. North Uist — Lochmaddy
Ferry port — North Uist. North Uist's port and main village — ferry to Uig (Skye), arts centre (Taigh Chearsabhagh), shop and the launch point for a loch-strewn island.

40. North Uist — Balranald RSPB & West Beaches
Wild / off-grid — North Uist. An RSPB machair reserve famous for corncrakes, with a glorious sweep of beach and dunes at the island's north-west tip.
wild

41. Berneray — West Beach & Sound of Harris
Beach — Berneray. A tiny, idyllic isle joined to North Uist by causeway, with a famous three-mile West Beach; the Sound of Harris ferry to Leverburgh leaves from here.

42. Harris — Luskentyre Beach (Tràigh Losgaintir)
Beach — Isle of Harris. Regularly voted one of the best beaches in the world — vast tidal flats of white shell-sand, electric-turquoise water and the hills of Taransay beyond.

43. Harris — Hushinish (Huisinis)
Wild / off-grid — Isle of Harris. The end of one of Britain's most spectacular dead-end roads — a single-track lane past Amhuinnsuidhe Castle to a perfect white-sand beach facing the island of Scarp.

44. Harris — Tarbert & Isle of Harris Distillery
Distillery — Isle of Harris. Harris's main village and ferry port (to Uig, Skye), home to the celebrated Isle of Harris Distillery — makers of the Hearach single malt and the iconic blue Harris Gin.
distillery

45. Harris — The Golden Road & The Bays
Photography — Isle of Harris. A mesmerising single-track road winding through the lunar gneiss landscape of Harris's rocky east coast, past tiny harbours and the Skoon Art Café.

46. Lewis — Callanish Standing Stones
Photography — Isle of Lewis. A cross-shaped setting of towering Lewisian gneiss megaliths erected ~5,000 years ago — older than Stonehenge — on a low ridge above Loch Roag.

47. Lewis — Gearrannan Blackhouse Village
Photography — Isle of Lewis. A restored cluster of thatched drystone blackhouses on a clifftop above a rocky bay — a living museum of traditional Hebridean croft life, with self-catering & a hostel.

48. Lewis — Uig Sands (Tràigh Uige)
Beach — Isle of Lewis. A vast tidal beach on Lewis's remote west coast where the famous medieval Lewis Chessmen were found in the dunes; huge sands at low tide.

49. Lewis — Great Bernera & Bosta Beach
Wild / off-grid — Isle of Lewis. A small island joined to Lewis by a bridge, ending at the exquisite Bosta (Bostadh) Beach — site of an excavated Iron Age village and a unique tidal time-and-tide bell.

50. Lewis — Dalmore & Dalbeg Beaches
Beach — Isle of Lewis. Two dramatic surf beaches set in cliff-framed bays on Lewis's north-west coast, near Carloway — Dalmore is a renowned surf spot.

51. Lewis — Butt of Lewis
Photography — Isle of Lewis. The wild, wave-battered northern tip of the Outer Hebrides, marked by a red-brick lighthouse on towering gneiss cliffs — officially one of the windiest places in Britain.

52. Stornoway — Capital & Ullapool Ferry
Ferry port — Isle of Lewis. The only town in the Outer Hebrides — harbour, supermarkets, fuel, Lews Castle & museum (home to some Lewis Chessmen), and the CalMac ferry to Ullapool.

Mainland driving route

Outer Hebrides route (south to north)