"Inverness, the home of Nessie" a Inverness Travel Page by ringleader

It was a 4-hour drive from Edinburgh area, but we enjoyed every bit of it. We traveled north on M90 to A9 and passed by Blair Atholl. It was most intriguing to see the lay of the land change as we passed into the Highlands.

Our first glimpse of Loch Ness was thrilling. I understand it is quite deep, which you can see reflected in the perfect stillness of the surface - at least it was perfectly calm when we were there! I hear tell it is also the longest one at 25miles!

We visited the gift shop north of Urquhart Castle visitors' center and saw the only Nessie there was to see there - there she was in all her concrete glory! The hotel was nice. We also stopped in the visitor's center to see the film and shop a little. We were disappointed by the high prices on the gifts. If you really are interested in the controversy surrounding the Loch Ness Monster, you may enjoy watching the short film there. You do have to pay, however, and you may think twice about that if you aren't caught up in the "is there really or is there not" fun.

Definitely worth a view, the visitors' center at the castle makes the rest of it more interesting. The castle itself is not as nice, say, as Stirling or Edinburgh because it is more of a ruin than a castle. The film in the visitors' center is quite good and gives you a thrilling history (drama re-enactment) of the castle. The castle and visitors' center has a 5-star rating and is a Historic Scotland property.