3-Day North Coast 500 Tour from Inverness

The Rabbies 3 day tour of the North Coast 500 was enjoyable and our driver, Camille, was fantastic. The scenery on the first day was stunning, good on the 2nd day, and just so so on the 3rd down the east coast. The tiny single track roads made for challenging driving and parking and Camille was a total pro. Clearly she has worked very hard on her driving skills and on the music and information shared during the trip. With a very small group, we could spread out in the 16 person van. With many more participants, the trip would have felt very tight and claustrophobic on small roads. The 4 rating is based primarily on the structure of the trip with days ending at 6pm when all shops were closed. That timing plus locations of B&Bs in particular, outside of the centers of town were less preferable. Our hotel and the onsite restaurant in Ullapool was fine. The lunch stop in Wick was not good (industrial wharf area for a brief lunch stop) and the location of the hotel in Thurso was ok but out from town. Thurso did not seem like a great stop. Entry to a couple of stops was not included in the tour cost, which was surprising. Overall, the trip provided sights as advertised and we are glad we took it, with the suggestions here. It is a lot of driving/sitting on a bus. We might suggest the shorter tour to Applecross and back to Inverness as a better alternative.

Beautiful country, with history & geological knowledge sprinkled in along the tour. Eilidh was a wonderful guide and very sensitive to the varying needs of the travelers in her care. She has a great love for this part of the world and it shows in how much she delights in sharing it. Also a terrific playlist!! Rabbie’s tours are always equal parts beautiful sights and well informed guides! This was my first overnight experience with Rabbie’s and it went very smoothly. I booked the tour thru Viator and am curious about the hotel choices they made on my behalf but overall it was ok. Of the 16 people on the bus we were booked in 3-4 different hotels each night. Some made res on their own, some thru Rabbie’s and others thru agents. The quality of the hotels were not always similar. So if you are picky about your accommodations I’d advise do your own research.

What a wonderful tour! Liam was a terrific driver and guide. The scenery was absolutely beautiful and the towns were picturesque with friendly people and delicious food at every stop. Highly recommend!

We took the 3 day nc500 tour and it was good but not as great as we expected. Having been with rabbies before, the hotels on offer weren't great once again and we would definitely recommend booking your own and the actual photostops weren't great either, they could have went to far better locations in my opinion. Our guide was nice enough but certainly made a few mistakes and really needs to make sure he's giving the right information out to visitors!

Highly recommended!!! From getting onto the bus in Inverness on Wednesday morning, to leaving the bus in Inverness on Saturday evening we were treated to an experience which delighted every sense. Our guide, James, was the font of all knowledge, and brought the views to life, with tales from history, interesting lessons in Jollyigy (he made rocks sound fun) and anecdotes about the places we visited. this was interspersed by appropriate highland tunes and by stops along the way to wet the taste buds. It's given us the desire to do the NC500 again, and also to do more Rabbies tours. One tip I can offer, is to make sure your camera (or camera phone) has plenty of memory .. you'll be getting loads of photos!!!