Loch Ness – Travel Guide At Wikivoyage

Towns

[edit] '"`UNIQ--maplink-00000002-QINU`"'Map of Loch Ness

See the town pages below for details of transport, accommodation, eating and drinking, and sights and activities. This page is just about the loch itself.

• 57.483889-4.2258331 Inverness is six miles north of the loch. It's by far the largest town in the region, with the most visitor amenities, so it's the obvious base for touring the loch and Great Glen. It's also close to other sights such as Culloden, the Black Isle, Aviemore, Spey Valley and Cairngorms National Park.
• East bank is reached via B852 & B862 the old military road. Dores is close enough to Inverness to be commuterland, and has a couple of B&Bs and a pub. There's basically nothing but scenery along the rest of the route, south through Inverfarigaig, Foyers and Whitebridge.
• 57.3373-4.482 Drumnadrochit is a village on the A82 with hotels and facilities out of proportion to its size, thanks to "monster" tourism. The ruins of Urquhart Castle are two miles south at Strone point. The A831 branches west here into wild lonely hills towards Glen Affric and Cannich village, eventually looping north back towards Inverness.
• 57.216-4.618563 Invermoriston is a smaller west-bank village where the River Moriston flows out into Loch Ness over a series of rapids. There's a couple of B&Bs and a camping & caravan site just south, and Alltsigh youth hostel two miles north. The A887 branches west up scenic Glenmoriston, eventually joining A87 to Kyle of Lochalsh and Skye.
• 57.1432-4.680664 Fort Augustus is the village at the south end of the loch, where the canal begins its final climb up to Loch Oich. The fort, built in the 1730s, has variously been an abbey, a school and a heritage centre, but is now an upmarket hotel.
• 56.896-4.9155 Spean Bridge is 23 miles south of the loch, where the Spean valley leads over to Speyside.
• 56.816944-5.1097226 Fort William is 32 miles south of the loch, where the Great Glen enters the sea. So it's not the standard base for visitors but it has good transport and amenities, and is close to Ben Nevis, Glencoe, and routes to the Hebrides. With a car you can easily day-trip around Loch Ness from there.