20th August 2026
There is something slightly strange about the way we travel the North Coast 500.
Put a map of Scotland in front of someone who has never travelled the far north and watch what happens. Their eyes are drawn towards the top of the country. Then they see the words John o' Groats.
Suddenly, getting to the very top becomes the objective.
The North Coast 500 is one of Scotland's great tourism successes. The 516-mile circular route begins and ends at Inverness, taking visitors through some of the most spectacular scenery in Britain. But perhaps we have unintentionally turned one of the world's great touring routes into something resembling a road trip challenge.
How quickly can we get around it?
The better question might be: why would you want to?
The NC500 isn't a race. Nobody gets a medal for completing it in five days rather than eight. And if the purpose of travelling around the Highlands is to see the countryside, experience the communities and discover places with thousands of years of history, rushing from one end of the route to the other rather defeats the object.
This is particularly important when the route reaches Caithness.
The psychological pull of John o' Groats
There is no denying the attraction of John o' Groats.
It has become one of the great geographical landmarks of Britain, helped enormously by its association with the journey from Land's End. For many visitors, reaching the famous signpost feels like completing something.
And that is perfectly understandable.
But John o' Groats is not the end of Caithness. It is barely the beginning of what the county has to offer.
Indeed, the official NC500 route itself recognises Caithness as one of its six regions, alongside Sutherland, Wester Ross, Easter Ross, the Black Isle and Inverness-shire.
The problem is that visitors can arrive at John o' Groats, take the obligatory photograph, perhaps have something to eat and then move on.
They may have technically "done" Caithness without actually seeing very much of it.
That is a missed opportunity for the visitor and for the local economy.
What if the NC500 became several holidays rather than one long drive?
Perhaps the answer is to stop thinking about the NC500 as one journey.
Instead, think of it as a collection of smaller journeys.
A visitor might spend several days exploring Wester Ross, several more around Assynt and the north-west, and then deliberately make Caithness another part of the holiday rather than simply an overnight stop before continuing south.
That changes everything.
Instead of asking how far you can drive in a day, you can ask what you can actually see.
And Caithness has an extraordinary amount to see.
The castles are only part of the story
The obvious attractions are important.
There is the Castle of Mey, with its connections to the Queen Mother, its gardens and its visitor facilities. The castle itself dates from the sixteenth century and has a remarkable history stretching from the Earls of Caithness to the royal connection.
There is Castle Sinclair Girnigoe, dramatically positioned on the cliffs north of Wick.
There are the remains of Old Wick Castle, Keiss Castle and other remnants of the county's turbulent past.
But the real attraction of Caithness is that the history doesn't stop at the big castles.
A county full of ancient history[b]
Drive through Caithness and you are travelling across a landscape occupied by people for thousands of years.
There are brochs, standing stones, burial monuments, old settlements and archaeological remains scattered across the county.
The Caithness Broch Centre at Nybster is one example of how the story of the Iron Age can be brought to life. Caithness Broch Centre
There is the Hill o' Many Stanes, an extraordinary prehistoric monument near Lybster. Hill o’ Many Stanes.
There are the Camster Cairns, the Achavanich standing stones, Nybster Broch and numerous other archaeological sites.
The official Caithness tourism information lists an extraordinary range of these lesser-known sites, including Yarrows Archaeological Trail, Crosskirk, Nybster, Camster Cairns and the Hill of Many Stanes.
These aren't merely places to stop for ten minutes and photograph.
For anyone interested in history, they can be the reason for staying another day.
Then there are the beaches
Caithness doesn't necessarily fit the mental image that many people have of the far north.
Visitors may expect cliffs, moorland and windswept roads.
They may not expect some remarkably beautiful sandy beaches.
Dunnet Bay is perhaps the best known, but there are also beaches around Keiss, Sandside, Peedie Sands and elsewhere along the coast. The regional tourism information highlights several of these stretches of coastline.
And beaches don't have to mean swimming.
They mean walking, photography, wildlife watching, watching the weather roll across the Pentland Firth or simply sitting down for half an hour instead of getting back into the car.
That last point may be the most important.
The places between the famous places
One of the great advantages of slowing down is that you start noticing things that aren't necessarily in the standard tourist itinerary.
Take Whaligoe Steps. Whaligoe Steps
Take the old fishing settlements.
Take the harbours at Lybster and Staxigoe.
Take Noss Head, the small communities along the coast, the old crofting landscapes and the unexpected archaeological sites.
Take a detour rather than following the quickest possible route.
The official NC500 map itself identifies a remarkable collection of attractions around the Caithness section, including Sinclair and Girnigoe, Old Wick, Forse, Castle of Mey and Dunbeath Broch.
There is a message in that map.
You don't have to keep driving.
[b]Wick deserves more than a fuel stop
Wick is another example.
For some visitors it is simply somewhere they pass through on the way around the circuit.
But Wick has a fascinating story of its own.
The town's history is closely connected to the great herring fishing industry, and the Wick Heritage Museum provides an opportunity to understand the people and industries that shaped the town. The Wick Heritage Museum.
There is also the harbour, Pulteneytown, the old streets, the coastline and the ruins of Sinclair Girnigoe nearby.
And for those interested in whisky, Old Pulteney adds another dimension to the story.
This is not simply somewhere to stop for fuel.
It is a town with a history worth discovering.
Thurso has its own story
The same applies at the other end of the county.
Thurso is more than the town people pass through on their way towards the north coast.
The North Coast Visitor Centre provides a window into the area's history and heritage. North Coast Visitor Centre
Nearby, there are beaches, the coastline around Dunnet and opportunities to explore the landscape rather than simply photograph it through a car window.
And then there is the heritage of Castletown and the Castlehill Heritage Centre, which helps tell the story of the stone-working communities that once made a living from the local landscape. Castlehill Heritage Centre
Even John o' Groats deserves more time
Ironically, even the place that can become the objective of the journey deserves more time than a quick photograph.
The signpost is only one part of the experience.
A short journey east brings visitors to Duncansby Head and the famous Duncansby Stacks, where the cliffs and sea provide one of the most dramatic landscapes in northern Scotland. Duncansby Head Lighthouse Duncansby Stacks
And Dunnet Head offers another reason to stop. It is the true northernmost point of mainland Britain, something that can come as a surprise to visitors who have assumed that distinction belongs to John o' Groats.
The Castle of Mey itself recommends that visitors stay for several days to explore the wider area, listing places including Dunnet Head, Wick Heritage Museum, Castle Sinclair Girnigoe, Whaligoe Steps, Duncansby Stacks, Nybster Broch and Camster Cairns among the attractions nearby.
That is quite a list for somewhere that some visitors might otherwise treat as an overnight stop.
And there is a business reason for slowing down
This is where the argument becomes particularly important for Caithness.
A visitor who spends one night in the area will spend some money.
A visitor who stays three nights has three breakfasts, three evening meals, several lunches, perhaps visits attractions, buys fuel, purchases gifts, visits shops, takes tours and may discover businesses that they would never have encountered on a flying visit.
More importantly, they may go home thinking:
"We need to come back."
That is much more valuable to a local economy than simply having another vehicle pass through.
The current NC500 organisation's own Caithness guide makes a similar case, highlighting whisky, heritage, coastal attractions and numerous places beyond the headline destinations.
Perhaps we need to change the question
Instead of asking:
"How long does it take to do the NC500?"
perhaps we should be asking:
"How long do I need to properly experience it?"
Those are two completely different questions.
The first encourages people to calculate mileage.
The second encourages them to look at a map and start putting circles around places they want to visit.
And once they do that, the five hundred miles suddenly looks very different.
It isn't a road to be conquered.
It is a collection of communities, beaches, castles, archaeological sites, mountains, harbours, museums, wildlife, food, drink and landscapes.
Caithness could be a reason to slow down
There is also a wider lesson here for the NC500 itself.
The success of the route has brought enormous attention to the north of Scotland. But perhaps its next stage should not be about attracting more people to drive around it.
Perhaps it should be about encouraging the people who already come to stay longer.
That would be better for visitors.
It would be better for local businesses.
And it could help spread tourism expenditure beyond the handful of places that appear on every NC500 photograph.
For Caithness, the opportunity is particularly clear.
Don't simply tell visitors that they have reached John o' Groats.
Tell them what they have missed if they leave tomorrow morning.
Because once the map is turned around, the northern tip of Scotland stops looking like the end of the journey.
It starts looking like somewhere worth stopping for.