NC500 Road Trip – If You Want to See Scotland, This is How.

What is the NC500?

The NC500 is a route that follows the northern coast of Scotland. There’s a few options when it comes to routes you can take as some are more accessible that others. The route that we took can be seen below with each of the daily stops we made. This route took us from the 25th to the 30th of June to complete with an overnight stop on each day. You can find more information here.

Day 1

Day 1 started at Spaceship Campervans just outside of Edinburgh. There is a very limited number of companies that allow under 25’s to rent a campervan, I would assume due to limited driving experience. Out of the 6 of us that went on the trip, we insured 3 to drive the campervan, me being one of them.
I already had experience driving a van of a similar size for work so took the first shot at driving but driving was split between two of us for most of the trip after that. The first day was easily the worst for driving, fortunately I dodged that bullet and got to chill for 6 hours. We made a quick stop in Aviemore to stretch our legs and also at Castle Sinclair. The castle itself wasn’t particularly impressive but the coastal view was quite nice.

Day 2

Day 2 had a few more stops as we got into the more scenic parts of Scotland.

We also made a planned stop at a zipwire over Ceannabeinne Beach which was also very impressive. Unfortunately we also had to make a 30 point turn in the middle of a road to make our way back to a parking spot but we managed eventually.

After the rest of the journey me made our second overnight stop at Shegra Beach Honour Campsite which again, had some stunning views, and it was purely donation based. We had intended to leave the recommended donation but everyone forgot when we left. This was also BBQ night so we feasted on some gloriously marinated pork. A few of the group also decided it would be a good idea to swim in the sea. In Scotland. Where it’s icy cold. So although it was fun at the time, everyone came back feeling slightly chilly. The sunset at this campsite, after a short climb up a hill was also stunning. I also managed to get sunburnt here which isn’t surprising being a pasty white Scottish ginger.

Day 3

Day 3 took us over another scenic spot. The Kylesku Bridge is a popular photo spot and it does look rather fancy so we made a quick stop to tick the photo box.

Our rest stop for this day was at Port a Bhaigh Campsite. It doesn’t seem to be possible to find a campsite with a bad view in the whole of Scotland. To top it off I got to open my birthday presents on this night and we played some Mario Kart on the worlds smallest TV.

Day 4

This was my birthday and I’ve never had such a laid back birthday in my life. We made some more stops to take in the views and to skim some stones. We also made a stop in an actual town instead of at a nice view. Surprisingly, after 4 days in a camper van we never made lunch. So today was the day we actually ate 3 meals although we did just park at the side of a road.

One of our most impressive spots which we almost missed out on is the Ardessie Falls. This is barely even on a map but it looks amazing. Highly recommended that everyone should see it.

This day ended at Applecross Campsite, which is one of the most popular campsites, which was quite surprising actually because it wasn’t particularly impressive compared to the others.

Day 5

Our last day and another birthday, from someone else in the group. Quite lucky that two of us had birthdays during this trip.
The last day was quite busy. First was kayaking on Loch Shieldaig with a couple of guides to show us about. We also got to hold a jellyfish.

Our final destination was Landmark in Aviemore, a sort of forest adventure park. As it turns out, it is not aimed at people of our age group so it was basically a hellscape of children.

Should You do The NC500?

Yes. Also Yes. And also definitely yes. This was one of my favourite holidays and despite living in Scotland for my entire life I never knew it was this impressive. Even if you were just to drive the entire route at a much quicker pace then it would be a worthwhile trip.