The North Coast 500: Route, Stages and Campsites
A 516-mile loop from Inverness round the top of Scotland and back. It is a genuinely spectacular drive and a route that has been loved close to breaking point, which changes how you should plan it.
Published 19 August 2026
The North Coast 500 was launched in 2015 as a tourism initiative, stitching existing roads into a named loop from Inverness up the west coast, along the north coast to John o’ Groats, and back down the east. It worked, arguably too well. Visitor numbers rose faster than the single-track roads, passing places, car parks and waste facilities could absorb, and the local reaction has been mixed ever since.
None of that makes it not worth doing. It makes it worth doing properly, out of season, slowly, and with somewhere booked.
The route
| Leg | Roughly | Character |
|---|---|---|
| Inverness to Torridon via Applecross | 150 miles | The Bealach na Bà, and the most dramatic driving on the loop |
| Torridon to Ullapool | 100 miles | Sea lochs, Gairloch, the Inverewe gardens |
| Ullapool to Durness | 75 miles | Assynt, Suilven, Handa; the emptiest and best section |
| Durness to John o’ Groats via Thurso | 100 miles | The north coast, Smoo Cave, surf beaches |
| John o’ Groats to Inverness | 120 miles | The east coast: faster, gentler, castles and distilleries |
How long to take
The route is regularly done in three days and should not be. Five is the sensible minimum; seven to ten is where it becomes a holiday rather than a driving challenge. The roads are slow, single track with passing places for long stretches, and the average speed you plan with should be nearer 30 mph than 50.
- 3 days: you will see the road and very little else.
- 5 days: the standard, and workable.
- 7–10 days: walks, beaches, Handa or the Summer Isles, and time to stop when the weather is good.
Which direction
Anticlockwise from Inverness, up the west coast first, is the usual advice, and it is right for one reason: it puts you on the seaward side of the road for the best scenery, which matters enormously on a single-track coast road. It also gets the hardest driving done first.
Camping, parking and the friction
This is where planning matters most. Overnight parking restrictions have been introduced in several council areas along the route, height barriers have appeared on car parks that were previously used informally, and roadside waste has been a persistent source of local anger.
Scottish access rights do not cover sleeping in vehicles, the detail is in wild campervan spots in the UK, so the reliable approach on the NC500 is to book. Sites along the route are not expensive and they solve the chemical waste problem at the same time.
- Book ahead between May and September. The good sites fill.
- Use passing places properly. Pull in for faster traffic behind you, not just oncoming. See campervan sites in Scotland.
- Fuel is sparse and expensive in the north-west. Fill at Ullapool, Durness and Thurso rather than optimistically.
- Take your waste with you. All of it.
Where to stay
Our coverage of the immediate route corridor is thin: 9 sites within ten miles of the loop, against 50 across the Scottish Highlands as a whole. That reflects the emptiness of the north-west more than anything else, and it is the honest reason to book early rather than improvise.
Sites near the North Coast 500
Within ten miles of the loop, best-rated first.
See all 9 sites (3 more not shown here).
When to go
May and September. You avoid the worst of the midges, a serious factor here from June to August, covered in campervan sites in Scotland, and you avoid peak traffic. Winter is a genuine option for the east coast but the north-west single tracks in the dark are a different proposition.
For a day-by-day plan, see an NC500 seven-day itinerary.
Common questions
- How long is the North Coast 500?
- 516 miles, looping from Inverness up the west coast, along the north coast and back down the east.
- How many days do you need for the NC500?
- Five days is the sensible minimum. Seven to ten turns it into a holiday rather than a driving challenge. The roads are slow and stopping is the point.
- Can you camp anywhere on the NC500?
- No. Scottish access rights do not extend to sleeping in vehicles, and several council areas along the route have introduced overnight parking restrictions and height barriers. Booking sites is the reliable approach.
- Should you drive the NC500 clockwise or anticlockwise?
- Anticlockwise from Inverness, taking the west coast first. It puts you on the seaward side of the road for the best scenery and gets the hardest driving done early.
Keep reading
- Campervans & motorhomesAn NC500 Seven-Day ItineraryA seven-day North Coast 500 itinerary with realistic daily driving distances, the stops worth making, and where to break the journey each night.
- Campervans & motorhomesCampervan Sites in ScotlandWhere to take a campervan in Scotland, the regions worth driving, the overnight parking rules, single-track road etiquette, and the sites that take vehicles.
- Campervans & motorhomesWild Campervan Spots in the UK: What’s Actually LegalWhere you can legally sleep in a campervan in the UK, the law in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, the Loch Lomond byelaws, and the legal alternatives.
- Campervans & motorhomesElectric Hook-Up Explained: Amps, Cables and What You Can Actually RunHow campsite electric hook-up works, what 10A and 16A give you, why the kettle trips the breaker, what cable you need, and which sites offer it.