Looking for some tips on a few days away in the Highlands. It’s a part of the country I love, but haven’t seen nearly enough of.

We have some good friends in Inverness who we are going to visit at the end of March and I’d like to make a trip of it and see some more of the country while we’re up there. I’m thinking of maybe driving up the West coast and staying at Fort William for a few days and exploring from there.

We like walks although we’ll have a small person in a sling, so Ben Nevis is probably out of the question (for now). I might try to sneak in a Distillery tour too.

Any recommendations?

I'm sure our Scottish colleagues will be along shortly, but having been a tourist a few times, I can recommend:

OBAN area:
Personally, I prefer Oban as a good base. Fort W is less interesting (IMO) but is just up the road. The distillery tour at Oban is good too.

Trip on the boat to Mull from Oban (40 mins) where you'll see the castle Duart featured in the film Entrapment (Connery and Zeta Jones) Need to take the car if you want to see the island.

Also the picturesque town of Tobermory.

Short boat hop to Iona to see the monastery - if you like that kind of thing. I did.

Glen Coe is close by - lovely scenery.

The walk up the Nevis Valley is fairly easy, and is stunning, so no need to climb the big one.

Cruachan Power station does tours - it's hydro electric and you get to go inside the mountain which is cool.

SKYE/ Torridon
Further up the coast you have Isle of Skye (with road bridge) and the amazing Cuillin Mountains. Also, on the mainland, you have the spectacular Torridon Mouintains which are great.

The Kyle of Lochalsh has Eilean Donan castle which is worth a visit.

Often good seafood in the area too.

So much to see. Knoydart (remote place) via boat from Mallaig is a good trip.

Fishing available at many places too, if you like that kind of thing.

Further south of course, you have the Isles of Jura and Islay, famous for their whiskey... so a potential boat trip for a distillery tour.

That should do for starters !

It depends a bit - there's loads of beautiful stuff just beating in mind that end of March is still really winter in the Highlands and you shouldn't expect anything but single-figures (plus or minus) temp wise.

Definitely wouldn't stay at Fort William either. Oban is a fair shout or Gairloch is a beautiful village too. No midges that time of year so the west coast is great but you might consider going to the top of Cairgorm at Avimore on the railway to see snow up close and a visit to the wide, long, sandy beach at Dornoch is lovely if the weather is ok. Dornoch is a nice village too. Plenty of distilleries there and around Inverness (though check which are open for tours in the off-season).

To be honest, you can't go too far wrong.

Oban, definitely.

Did I ever tell you I met Jimmy Shand there many years ago?

Thanks for the tips.

The Inverness based friends are from Dornoch and we've been to two of their family's weddings there. It's a lovely village and we undoubtedly be going back this time to see their folks.

Oban sounds like a good bet.