Strathpeffer - A beautiful Victorian spa town

The Black Isle’s inland neighbour, Strathpeffer, was a Victorian spa town and still retains much of the gorgeous architecture that the era brought, including the old pavilion and a Victorian-era style railway station. The village in attractive base from which to explore the surrounding area, including the Black Isle and west to Ullapool – or just kick back and relax, Victorian-style!

The area surrounding Strathpeffer is full of walks of all levels, from quiet woodland or lochside wanders to a hike up the area’s highest mountain, Ben Wyvis. Nearby Loch Achilty is an attractive loch surrounded by wooded hills, with picnic benches perfect for a sunny day. The loch is particularly popular with wild swimmer, who swim out the crannog – an artificial island, once inhabited ancient dwellers.

At the eastern end of the village lies the Eagle Stone – a Class 1 Pictish Stone. It was originally located closer to Dingwall, but was moved to its current site in 1411. The stone is associated with the prophecies of the 16th century Brahan Seer who predicted that if the stone fell three times, the surrounding valley would be flooded, and the stone used as an anchor. It has since fallen twice, and is now set in concrete.

Contin woods stretch between the villages of Strathpeffer and Contin and provide miles and miles of forestry tracks, including a spectacular viewpoint from which you can see all the way to the mountains of the west.

At one end of Contin woods, close to the main road, lies Rogie Falls – a series of waterfalls where the deep amber water, coloured by the peat of the surrounding moors and mountains, tumbles below a suspension bridge.

Further west at Garve are Black water Falls, a larger waterfall reached by a short, attractive walk through natural pine woodland. There is an excellent woodland kids playpark here – we highly recommend taking the wee ones!

In January, cyclists flock to Strathpeffer for the legendary ‘Strathpuffer’ race, where they battle freeing temperatures, ice, 17 hours of darkness, wind, hail, mud and snow… to do as many laps of a route through Contin Woods as they can in 24 hours! Even if you’re not taking part, we recommend going along as a spectator – particularly for the end!

Just 20 miles from Inverness, Strathpeffer makes a great base to explore the surrounding woodland and forestry, relax with a spa and – if you’re brave – take part in a world-famous bike race. Although small, it is perfectly located to take advantage of all the area has to offer in all directions.