North

Destinations in North

Wick Thurso John O'Groats

There are three reasons to visit the far north of Scotland. The first is because you are going to Orkney, the second is because you have just caught the Far north train line from Inverness and spent the four hour journey enjoying some beautiful unspoilt views of highland wilderness, and the last is because you have just been to Lands End in Cornwall and want to travel the length of the country - the famous northerly village of John O'Groats and the nearby point which is actually the most northerly place in the UK are both located in Caithness. Either way, it's a nice enough place to spend a night or two, though probably not worth any more of your time.

Currency and money

All the Scottish banks have branches in Thurso and Wick. You should have no problems getting access to your money

Shop opening

Thurso and Wick are both reasonably significant towns, with a full range of shops from Woolworths to Somerfield. Opening hours are not as long as they are in big cities, but you should still not find any difficulty getting groceries or other essentials. Outside of these towns you might be limited to small village stores with short opening hours.

Arriving by Train.

The Far north train line is probably the most scenic and pleasant way to get to the area. 3 trains a day run from Inverness to Wick via Thurso, taking around 4 hours.

Arriving By Coach.

Citylink run a coach service from Inverness to Wick, Thurso and Scrabster.

Arriving By Plane.

There is a small airport at Wick with weekday services run by BA to Edinburgh and Eastern Airways to Aberdeen. Both normally cost between around 70 and 150 pounds one-way.

Arriving By Ferry.

The Scrabster Stromness car ferry runs to Orkney from Scrabster, just a few miles from Thurso (taxis and buses run from Thurso station to connect with the ferries). The John O'Groats Ferry runs from John O&Groats on the north coast to Orkney during the summer months.

Getting around by public transport

Travelling by bus.

Rapsons run a network of buses in the area. Thurso, John O'Groats and Wick are connected by fairly regular buses

Getting around by car

Apart from the length of the drive to get here, having a car should present you with no problems here - the roads are often single track but are not too bumpy, and parking is not a problem.

Mobile phone reception is pretty good throughout the area, with no large hills to disrupt the signal. There are phone boxes scattered around Thurso and Wick, and at least one in almost every village.

Hostels

The only independent hostel in the area is Sandra's Hostel, which is excellent and cheap. Probably best to book in advance during the summer as there are only 30 beds, and they are very competitively priced. The SYHA run a small hostel just outside John O'Groats if you are looking for a quiet break.

Bed and breakfast

There are dozens of small Bed and Breakfast establishments in the towns of the far north. As long as you arrive in office hours you should find that the tourist information offices in Wick or Thurso will be able to find you something. If you are arriving late in the evening, try to book something in advance - particularly in summer. Neither Wick or Thurso are particularly big, and you may well have to spend some time trudging around to find a free room.

Hotels

This is holiday territory, and not particularly fancy holiday territory at that. You will not find any particularly grand hotels this far north. There are a fair number of smaller establishments, although whether they are really much better than upmarket Bed and Breakfasts is debatable. Budget travellers will not want to shell out on luxury up here.

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Wick

Wick is about the same size as Thurso, although it takes longer to get there by train, has less buses to John O'Groats, and doesn't have a hostel. If you go there you will find a few decent pubs and cafes, including a Wetherspoons pub with cheap food and drink but no atmosphere. There is also a club, and a few shops. Basically, unless you are spending time visiting the whole area Wick offers nothing that you can't find in Thurso.

How to get there

Wick is at the end of the Far north train line, with 3 trains a day to Inverness taking around 4.5 hours. Regular buses run from John O'Groats to Wick. See the Far North page for full details on how to get to the area.

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Thurso

Thurso is a nice enough small town. It is not really worth a visit on its own merits, and doesn't really go to any effort to attract tourists. The main reason for visiting is that it is a staging post on journey north to the Orkneys, or a base for visiting John O'Groats or locations on the western half of the north coast.

How to get there

Thurso is one of the endpoints of the Far north train line, with 3 trains a day to Inverness taking around 4 hours. The Scrabster-Stromness car ferry to Orkney runs from Scrabster, just a few miles out of town. Regular buses run from Thurso to John O'Groats. See the Far North page for full details on how to get to the area.

Accommodation

Sandra's Hostel is an excellent and cheap hostel. This alone probably makes Thurso worth a visit over Wick. See the webpage for a full description of facilities. There are a few reasonable restaurants in town, and since there is so little tourism to drive up prices you could even get a fairly cheap meal.

Night-Life

Between the hotel bars and the few dedicated pubs you should be able to keep yourself nicely inebriated the whole time you are here, and if you get drunk enough there is even a nightclub of sorts.

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John O'Groats

John O'Groats is a hovel. A hopeless and complete waste of space. It has been designed with the worst kind of tourist in mind, and will be likely to leave even them disappointed. It isn't the most northerly point in the UK - that is halfway back to Thurso. It isn't even the most north-easterly point in the UK - that's the lighthouse around 3 miles to the east. It is just the only place nearby with the cheek to call itself a settlement.

If, against all the best advice, you arrive in John O'Groats, you will be dropped off in a car park near the ferry terminal. To your left is an ugly characterless shopping village, home to shops selling rubbish like candles and knitwear. If you are an EU citizen you may wish to ponder the fact that European money was wasted in building this act of vandalism. If you are not an EU citizen, shame on you for visiting John O'Groats anyway. To your right is the ferry office and ramshackle caravan park. Straight ahead you will find a tea-room and shop which is quite unjustly proud to serve overpriced Costa coffee, as well as the same Scottish junk you can find in any other shop. Beyond that you will find a photographer who will take hackneyed shots of you next to a fake signpost, an appalling attempted museum, and a tourist information centre, which is essentially another shop with a few out-of-date timetables posted unhelpfully in the window.

How to get there

John O'Groats has roughly hourly buses to Thurso, and a less regular service to Wick, both run by Rapsons. The Orkney passenger ferry also runs from here, and you can buy combined tickets to catch a coach from Inverness directly to here, and the ferry to Orkney and bus to Kirkwall on the other side. See the Far North page for full details on how to get to the area.

Accommodation

Do not book in advance. In the unlikely event that you still want to stay there having seen the place, there is an expensive-looking hotel and the aforementioned caravan park. Following their policy of putting hostels in the middle of nowhere, The SYHA run a small hostel a few miles back up the road towards Thurso. As John O'Groats is more of a travesty and ferry terminal than a village, you will be hard-pressed to find any real facilities beyond the tiny petrol station/shop/post office half a mile back from the coast. Eating in your accomodation is certainly the order of the day.