Scottish Highlands

The Scottish Highlands are the rugged northern and northwestern portion of . This is the Scotland conjured up by visions of tartan, kilts, Bonnie Prince Charlie and all.
Wikivoyage
Wikipedia
Photo: StaraBlazkova, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Photo: Kirua, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Essential Destinations

Top destinations include Inverness and Loch Ness.

Photo: Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
is a city in area of the Scottish Highlands, at the point where the River Ness flows out into the Moray Firth. is the only city of any size in the Highlands, and is the region's commercial and administrative centre.

Photo: Jjtkk, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a lake or loch which runs for 23 miles along the fault line of in the Scottish Highlands. It's a mile wide, very deep, and dark with peat.

Photo: AlasdairW, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is the highest mountain in the United Kingdom, at 1344.527 m / 4413 ft - it gained about a metre during a 2016 official survey. It's near the town of in the Scottish Highlands, at the southwest end of the Great Glen.

Destinations to Discover

Explore places such as The Great Glen and Strathspey and Argyll and Bute.

Photo: Graham Lewis, CC BY 2.0.
are in the central Scottish Highlands. These two valleys are natural transport routes converging on Inverness, which became the region's chief town.

Photo: AlasdairW, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a region in the western Scottish Highlands. It's a scattered, disparate region, but you can't blame the planners who created it from other counties in 1974.

Photo: Ritchyblack, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a region of the Scottish Highlands, to the north and west of Inverness. It has a string of villages along the east coast, more separated villages along the lochs and inlets of the west coast, and lonely moors and mountains in between.

Photo: Moyearo, Public domain.
are the northern part of the Scottish Highlands, sparsely inhabited, with a population of 38,267 in 2018. Caithness at the northeast tip of this region and Sutherland across the rest of it have always been separate counties.

Scottish Highlands

Latitude of center
56.8° or 56° 48′ north
Longitude of center
-5° or 5° west
Elevation
262 feet (80 metres)
Open­Street­Map ID
node 5594819121
Open­Street­Map feature
natural=­mountain_range
Geo­Names ID
2646943
Wiki­data ID
Q106652
This page is based on OpenStreetMap, GeoNames, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikivoyage.
We’d love your help improving our open data sources. Thank you for contributing.

Satellite Map

Discover Scottish Highlands from above in high-definition satellite imagery.
© Stadia Maps, Airbus DS, CNES, PlanetObserver, and Copernicus

In Other Languages

From Afrikaans to Yiddish—“Scottish Highlands” goes by many names.
  • Afrikaans: “Skotse Hoogland”
  • Arabic: “مرتفعات إسكتلندا”
  • Armenian: “Շոտլանդական լեռնաշխարհ”
  • Asturian: “Tierres Altes d’Escocia”
  • Basque: “Eskoziako Lur Garaiak”
  • Belarusian: “Паўночна-Шатландскае нагор’е”
  • Bosnian: “Škotsko visočje”
  • Breton: “Uheldirioù Bro-Skos”
  • Bulgarian: “Северошотландска планинска земя”
  • Catalan: “Highlands”
  • Catalan: “Scottish Highlands”
  • Catalan: “Terres altes d’Escòcia”
  • Catalan: “Terres Altes Escoceses”
  • Chinese: “苏格兰高地”
  • Chinese: “蘇格蘭高地”
  • Croatian: “Škotske visoke zemlje”
  • Croatian: “Škotsko visočje”
  • Czech: “Highlands”
  • Czech: “Skotská vysočina”
  • Czech: “Vysočina”
  • Danish: “Det skotske højland”
  • Danish: “Highland”
  • Danish: “Highlands”
  • Danish: “Højlændere”
  • Dutch: “Lijst van dorpen in de Schotse hooglanden”
  • Dutch: “Schotse Highlands”
  • Dutch: “Schotse Hooglanden”
  • Dutch: “Scottish Highlands”
  • Esperanto: “Altaj Landoj”
  • Estonian: “Põhja-Šoti mägismaa”
  • Finnish: “Scottish Highlands”
  • Finnish: “Skotlannin ylämaa”
  • Finnish: “Skotlannin Ylämaa”
  • Finnish: “Skotlannin ylämaat”
  • Finnish: “Ylämaat”
  • French: “Hautes-Terres d’Écosse”
  • French: “Hautes-Terres écossaises”
  • French: “Highlands”
  • Galician: “Highlands”
  • Galician: “Terras Altas Escocesas”
  • Georgian: “ჩრდილოეთ შოტლანდიის მთიანეთი”
  • German: “Highlands”
  • German: “Hochland von Schottland”
  • German: “Schottische Highlands”
  • German: “Schottisches Hochland”
  • Greek: “Υψίπεδα της Σκωτίας”
  • Greek: “Χάιλαντς”
  • Hebrew: “ההיילנדס הסקוטיים”
  • Hebrew: “ההיילנדס הסקוטים”
  • Hebrew: “היילנדס”
  • Hebrew: “הרמה הסקוטית”
  • Hungarian: “Skót-felföld”
  • Icelandic: “Skosku hálöndin”
  • Ido: “Alta Teri”
  • Indonesian: “Dataran Tinggi Skotlandia”
  • Interlingua: “Highlands”
  • Irish: “Gaeltachd na hAlban”
  • Irish: “Garbhchríocha na hAlban”
  • Irish: “na Garbhchríocha”
  • Irish: “Na Garbhchríocha”
  • Italian: “Highland scozzesi”
  • Italian: “Highlands scozzesi”
  • Italian: “Highlands”
  • Japanese: “スコットランド・ハイランズ”
  • Japanese: “スコットランド高地”
  • Japanese: “ハイランズ”
  • Japanese: “ハイランド地方”
  • Kazakh: “Солтүстік-Шотланд таулы қыраты”
  • Korean: “스코틀랜드 고지”
  • Korean: “하일랜드 지방”
  • Lithuanian: “Škotijos aukštumos”
  • Low German: “Highlands”
  • Low German: “Hoochland”
  • Luxembourgish: “Highlands”
  • Macedonian: “Шкотски Гори”
  • Malay: “Tanah Tinggi Scotland”
  • Manx: “Gaeltaght ny h-Albey”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Det skotske høylandet”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Høglendar”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Høglender”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Høglending”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Høylandene”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Høylender”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Høylending”
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: “Dei skotske høglanda”
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: “Det skotske høglandet”
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: “Highlands”
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: “Scottish Highlands”
  • Norwegian: “Det skotske høylandet”
  • Occitan (post 1500): “Highlands”
  • Old English (ca. 450-1100): “Hēahland”
  • Persian: “اسکاتلند کوهستانی”
  • Persian: “مرتفع‌زمین‌های اسکاتلند”
  • Polish: “Highlands”
  • Polish: “Scottish Highlands”
  • Portuguese: “Highlands Escocesas”
  • Portuguese: “Scottish Highlands”
  • Portuguese: “Terras Altas da Escócia”
  • Portuguese: “Terras Altas Escocesas”
  • Portuguese: “Terras Altas”
  • Romanian: “Highlands”
  • Russian: “Highlands”
  • Russian: “Северо-Шотландское нагорье”
  • Russian: “Шотландское высокогорье”
  • Russian: “Шотландское Высокогорье”
  • Sardinian: “Highlands”
  • Sardinian: “Terras Artas iscotzesas”
  • Sardinian: “Terras Artas Iscotzesas”
  • Scots: “Hielands”
  • Scots: “Scots Hielands”
  • Scottish Gaelic: “A‘ Ghàidhealtachd”
  • Scottish Gaelic: “Mòr-thìr na Gàidhealtachd”
  • Scottish Gaelic: “Tìr nam Beann Àrda”
  • Scottish Gaelic: “Tìr nam Beann”
  • Scottish Gaelic: “Tìr-mòr na Gàidhealtachd”
  • Serbian: “Шкотско горје”
  • Serbo-Croatian: “Highlands, Škotska”
  • Serbo-Croatian: “Highlands”
  • Slovenian: “Highlands”
  • Slovenian: “Scottish Highlands”
  • Slovenian: “Škotsko višavje”
  • Spanish: “Highlands”
  • Spanish: “Tierras Altas de Escocia”
  • Spanish: “Tierras Altas escocesas”
  • Swedish: “De skotska högländerna”
  • Swedish: “Highlands”
  • Swedish: “Högländare”
  • Swedish: “Högländerna”
  • Swedish: “Scottish Highlands”
  • Swedish: “Skotska högländerna”
  • Swedish: “Skotska höglandet”
  • Swedish: “Skottlands högländer”
  • Turkish: “Kuzey İskoçya”
  • Ukrainian: “Гайлендс”
  • Ukrainian: “Хайлендс”
  • Ukrainian: “Шотландське високогір’я”
  • Upper Sorbian: “Highlands”
  • Upper Sorbian: “Šotiska wysočina”
  • Urdu: “اسکاٹش ہائی لینڈز”
  • Venetian: “Highlands”
  • Welsh: “Ucheldir yr Alban”
  • Welsh: “Ucheldiroedd yr Alban”
  • Western Frisian: “Skotske Heechlannen”
  • Wu Chinese: “苏格兰高地”
  • Yiddish: “הויכלענדער”

Scotland: Must-Visit Destinations

Delve into Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Dundee.

Explore These Curated Destinations

Discover places selected for their distinct character and enduring appeal.