About

John was born and brought up in the Highlands, while Kate moved here 7 years ago. Between us we have 12 years’ experience working in tourism in the Highlands – John as a tour guide and Kate at a busy visitor attraction. 

We have travelled extensively throughout the Highlands, often by train. We love the beautiful landscape, exciting attractions, welcoming hospitality and everything else the Highlands has to offer and are keen to share it with you.

We are aware that existing visitor information tends to be written assuming you're travelling by car. It can be unclear what's accessible by public transport. Using public transport also requires more planning.

We've made public transport the focus of our guide. We have considered walking distance from the train station when listing accommodation, and walking distance or bus journey time when selecting visitor attractions.

All photos were taken by us, except where stated otherwise. We have used various cameras, which is why the sizes are sometimes mismatched. All the writing is our own and AI free!

Contact Us

We do our best to make sure information is accurate but please get in touch if you notice any mistakes or out-of-date content.

Contact us at hello (at) highlandsbytrain.co.uk

How we decided which accommodation to include:

We have done our best to ensure accommodation providers are reputable and high quality. However, we advise you also conduct your own checks – Action Fraud has useful guidance.

• Reviews: score of at least 3.5 on Google and Tripadvisor, except in Perth, Pitlochry and Inverness where we increased to 4.0 due to the large number of providers.
• Location: within a mile walking distance of the train station as given by RAC Route Planner, unless in an area with limited accommodation. Except in Inverness where we reduced to 0.5 miles due to the large number of providers.
• Safety: safe to access i.e. not on a busy A road with no pavement.
• Website: functioning and up-to-date, with a few exceptions where there is very limited accommodation.
• Currently open: recent reviews, Google listings and providers’ websites do not state temporarily or permanently closed.

How we decided which places to eat to include:

• Reviews: score of at least 3.5 on Google and TripAdvisor where reviews exist on both platforms, or at least 3.5 on Google or TripAdvisor where reviews only exist on one platform. Except in Perth, Pitlochry and Inverness where we increased to 4.0 due to the large number of providers.
• Location: central.
• Website or Facebook page: functioning and up-to-date.
• Currently open: recent reviews, Google listings and providers’ websites or Facebook pages do not state temporarily or permanently closed.
• Type of provider: restaurants are included. Cafes and takeaways are only included in locations where there are limited options for places to eat.

A note about local buses

For those who are wondering why we link to individual service operators rather than to Traveline Scotland. Traveline Scotland is the national public transport information service.

However, we have found it to be missing services since its 2024 redevelopment. Traveline, which covers all of Britain, seems to find the services missing by Traveline Scotland, but be missing others!

As a result, we don't feel confident recommending either and have instead linked to the relevant service operators. Unfortunately this means that if a route changes operator or service number, there may be a slight delay in us updating this information on the website.