Secret Scotland: The hidden Highlands spots you've never heard of

Scotland’s 800 or so isles are often the go-to for an escape from civilisation; understandable given what they offer. Head off the beaten track in the Highlands, though, and you can savour a world-class break away from the hordes this year without even stepping on a ferry. Even as a travel writer born and based here, it has taken me years to fully appreciate what the Highlands offer beyond those isles – here are my tips for getting off the beaten track in Europe’s last great wilderness.

Not the North Coast 500

Follow the motorhomes trailing dutifully across the Kessock Bridge on the clogged NC500 driving route, then smugly break east on to the Black Isle where many of the charms of the Highlands await without the traffic. We’re talking beaches, seafood, walks and cute villages. Not actually an island, this peninsula is sandwiched between the firths of Moray and Cromarty – sweeping sea views and big skies abound. Picture postcard Cromarty is awash with lovely Georgian buildings, with EcoVentures skipping you out to meet dolphins, maybe even whales. Dodgy sea legs? Chanonry Point offers Scotland’s best shore-based dolphin spotting.

How to do it: Fly into Inverness and you’ll be across the Kessock Bridge and on the Black Isle within the hour. The Royal Hotel in Cromarty is comfortable rather than luxurious, but the sea views make up for it – book a larger Superior room; they have dog-friendly rooms too.

The inaccessible beach

Cast adrift four miles from the nearest – already gloriously remote – road is a beach legendary amongst savvy Scots. While the littering crowds made headlines around fellow Sutherland charmer Durness last summer, the sheer difficulty of getting to Sandwood Bay puts off many. It’s a decent yomp; a battle across soft bog-prone ground. Your efforts are rewarded when you descend through the steep dunes to unveil Hollywood Scotland: all tumbling Atlantic surf and craggy cliffs, with the mile-long sands stretching out in welcome. The soaring Am Buachaille sea stack completes a scene you won’t forget.

How to do it: It’s around a three hour drive from Inverness. No hotel excels locally, so get closer to the Sandwood spirit staying in a tealight-lit furnished bell tent. Oldshoremore Beach awaits outside, an even quieter cousin to Sandwood that residents of nearby Kinlochbervie prefer.

Whisky’s hidden in them their hills

The Cairngorms (the UK’s largest national park) and Speyside (Scotland’s whisky heartland) are both well known. Wee Tomintoul, on the fringes of both, isn’t. Ignore Queen Victoria, who dismissed it as "the most poor-looking place I ever saw", as the wide main street in the highest village in the Highlands is trim with stone cottages (and not just holiday homes). The few tourists that come flock to the Tomintoul Distillery north of the village – you should pop in for a tour and for a distillery-only bottle to toast the tour buses when they leave. Then you’ve the superb local walks and bike rides to yourself: there is easy access into the wild and wildly beautiful Glenlivet Estate and a less-trammelled section of the Speyside Way.

How to do it: It’s around an hour’s drive from Inverness to Tomintoul. Just outside the village, the Stronavaich guest house reclines with a stomping full Scottish breakfast to set you up for sightseeing.

Sea eagles in Shieldaig

If Torridon and Applecross are seriously off the beaten track, it says it all that sleepy Shieldaig is off the track between them. A necklace of whitewashed cottages hug the waterfront – take a bench and gaze with them out to the Scots Pine shrouded island managed by the National Trust for Scotland. Keep gazing as it is home to nesting sea eagles, avian mammoths that catch your breath. Local rambles ease off from the village, but there are enough places to eat and relax if you prefer Lotus Eating.

How to do it: Less than two hour’s drive from Inverness. Spot sea eagles out your window at Tigh an Eilean. Local ‘prawns’ (massive langoustines) star in their restaurant.

Turn back time

Before the baleful Clearances much of the Highlands was alive with tiny communal crofting communities (a social system defined by small-scale food production); all too few remain. One of them is Duirinish. Locals and low-key visitors mingle at the new Croft Café – learn about crofting culture as you tuck into local produce and proper coffee. The village seems like the 20th century – you might literally stumble into an awesomely-horned Highland Cow, with communal grazing de rigueur. The nearby heritage village of Plockton is ignored by many of the hordes racing to the nearby Skye Bridge; an ideal base for exploring the off the beaten track crofting villages on the southern shores of Loch Carron.

How to do it: Two hours west of Inverness. Stay in the heart of picture-perfect Plockton with a seaview room at the Plockton Hotel. Seafood platters and local ales await downstairs; regular live music too.

Escape to Britain’s remotest pub

It’s a long walk in – 14 miles of hard going – and that’s the ‘shortcut’ to Knoydart. And there is no train; nor even a road. Bounce in by boat and your efforts are rewarded by the most remote pub on the British mainland. The go-getting locals now run their own community and this year they’re trying to buy the Old Forge. Beyond the pub, a trio of Munros beckon amidst some of the most dramatic wildscapes in Europe.

How to do it: Overnight train from London Euston to Fort William, then train to Mallaig and boat to Knoydart. Bubble post-hike in the hot tub at The Gathering and check out this quality B&B’s new restaurant.

Lose yourself in the mountains

Many a car ekes through the glowering peaks of Kintail, but few stop in this landscape devoid of the imprint of man; just glad to reach safety. You’re staying put. The mountains of Kintail quite simply offer some of the best hiking in Scotland. Your Abacus guide will check your skills and fitness beforehand so when you arrive it’s straight off into the hills for an epic day that will burn long in your soul. You’ll see more deer than people. If you miss company wander with the Jacobite ghosts down at the site of the Battle of Glen Shiel in 1719.

How to do it: Just over an hour drive from Inverness. You’ve the ideal adventure base at the revamped Cluanie Inn. Book the room with the sauna – you’ll thank me post-walk – and enjoy modern Scottish and Indian dishes in the restaurant with deer nosying outside and those hills gazing back.

Mystical Morvern

The neighbouring peninsula of Ardnamurchan is celebrated as the most westerly point on the British mainland. Morvern cares little for accolades; nor man. It’s been that way since thousands of my Cameron kinsfolk were forced off the land in the 19th century. Today Morvern offers a proper escape on roads little troubled by cars – catch the ferry across and Mull feels Manhattan-esque in comparison. Roam the hills, enjoy the emptiness and bathe in wildlife. If you want to learn more about how Morvern became a man-made wilderness, the ground-breaking Forestry Commission site at Aoineadh Mor has unearthed a cleared village with audio recordings detailing the suffering of Mary Cameron, a deeply moving insight into those who were evicted from the area.

How to do it: Two hours' drive from Glasgow, followed by a ferry ride from Oban to Mull; another from Mull to Morvern. Caorann on the Rahoy Estate is a self-catering bolthole with the most dramatic loch and hill setting imaginable – through the floor-to-ceilings windows we watched red deer; otters and pine martens.

Badachro

Jamiroquai, remember him of acid jazz and supercar fame? My Badachro pal tells the story of the extravagantly hatted superstar being disgruntled after spending an evening at the Badachro Inn with no one recognising him. When he queried it, he was dispatched with a cheery “we know who you are, but no one cares”. Badachro is that sort of refreshing place, a wee community off the beaten track that lives right on the water and lives around that pub. Water, wildlife and hills abound. Whether Jamiroquai tucked into Gairloch creel-caught langoustines at the inn we don’t know; you should as you peer out for otters and sea eagles.

How to do it: Ideally arrive in on your own boat. Alternatively, it’s under two hour’s drive from Inverness. The posh Shieldaig Inn is every bit the grand Scottish country house escape.

Coigach and Assynt

Why head off the beaten track – that stupidly busy NC500 again – for one peninsula when you can have two? Pedants may delight that Assynt isn’t strictly a peninsula, but Coigach and Assynt are joined at the hip – and what a hip it is. We’re talking sweeping beaches that have grown men whooping, the twin rock monoliths of Suliven and Stac Pollaidh that are more Stanley Kubrick than shortbread tin and boat-fresh seafood (though the latter is best savoured at Salt Seafood Kitchen with crustaceans caught in the creels outside). Try the local favourite: squat lobster tails. Expect big life-affirming skies and lashings of fresh air – pure Highlands.

How to do it: Nearly three hour’s drive from Inverness. Ever dreamed of staying in a lighthouse? Stoer Head Lighthouse is even better than your childhood fantasies with epic views (and sunsets) over Skye and the Outer Hebrides; a lovely wee walk to the 60m-high Old Man of Stoer tempts.

• Read more: discover the best hotels in Scotland

Are there any other Scottish destinations that should make the list? Tell us in the comments below