Loch Ness Scotland
United Kingdom

10 Cruises availables At departure or passage at this port

Lindblad Expeditions (10 Cruises)


Frequently Asked Questions

No. Ocean-going ships do not go there: the visit is made from Invergordon or Inverness for large vessels, or aboard the small craft that work the Caledonian Canal. Either way, you reach the loch by road or by canal.
The classic programme combines a boat trip and the ruins of Urquhart Castle. Boat excursions leave from Dochgarroch near Inverness and run down to open water past woods and castles. Factor in the road time: Inverness is about 20 kilometres from the loch.
Thirty-seven kilometres long, over 200 metres deep in places, and holding more fresh water than all the lakes of England and Wales combined. The shores drop away steeply and waves get up quickly.
Because of peat washing down from the surrounding hills, which stains it deep brown. Visibility is measured in centimetres. That is probably part of why this loch has fed the imagination for fourteen centuries.
The most photographed ruin in Scotland, on a headland jutting into the water halfway along the loch. Besieged, retaken and deliberately destroyed in 1692 so nobody could hold it, all that remains is a tower, sections of wall and cellars open to the sky. You climb Grant Tower for the view straight down the loch.
A canal opened in 1822, designed by engineer Thomas Telford, linking the lochs of the Great Glen so that boats could cross Scotland without facing the northern storms. It still works: barges and yachts pass through its stone locks among the sheep.
A geological fault that slices diagonally across Scotland, a chain of lochs set between mountains. Loch Ness is its most famous link, and the Caledonian Canal follows its whole length from one sea to the other.
No, and it is best said plainly. What remains is a vast, dark, silent lake that commands a certain respect from the first kilometre of shore. The local exhibitions present the scientific searches and the hoaxes honestly.
Yes, and the legend helps a great deal. The boat trip is always a hit, the Urquhart ruins can be explored freely with a reconstructed siege engine on the lawns, and the visitor centre screens a short film. Bring a windproof layer: it is often cold on the water.
Pound sterling and English. Scottish banks issue their own notes, valid throughout the UK. Cards are accepted everywhere, including for boat trips and castle admission.