📌 Cave & boat trip in Durness, Highland
★★★★
It doesn’t take long to run out of indoor options around Durness during a run of bad weather days. But have you thought about heading underground? The gaping entrance is one of the major attractions in the far north of Scotland: an awesome rock amphitheatre with a 50 foot-high, 130 foot-wide “mouth” beckoning you in. From the gaping jaws of the cavern, wooden walkways lead to an interior chamber with a waterfall clearly visible. This is the dramatic end to the Allt Smoo – the burn which plunges into the cave from its course above, with its own viewpoint on the inland side of the road. If you’re lucky with the weather (and water levels), short, geological tours by boat and foot take intrepid explorers beyond the end of the walkway into a further chamber.
🌍 Location
📌 Off the A838 1 mi east of Durness
🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NC 419671
🛰️ GPS coordinates: 58.563330,-4.719739
🚌 Rare bus stops at car park
🚗 Car park
📝 Key info
⌚ Most of site is always open. Inner cave boat tour: daily, April to October
🎫 Most of site: free. Boat tour: £15 adult / £5 child
🔗 Boat tour website: smoocavetours.com
💬 From the car park, steps descend steeply to the cave entrance (⬤⬤ Easy to Moderate). Boat tours are suspended if water levels in the cave are too high – caused by heavy rain or strong southwesterly winds.
