The Best Golf Resorts in Inverness and the Highlands
The Scottish Highlands have quietly become the most exciting golf stay in Britain. Cabot now runs a two course destination on the Moray Firth with a brand new Tom Doak links, Andrew Carnegie's castle takes golfing guests on the Dornoch Firth, and a five star boutique hotel sits a wedge from the first tee at Royal Dornoch. The season runs April to October, the light in June stretches past ten at night, and the courses stay blissfully calm compared with St Andrews. Here are the four stays that matter, ranked.
Photograph: Cabot Highlands, via Google
How we chose
This list was researched and written by the GolfForKings editorial desk, and every designer, opening date and fee on it was checked against club, resort and ranking sources in June 2026. The Highlands do not do mega resorts; they do great courses with serious lodging attached, which is better. We ranked on the quality of the golf first, then how completely the stay solves the trip, then access for a visiting golfer. Everything here sits within an hour of Inverness airport, which has direct flights from London and Amsterdam and puts the whole list one connection from most of the world.
Access varies more here than anywhere else in Scotland: Cabot Highlands and Spey Valley are openly bookable, Royal Dornoch requires planning ahead but welcomes visitors, and Skibo Castle is a members club that admits prospective member stays. The fees quoted are published 2026 rates with their season attached, indicative rather than guaranteed, so always confirm directly before booking. May, June and September are the prime months; July and August trade a little serenity for school holiday crowds.
The best Highland golf stays, ranked
Cabot Highlands
The new center of gravity in Highland golf. Castle Stuart, drawn by Mark Parsinen with Gil Hanse along the Moray Firth, hosted the Scottish Open four times and remains one of the most playable great links in Scotland, all width, firth views and infinity green sites. Now Cabot has doubled the property: Old Petty, the new Tom Doak links, took preview play in 2025 ahead of its grand opening on May 15, 2026. Published 2026 green fees run 330 pounds for Castle Stuart and up to 385 pounds for Old Petty, with 36 hole and Scottish golfer rates, indicative only; always confirm directly before booking. On site lodging spans the Farmhouse, Golf Lodge and Castle Cottage, with the castle itself being refurbished into a boutique hotel. Our verdict: the best 36 hole stay in the Highlands, full stop.
Access: public; book months ahead for summer. Check tee times.
Links House at Royal Dornoch
The great pilgrimage, solved. Royal Dornoch's Championship course is a fixture of world top ten rankings, the links where Donald Ross learned the game, and the most remote of golf's true greats. Links House removes the only friction: a restored 1840s manse turned five star hotel with fifteen rooms named for Highland salmon rivers, sitting steps from the club, so you can walk to the first tee with your coffee. The hotel arranges tee times, club storage and the rest of a northern links rotation, and dinner in its Mara restaurant ends the day properly. Royal Dornoch welcomes visitors with advance booking; summer tee times go many months out. Confirm green fees and hotel rates directly before booking. Our verdict: the finest small golf hotel in Scotland.
Access: hotel public; Royal Dornoch visitor times book far ahead. Check rates.
The Carnegie Club at Skibo Castle
Golf as a house party. Skibo Castle, Andrew Carnegie's Highland estate, now operates as The Carnegie Club, a residential members club where guests stay in the castle and estate lodges, shoot clays, ride, and play the Carnegie Links, 6,903 yards along the tidal flats of the Dornoch Firth and ranked 14th in Scotland by National Club Golfer in 2026. This is the most exclusive entry on this list: access comes through membership or a prospective member visit, arranged directly with the club, and the all inclusive style pricing reflects the estate around it. For the right group celebrating the right occasion, nothing in Scotland compares. Confirm access and rates directly with the club before planning around it.
Access: members and prospective member stays; enquire well ahead.
Macdonald Aviemore Resort and Spey Valley
The mountain change of pace. Spey Valley, a Dave Thomas design at the Macdonald Aviemore Resort, runs through Caledonian pine forest along the River Spey inside the Cairngorms National Park, with deer, red squirrels and osprey for galleries and the longest hole in Scotland, a 635 yard slog, for a story. The course hosted the European Challenge Tour's Scottish Hydro Challenge for years, so the test is real, while the resort behind it, three hotels, woodland lodges, restaurants and a leisure center, makes this the easiest family friendly base on the list. An hour south of Inverness, it pairs naturally with a whisky day on Speyside. Fees sit well below the links marquees; always confirm directly before booking.
Access: public; resort packages bundle golf and lodging. Check stay and play rates.
Designers, opening dates, rankings and fees verified June 2026 by the GolfForKings editorial desk from club, resort and ranking sources. Fees shown carry their season and year and are indicative only; always confirm directly with each club or resort before booking.
Plan a Highlands golf trip
Tell us roughly when and who is traveling. One concierge books Cabot Highlands and the Royal Dornoch tee times, arranges the Links House rooms and the drives between, and prices the trip honestly. We reply within one working day, with no obligation.
Building the trip
The classic week: land at Inverness, two nights at Cabot Highlands for Castle Stuart and Old Petty, north over the firths to Dornoch for Royal Dornoch from Links House, then either the Skibo occasion or the Cairngorms wind down at Aviemore on the way back. Nairn and Brora slot in as the underrated extra rounds; our 4 day Scottish Highlands golf itinerary maps the drives. For the wider country, start with the best golf courses in Scotland, time it with Scotland's shoulder season golf, and compare the east coast alternative in the best courses in East Lothian. Coming for a marquee tee time further south? Read how to play Royal Troon. Then let plan my trip put the whole thing in one brief.
Related
The Tee Sheet
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Researched and written by the GolfForKings editorial desk. Courses, designers, fees and access verified June 2026. Last reviewed: June 2026. See how we rank.