Sail the North Coast 500, Scotland

Sail the North Coast 500 in Scotland with this unique spin on the iconic route. The entire route takes 35 days, but you can choose to do just do one leg if you prefer. Best of all, beginners are welcome, so if you want to learn or become better at sailing, then “all aboard”.

Sail all, or part, of Scotland’s famous North Coast 500 Several 10-day legs available No experience needed Join a small group and a professional skipper aboard an expedition yacht

Price

£2495 excluding flights

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Duration

27 Days

Type

Small group

More info

The trip is split into 3x 10day legs Each leg is £2,495 for a single berth Full trip is £5,995 for a single berth Contact us for detailed availability

Description of Sail the North Coast 500, Scotland

Sail the North Coast 500 in Scotland aboard a comfortable expedition yacht with this adventurous trip that’s ideal for solo travellers, as well as couples and friends. While experience is always useful, beginners are welcome and you can learn a lot in a short space of time with a professional and highly experienced skipper at the helm.

You’ll join a small group, sharing duties, and enjoying a sociable, supportive environment as you explore Scotland’s beautiful coastline.
There is the option to sail the entire journey, per the itinerary below, or to do just one or two of the three legs. If you sail the whole way, you can enjoy a private cabin for the duration.

Leg 1: Oban to Stornoway
Explore remote lochs and islands such as Jura, Skye and Mull, with wildlife sightings practically guaranteed as you roam the Western Isles.

Leg 2: Stornoway to Wick
Sail towards Orkney as you make your way around Scotland’s wild north coast, with exciting night sailings a possibility if the weather allows.

Leg 3: Wick to Oban via the Caledonian Canal
Return to Oban, home of the famous whisky distillery, via the east coast and the Caledonian Canal.
Each leg is 10 days long, with a few days in between for crew changeovers.

All trips contribute to a pot that funds a place for someone who does not have the means to sail themselves.

Price information

£2495 excluding flights

Convert currency:

The trip is split into 3x 10day legs Each leg is £2,495 for a single berth Full trip is £5,995 for a single berth Contact us for detailed availability

Contact Us

If you'd like to chat about this holiday or need help finding one, we're very happy to help

01273 823 700

Call us tomorrow after 9am

Calling from outside the UK rosy@responsibletravel.com

Check dates, prices & availability

Date

Price per adult

Basis

Status

19 Jun 2027

£2495

excluding flights

2 spaces left

date

19 Jun 2027

price

£2495

basis

excluding flights

status

2 spaces left

Contact Us

If you'd like to chat about this holiday or need help finding one, we're very happy to help

01273 823 700

Call us tomorrow after 9am

Calling from outside the UK rosy@responsibletravel.com

Travel guides

2 minute summary Best time to go

A wild, windswept paradise, the Hebrides lie just off Scotland’s west coast.

2 minute summary Map & highlights

Get ready to turn the dial all the way up to 11 on your holiday with our travel guide.

Holiday information

OUR SKIPPERS:

Your skipper on this trip will be world-leading, there to provide expert instruction and support, helping you actively participate and grow your sailing skills. From a world record-breaking skipper, a Golden Globe entrant or a multi-time circumnavigator - our Skippers have over 1.5 million ocean miles between them.

LIFE ON BOARD:

This is an adventure, and it should be fun! Our skippers are patient, passionate about ocean life, and dedicated to ensuring you feel relaxed and enjoy the entire experience. With small group sizes, you will quickly get to know your crewmates—many of whom remain friends long after the trip ends.

DO I NEED SAILING EXPERIENCE:

We design our trips for a wide range of experience which means that even if you’ve not sailed, our experienced Skippers will ensure you have a fantastic time. Before you join, we’ll ask about your previous sailing experience and what you want to get out of the trip. That way, we’ll tailor the tour to your specific needs.

KIT LIST:

We provide a recommended kit list well in advance of your adventure, ensuring you're fully prepared. Life-jackets and all safety equipment are supplied, and we also offer 'foul weather gear' available to borrow if needed.

Dietary requirements:

We can cater for vegetarian and vegan diets.

Responsible Travel

As the pioneers of responsible tourism, we've screened this (and every) holiday so that you can travel knowing we've worked to maximise the benefits of your holiday to local people and places, and minimise any negative impacts.

Planet

CARBON REDUCTION

We are passionate about exploring the ocean in the most sustainable way possible. With this in mind, in 2023 we developed a tool to measure the Co2 footprint of all our trips. We are the first sailing operator in the world to do this. We have now made the tool available to other sailing operators to encourage them to also measure their impact so we know where to focus to make change. We measure the Co2 footprint of each trip we run. The Scottish adventure has a Co2 emission of 1,051KG per leg, or 131KG per person per leg. 64% of this is fossil fuel consumption (Diesel and gas) since the variable weather conditions and fast tides increase use of the engine compared to long ocean trips. We are tackling this by exploring use of bio-fuel as an alternative to diesel and, later in 2025 we will be commencing sea trials of a brand new yacht, which is 100% electric and fossil fuel free in operation.

As part of our sustainability initiatives we commit to sourcing all the food for the Scottish trip from local producers where possible.

ENVIRONMENT AND WILDLIFE

We aim to reduce our environmental impact by over 90% within the next 18months - largely thanks to the new yacht that we are building, to our own design, but also due to continuous monitoring of our Co2 impact through the entire life cycle of the yacht.

In 2024 we were proud recipients of the Luxlife, Marine Tourism award for "Global sustainability champion 2024"

People

LOCAL ECONOMY

Also important is our support for local communities - in Scotland, many of the places we visit are small communities - we buy locally and encourage our crews to go ashore, ensuring they get the most from their trip as well as supporting local businesses.

EMPLOYMENT, INCLUSIVITY AND DIVERSITY

A big component of our business model is encouraging more people into sailing. We will be offering fully funded places on all our trips to those without the means or confidence to otherwise sail. These places will be offered via our award-winning "Open Oceans" programme. This programme was set up in 2023, with the first recipient joining our Scottish sailing adventure in that year. In 2025, we will have 3 Open Oceans recipients, one per leg, on the Scottish trip.

Finally, our award-winning trips are tailored around each person on the trip - we start early by finding out exactly what your expectations are. We then build the trip around those - this makes a very tailor-made experience and is one of the reasons we were awarded "Best adventure sailing operator - UK" in 2023 and were shortlisted for a prestigious Highlands & Islands Tourism Award in 2024, specificalyl for our Scottish adventures.

Sail the North Coast 500, Scotland