Camping in Arisaig

Arisaig's coastline is one of the most rewarding stretches of the West Highlands for anyone keen on wild camping, thanks in large part to the Scottish Outdoor Access Code, which gives a general right of responsible access to most open land and shore in Scotland, wild camping included. Pitching a small tent for a night or two among the dunes and machair around Camusdarach or Back of Keppoch, north of the village, rewards campers with some of the finest sea views in Scotland, looking out to Eigg, Rum, Muck and Skye across the Sound of Arisaig. As with wild camping anywhere in Scotland, the code asks visitors to keep groups small, stay away from enclosed farmland, avoid fragile machair grassland where signs ask for it, leave no trace, and use a stove rather than lighting open fires on peaty ground.

The terrain here is classic West Highland coast: low granite skerries, white shell-sand beaches and pockets of machair grazed by sheep, backed by rough moorland and birch scrub rising towards the hills inland. Weather can turn quickly off the Atlantic, so a sturdy, well-guyed tent is worth having even in summer, and a sheltered pitch tucked behind dunes is generally more comfortable than an exposed one on the open shore. The best season for camping around Arisaig runs from May to September, when daylight is long and the machair is at its most colourful, though June is often cited as a sweet spot before the peak of midge season and school-holiday crowds arrive. Midges are the main practical hazard of a Highland camping trip: they thrive in still, humid conditions from June to August, particularly at dawn and dusk, so a head net and repellent are sensible additions to any packing list, and a breezy coastal pitch is usually more comfortable than a sheltered inland one.

For those who prefer fewer variables, a small number of campsites and glamping operators along the coast between Arisaig and Morar offer serviced pitches, pods and safari tents, giving access to the same beaches and views with the addition of showers, drying rooms and, in some cases, a shop or café on site — a good compromise for families or anyone camping outside the height of summer.