Nairn: a bewitching seashore city in Scotland

Set beside the “cobalt” Moray Firth, a half-hour drive east of Inverness, Nairn is “arguably Scotland’s finest seaside town”, says Robin McKelvie in The Telegraph. Its seashores are lovely, with their “starched white” sands, and its excessive avenue is “as elegant as any in the Highlands”. It is “alive with independent businesses” together with bijou galleries, “old-school bakers” and “Instagram-friendly” artisan cafés.

Try the ice cream at James’s (the “creative” flavours, similar to almond croissant, are a delight) and the Scottish seafood at Strathnairn Beach Café. The “classiest” place to remain is the Golf View Hotel – “a Victorian palace where time stands gloriously still”. And there’s a lot to see close by, together with Cawdor Castle (of “Scottish play infamy”) and wild locations similar to Culbin Forest, the place scenes from Christopher Nolan’s current “The Odyssey” have been shot.