Campsites near Wick with hot tub
Wick offers a sublime coast with cliffs and beaches, plus Flow Country’s epic miry expanse.
Popular camping styles for Wick
2 top campsites near Wick with hot tub
Sinclair Bay Lodges
Bankhead Croft
Campsites near Wick with hot tub guide
Overview
Wick might seem small, but it is a thriving metropolis by the standards of sparsely populated Northeast Scotland, with a train station, shops, restaurants, and a harbour—and even a great campsite sits on the banks of the River Wick just west of town. Whilst it is not Scotland’s most obvious outdoor activity base, Wick’s proximity to clifftop walking and one of Scotland’s longest sandy beaches, Sinclair’s Bay (not to mention the enormous inland wilderness of boggy, loch-bedaubed Flow Country) gives campers plenty of opportunity to get out on the wild side.
Where to go
Sinclair’s Bay
A short distance north of Wick, this long sandy bay has to be mentioned in any Scottish beach best-of list. It is a popular place for surfing and kiteboarding, and there are no fewer than three castles along its length. Backed by cliffs and sand dunes, parts can be quite sheltered for a wild camp; there are also camping pods near Nybster at the northern end.
Dunnet Head Nature Reserve
As extreme compass points go, John o’ Groats, Britain’s northeastern point, gets more attention but Dunnet Head, its northernmost point, is far more beautiful. This heathery moor scattered with small lochs is a Royal Society for the Protection of Birds reserve, and at the southern entrance is a superb farm campsite overlooking grassy cliffs and rock stacks.
Flow Country
This evocatively named region is a watery, miry no-man’s-land and Europe’s largest expanse of blanket bog, spanning 4,000 square kilometres, with Wick being one of the best access points. Forests and lochs also break up the scenery and keep it both interesting and very seldom visited. As only a couple of roads bisect this region this is a great opportunity to go off-piste and wild camp.
When to go
Wick is not in itself a travel hotspot, so do not expect either campgrounds or any other tourist facility to be open outside of the Easter to September high season. In any case, outside of this period, weather is likely to be unsuitable for camping, with high winds and torrential rain common and shelter limited. July and August generally see the warmest (or least cold!) weather but temperatures above 20°C (68°F) are rare even so.
Know before you go
- Most of Flow Country constitutes one of the UK’s remotest regions—great for wild camping, bad for facilities of any description.
- Wick and Thurso are the best places to stock up on camping essentials, but neither have dedicated outdoors stores. For a dedicated shop, stop in Inverness.
- Wick is connected by train to Inverness, as is Thurso. Northeast Scotland’s two biggest towns have no direct train connection, but good bus connections. Altnabreac station (on the Inverness to Thurso line) delivers you right to the middle of Flow Country.
