Smoo Cave, Durness

4.5

#1 of 11 in Nature in Caithness and Sutherland

Cave · Nature / Park

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Easily accessible, Smoo Cave has the largest entrance of any sea cave in the British Isles. Its vast interior is floodlit, and you can even explore the innermost depths by boat. Travel to the cave by a steep track down to the inlet where the seawater meets the river. Then, the entrance leads you into a large cavern in the lime stone cliffs. Check with local tour guides about boating and discovering more of the cave’s depths. The word Smoo is a Norse word "Sumvya" meaning creek or cleft. Recent excavations show that the cave was in use 6,000 years ago by the earliest settlers in the north. A visit to Smoo Cave represents just the start of the adventure when you use our Durness trip builder tool to plot your vacation.

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Tours to Smoo Cave

FROM $341 BOOK WITH VIATOR 3-Day North Coast 500 Small-Group Tour from Inverness 3-Day North Coast 500 Small-Group Tour from Inverness

5.0

Duration: 3 days

Tours from $341 ›

FROM $9,899 BOOK WITH VIATOR The Ultimate Scottish Road Trip The Ultimate Scottish Road Trip

Duration: 8 days

Tours from $9,899 ›

Smoo Cave reviews

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TripAdvisor traveler rating

1,213 reviews

Google

4.6

By JGray85

This place is fabulous. We walked to it from Sango Sands Oasis, which was about 20mins. There are toilets at the attraction. There is also some eatery vans across from it. The cheese toastie place..... more

This place is fabulous. We walked to it from Sango Sands Oasis, which was about 20mins. There are toilets at the attraction. There is also some eatery vans across from it. The cheese toastie place..... more »
By Sussexkim

Had a boat trip through the cave, very interesting hearing the history of the caves. Aaron really knew what he was talking about & even spoke German to some German guests. Interesting hearing how...

Had a boat trip through the cave, very interesting hearing the history of the caves. Aaron really knew what he was talking about & even spoke German to some German guests. Interesting hearing how... more »

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Google

By Lauren neilson

Only down point is we had the dogs and couldn't take them on the tour

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By J Wood

Excellent cave. Glad we stopped but not worth driving there just to see it.

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