Isle of Skye Highland Games

"Massed pipe bands lead the chieftain's parade from the Bridge Hotel to Couper Park in this small fishing village on the far northeast coast."

Helmsdale and District Highland Games

"The last free games in the Highlands, where Games Day on the seaside Links feels like New Year, opened by Lord Cawdor himself."

Nairn Highland Games

"Glenmorangie Ground in Scotland's oldest royal burgh hosts its Highland gathering each August, the town's patron saint Duthac watching over proceedings from his shrine in the medieval church that pilgrims including James IV once visited on foot from Edinburgh."

Tain Highland Gathering

"Castle Leod, seat of the Earl of Cromartie, hosts the gathering in this beautifully preserved Victorian spa village in the Black Isle hinterland, where the original pump rooms and pavilion pavilion still stand and the games have been a fixture since the Victorian health tourists first came to take the waters."

Strathpeffer Highland Gathering

"Culag Park at Lochinver holds the most remote Highland games on the Scottish mainland, where the extraordinary quartzite mountains of Assynt rise in every direction and the audience is a mixture of local crofting families and visitors who have driven an hour from the nearest town to get there."

Assynt Highland Games

"Meadows Park in the ancient cathedral town of Dornoch hosts its games on a summer Friday, where the medieval cathedral oversees the pipe bands and the links that rank among the finest golf courses in the world lie just beyond the dunes at the edge of the Dornoch Firth."

Dornoch Highland Games

"The Royal Deeside market town of Banchory hosts its agricultural show each August at the gateway to the Cairngorms, where Aberdeenshire beef and Highland cattle are judged against a backdrop of the Forest of Birse and the River Dee shining in the valley below."

Banchory Show

"Market Park in the town that was once the largest cattle market in Scotland and the southern end of the drove roads from the Highlands hosts its gathering each August, where the Knock hill rises above the ground and the games feel rooted in a landscape that shaped the character of the entire Highland cattle trade."

Crieff Highland Gathering

"The Haugh at Forter in remote Glenisla holds its games in a glen where the only road is single track, the mobile phone signal is unreliable and the audience has come from the farms and shooting estates of Angus rather than from any tourist trail, making it one of the most authentic Highland gatherings anywhere."

Glenisla Highland Games

"Blairbeg Park in Drumnadrochit holds its games with Loch Ness stretching south toward the Great Glen and Urquhart Castle ruins visible from the throwing circle, a combination of Highland athletics and legendary scenery that no other games ground in Scotland can match."

Glenurquhart Highland Games

"Set at Inverlochy Castle Farm in the shadow of Ben Nevis, this West Highland agricultural show and family fun day celebrates the farming traditions of Lochaber with livestock and countryside displays."

Lochaber Agricultural Show

"The March of the Lonach Highlanders, kilted men with pikes walking the glen, precedes a day of games at Strathdon."

Lonach Highland Gathering