Broomfield Holiday Park

Broomfield sits right on the shores of Lochbroom, two minutes' walk from the centre of Ullapool. The pitch you land depends on when you arrive: it is first-come, first-served with no booking, so early risers get the lochside spots with direct access to the stony beach and unobstructed views across to the Summer Isles. Later arrivals are further back across the 12-acre site, but the setting is hard to escape regardless of where you end up.

The view does the heavy lifting here. Fishing boats work the loch in the morning; the Stornoway ferry passes in front of the site a few times a day; on a clear evening the Summer Isles light up in a way that makes it hard to pack up and leave. The site has been family-run for over 60 years and occupies a designated conservation area, so the feel is well-established without being manicured. Facilities are functional rather than polished: showers and toilets do the job, though the block shows its age.

Ullapool itself is one of the more characterful villages on the NC500, with good seafood, proper pubs, and independent shops all reachable on foot. For Hebrides-bound travellers, this is the obvious base the night before the ferry. For everyone else it is a natural pause on the route, the kind of place where an extra night tends to happen spontaneously.