Thurso is the north-coast town most travellers meet on the way to Scrabster and the Orkney ferry, but it deserves more than a glance from a car window. It faces the Pentland Firth with a broad sandy bay, cold-water surf, old Caithness stonework, and a raw edge-of-mainland feel that is very different from the Highland postcard further south.
The town's best surprise is the surf. Thurso Beach and Thurso East draw serious surfers when the North Atlantic swell is working, and even non-surfers can enjoy the bay, river mouth, and view towards the ruins of Thurso Castle. A few streets inland, the old town around the river still hints at the fishing settlement that came before the planned streets.
For history, Old St Peter's Kirk is a roofless medieval church ruin with a stronger sense of age than many tidier monuments. West of town, Holborn Head gives Thurso its best walk: a short clifftop circuit from Scrabster past lighthouse, sea stacks, blowholes, and big Pentland Firth views. Add Wolfburn Distillery, the mainland's northern whisky outpost, and Thurso becomes a good one-day stop rather than just the place before the boat.