Whaligoe Steps

Landmark

Landmark · Thurso, United Kingdom 58.3457°N 3.1615°W

Why you should go

Ninety seconds on Whaligoe Steps

Best time

Dry, calm weatherExposed, uneven steps

Cost

FreeDonations box at the top

Effort

Challenging800 steps there and back

Season

Year roundOpen at any hour

Access

Steps onlyLow wall, no handrails

Open and free

Are Whaligoe Steps open all year and free?

Yes. The site is free to visit and open year-round, and the walk down to Whaligoe Haven is open 24 hours a day. Dry, calm conditions suit it best.

Time needed

How long does it take to do Whaligoe Steps?

Roughly five minutes to descend and, depending on fitness, about double that to climb back up. Time spent exploring the old fishing station at the bottom comes on top of that.

Parking

Where to park for Whaligoe Steps?

In a very small car park at the top of the cliffs, with room for no more than 8 to 10 cars and a signed area kept for local residents. Larger motor vehicles should not try to park there.

Difficulty

How hard are the Whaligoe Steps?

Challenging, because the steps are steep, uneven and exposed to the elements. The return trip is about 800 metres, and climbing back up is much harder than going down.

Where they are

Where are the Whaligoe Steps?

Just south of Wick in Caithness, down an access road from the A99. A phone box marks the corner of that road, with a brown sign for Cairn of Get on the opposite side.

Go down for what waits in the cove: the ruins of a salt store, chains fixed in the cliff and the iron bowl where nets were boiled, with no information boards to explain any of it.

What makes it special

The stairway is Caithness flagstone, and a stone balustrade of the same stone is its only concession to safety. More than 300 steps follow the natural unevenness of the cliff face, bending back and forth in five hairpin turns.

The steps served a fishing station. Women carried the catch up them in baskets and walked it on foot to Wick, some 11 to 13 km away.

At the bottom, the ruins of a salt storage shed stand on The Bink, with a winch once used to haul boats onto the rocky shore. A circular metal bowl survives as well: a bark kettle used to boil the nets, with a narrow recess in the wall beneath it for the fire.

Small recesses in the wall held paraffin lamps, and large metal chains are fixed into the cliff at the back of the cove.

Visiting

Before you go down, look for the small monument at the top of the steps. It remembers Etta Juhle, who cleared about 30 tons of rubble by herself after a landslip in 1975.

Some of the steps are split, so take the descent with care.

At the base, a large grassy platform holds the crumbled stone remains of old fishing houses. Stand beside the Salt Store, where a drop falls to the sea and waves rush in and under into a sea cave.

From the platform, watch the oystercatchers and terns that nest in the cliffsides circle down to the water.

Tips

Nothing is for sale at the site, and there are no toilets or public bins. Carry what you need for the visit and take your litter home with you.

Without a car, take bus 175 south from Wick towards Dunbeath, get off at the stop called Smithy Cottage and walk from there.

Back on the A99, the road runs north from Wick to John o' Groats, where a single-track road leads out to Duncansby Stacks.

Know before you goAs of 2026, the steps are not signposted on the main road. If the small car park is full, do not park on the verges of the fast A99, which is prohibited because of the poor sightlines and traffic. Stay away in snow or frost, when the steps become extremely slippery and dangerous.