Scotland’s new 300-mile-long driving route - including the highest village - and North Coast 500 lessons

It takes in sandy beaches, dramatic coastlines, rolling countryside, pretty villages and a sense of the undiscovered.

The South West Coastal 300 (SWC300), which ventures through Dumfries and Galloway and South Ayrshire, is Scotland’s latest driving route.

Wanlockhead - Scotland's highest village - can be found on the new South West Scotland Coastal 300 driving route through Dumfries and Galloway and South Ayrshire. | Getty Images

The loop starts and finishes in Dumfries and reaches the most southerly point in Scotland at Mull of Galloway. Drivers will also head to Wanlockhead, the highest village in the country, in the Lowther Hills.

Places such as Culzean Castle, the book village of Wigtown and the charming, colourful Portpatrick are found on the way.

READ MORE: I walked the North Coast 500 - and here are the unexpected discoveries I made

The route comes following the overwhelming popularity of the North Coast 500 through the Highlands , which generates at least £22m a year for the local economy.

Its success has been tempered by frequent complaints from residents about large volumes of drivers on narrow roads, driving standards and the impact of the poor behaviour of some holiday makers, such as illegal parking and bad waste management. The North Coast 500 Ltd, which markets the route, has said it is listening to concerns and acting upon complaints.

READ MORE: Scotland’s summer tourist season opens up - and Trump ripples are being felt

Meanwhile, the creators of the new drive in the south of Scotland are keen to create a different type of experience for both drivers and communities on the route.

David Hope-Jones, of the South of Scotland Destination Alliance, said he “did not want to criticise the NC500” given it economic success and job creation but added the route had created “real challenges” for communities on the route.

He said: “Generally, the North Coast 500 can be regarded as a marketer's triumph. With relatively little investment, it has created a phenomenon that has driven the economy to an extraordinary degree.

“If you judge it purely through the marketeers lens, it has been very, very successful.

“But, if you view it through a community lens and actually a visitor experience lens that is not really the story.

“You have got the £25 fish and chips, you have got the associated housing challenges, you have unclassified roads that have useage far, far beyond what they were built for but there isn’t the money to invest in them

“So you have got real challenges.”

READ MORE: Up to one million visitors destined for Scottish island amid calls for ‘radical rethink’ of Scottish tourism

He said that promotion for the SWC300 was kept at a minimum and was directed at specific markets, such as potential self-drive tourist from Germany.

Mr Hope-Jones added: “One of the difficult things is when you have that marketing success, it very quickly has its own energy and it is very hard to change or turn off.

“ I am not looking to criticise, and with all humility, we look to learn from the NC500’s successes in terms of brand creation and the use of social media. But how do we first engage with local communities and have systems working so we are confident we are working within the existing infrastructure?

“We run the South West Coastal 300 on our website but we are careful not to push it too much and we are careful where we push it.

“Getting the German and Dutch self drive market to be inspired and do it is great, as their spend is so strong but getting this blunderbuss approach of promoting it to everyone, we might find that the average spend of visitors is going down.

“The key thing is to listen to local businesses and residents and make these adjustments.”

Residents and businesses have routinely said they did not want to emulate the NC500, with the topic raised at more than 60 public meetings.

Mr Hope-Jones added: “One of the questions we have asked is which area of Scotland and the UK should we emulate and which area should we not emulate.

“Almost without exception across those 60 or 70 meetings the thing that popped up was North Coast 500 - I would say it was a 70/30 divide, with 70 per cent saying we shouldn’t emulate it and 30 per cent saying it is brilliant and we should emulate it.”