I have lived in Inverness all my life and I don't think I would live anywhere else.
Years ago Inverness was probably a remote place and in the wilderness a bit. Nowadays it's different. There are over 60,000 people living here, and it has been classed as one of the fastest growing places in Britain. There are good rail, bus and plane networks. The airport is small but there are daily flights to and from London, Birmingham and other British cities, as well as flights going to and from some foreign countries.
In Inverness itself there are many restaurants - one of which was featured on a Gordon Ramsay show last year. There are a variety of restaurants here - Italian, Chinese, Indian, as well as British food. There are also a number of hotels.
There are a wide range of shops in Inverness - when I was young the nearest M&S was in Aberdeen, now we have 2 shopping centres with M&S, Debenhams, to name but a few. There is also a retail park on the outskirts of town with a lot of big named shops (Boots, Homebase, etc). At the retail park there is also a cinema, with quite a few screens so there are many films on each week.
If you are into pubs and clubs, there are quite a lot about, some of which have an extended licence these days.
For family days out , there is quite a lot to do - there is the sports centre/Aquadome, which caters for most sports tastes, including swimming, trampolining, kids parties, etc.
What I would recommend if you came to Inverness would be a car as there are many scenic places to see round and about Inverness but not always handy to get to without one. I would suggest Loch Ness (always a good place for a picnic), Culloden Battefield, and any of the nice beaches over the kessock bridge (Fortrose, Cromarty, Rosemarkie, etc).
If you are a football fan, there are always our Scottish Premiership team, Caley Thistle, that you can go and watch.
I am editing this review as I forgot to mention that there are Farmer's Markets on along the High Street on the first Saturday of every month, as well as 4-day continental European markets (with produce from abroad) twice a year. At the farmers markets you can get fresh local produce - anything from eggs and butter & pies to plants, and flowers.
Also, Inverness has got quite continental, there are Irish coffee shops and bars too, as well as the foreign restaurants.
I also forgot about the Victorian Market, which has a lot of creative shops ('Creations', 'Hobby Haven', and a couple of others), a cafe, a fish shop, a butchers, and others. That is situated in Inverness town centre.
There are a lot of parks in and around Inverness, but the best is probably Whin Park which has kiddie's climbing frames, chutes, swings (quite a lot for children to go on), a boating pond, a shop that sells ice cream and sweets, and a train that goes right around the park. It is quite a big park so plenty to keep the kids amused and a good place for picnics.
Supermarkets are varied - Morrisons, Tescos (three of them), and the Cop-op. There is also Lidls and Farmfoods in Inverness.
There are lots of fitness centres/gyms too around Inverness too - most have swimming pools.
Lots of different events take place in and around Inverness each weekend and over the summer holidays - the Highland Games (held at the Bught Park in Inverness) each July, the Glenurquhart Highland Games (held at nearby Glenurquhart, 20 minutes or so drive away) each August, and the Snowman Ralley (if you are interested in Ralley driving - held each year in February, I think, around Inverness.
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