Situated at the tip of the Black Isle on the southern shore of the mouth of Cromarty Firth, it is 5 miles (8 km) seaward from Invergordon on the opposite coast.

[2] The name Cromarty variously derives from the Gaelic crom (crooked), and from bati (bay), or from àrd (height), meaning either the "crooked bay", or the "bend between the heights" (referring to the high rocks, or Sutors, which guard the entrance to the Firth), and gave the title to the Earldom of Cromartie.

[a] On the 26th of January 1940, HMS (Previously RMS) Durham Castle, while being towed to Scapa Flow hit a mine laid by U-Boat U-57 11 nautical miles to the east of the town.

The site of the town's mediaeval burgh dating to at least the 12th century was identified by local archaeologists after winter storms in 2012 eroded sections of the shoreline.

A community archaeology project, which began in 2013, is investigated the remains of roads and buildings at the site on the eastern edge of the present town.

[3] In the nineteenth century, Cromarty was the birthplace and home of Hugh Miller, a geologist, writer, journalist and participant in the Disruptions in the Church of Scotland.

Cromarty is in the UK Parliament constituency of Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, represented since 2024 by Jamie Stone.

Since the local elections in 2017, its councillors, for the Black Isle ward, have been Craig Fraser (SNP), Gordon Adam (Liberal Democrats) and Jennifer Barclay (Independent).

The official blazon is: Or, three boars' heads erased Gules, armed and langued Azure, in the centre of the shield a mural coronet of the Second.

Above the Shield is placed a mural coronet suitable to a statutory Community Council, videlicet:- a circlet richly chased from which are issuant four thistle leaves (one and two halves visible) and four pine cones (two visible) Or, and in an Escrol below the Shield this Motto "Meane Well, Speak Weil, and Doe Weil".

[14] The cottage with crow-stepped gables in Church Street, in which the geologist Hugh Miller was born (in 1801), is now the only remaining thatched building in Cromarty, with most houses having switched to slate roofs.

[17] While the Gaelic chapel is now ruined, its graveyard is still active as Cromarty's cemetery, and the town's war memorial and a monument to Hugh Miller are situated next to it.

The Cromarty Arts Trust, which restored several buildings in the town, including the Brewery and the Stables, organises a programme of arts and music events, including concerts and gigs, an annual Crime and Thrillers weekend, a Harp Weekend and stone letter carving and silver working courses, while the Cromarty Group of artists hold an annual exhibition of their work.

Guests of the 2008 festival included Kirsty Wark, Donald Shaw and Karen Matheson, Janice Forsyth, David Mackenzie and Michael Caton-Jones.

[19] The town made the news in October 2012 when Bobby Hogg, the last speaker of the traditional local North Northern Scots dialect, died.