The West Highland Line

A great place to start any journey in Scotland is beautiful Edinburgh. It has an amazing old city centre with the famous Royal Mile, which is home to a proper castle, one of the Queen’s (many) palaces, and several nice museums. But besides this popular street, I can only recommend you also to discover the streets surrounding it. There are many narrow staircases to climb, picture-perfect streets and pretty views to admire. If you’re just coming for the highlands, or if you’re coming from elsewhere in the UK, you could also begin your trip in Glasgow.

Hop on a train to Glasgow and change to the West Highland Line in the direction of Mallaig (3 roundtrips per day). Our destination: Fort William. Definitely take a window seat; there will be plenty of beautiful nature to be observed during this 4-hour train ride. The landscapes around you will slowly get more rugged when you’ll reach the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, and further ahead, it might even start to look like you’ve arrived on a different planet.

Good to know: you can also travel to Fort William by night on board of the Caledonian Sleeper (all the way from London).

Now, in my opinion, Fort William is a nice town, but it’s more of a base from which you discover the area. For example, a 40-minute bus ride away, you find the cute little village of Glencoe, which is surrounded by beautiful nature. You might’ve heard of it because it’s where you find the Three Sisters, which are 3 hills right next to each other. But don’t stop there; the whole valley is worth discovering!

Another great thing to do when you’re in Fort William is taking the train. Now, you can opt for the ScotRail train, which is included in the Pass. However, for all that recognized the bridge in the photo above (yes, you, Harry Potter fans), you can also hop aboard the Jacobite Steam Train!* However, which train you take doesn’t matter for the views; they use the exact same rail, all the way up to Mallaig. You may even recognize some more scenery from the Harry Potter movies…

* The Jacobite is not included in the Pass. Also, if you want to ride on this train, make sure to book your seat reservation well in advance.

After 1,5 hours, you’ll arrive at the end of the line in the village of Mallaig. Around 800 people live here, so it is indeed really small, which is a big part of its charm. Walk around the village for a bit before taking the train back to Fort William (or stay, of course!), or continue your journey by ferry to the Isle of Skye.