Itinerary: A Weekend in the Scottish Highlands - Fort William + Glencoe

Glenfinnan Viaduct in Scotland

I just spent six-weeks doing a pastry course in Edinburgh, Scotland, so on my weekends I scoped out the top places to go (that I could reasonably make it to). This meant renting a car and leaving straight after school on Friday afternoons to drive to these destinations, coming back on Sunday. 

The Highlands and wide open spaces of Scotland are, in my opinion, the bread and butter of the country. In a word: stunning. I also didn’t realize quite how vast the Highlands qualify relative to the country as a whole. 

I spent two nights with Fort William as my home base and then spiderwebbed out from there across the weekend. Besides the dreary weather - which does add to some of the moody allure that is Scotland (though I would have appreciated some reduced cloud coverage) the landscape was incredible. Keep in mind that I traveled here the second weekend in December, so I was chasing daylight which sadly did shorten how much I could literally see with my eyeballs. 

Without further adieu, here’s how I spent this weekend in the Scottish Highlands:

Day 0.5: Edinburgh to Fort William

I left school around 4:30 PM and drove the three hours up to Fort William. It was full nightfall basically once I hit the M9, and I veered off onto winding “country”/”small town” roads pretty quickly. Let me just say, the Scottish drive like villains. I mean, are the cops chasing you Cruella? The speed limit is quite high, 60mph,  for low visibility - aka not many street lights - not to mention wet and curving roads. Plus, VERY LITTLE room for error. So, stay safe out there if you’re driving these roads, especially at night. I made it to my stay for the night in one piece, a cozy wee “shack” with very friendly hosts.

P.S. I won’t lie. I stopped at McDonald’s for dinner after not coming across much of anything for most of the drive. Not my preferred move but hey, I was tired and hungry.

Day 1: Fort William to Steall Waterfall to Loch Ness to Fort William

This day held a lot of driving - trying to cover my Google “saves” as much as possible - so the list looks lean but, again, chasing daylight plus time on the road made for less stops. Here’s what I saw:

• Steall Waterfall hike (with views of Ben Nevis and Glen Nevis)

• Fort Augustus and Loch Ness

• Fort William

My hosts recommended the Steall Waterfall hike in Glen Nevis to me so I started there - in case of hike stank - for my first full day. This is where the constant reminder of “people have different hiking abilities” held true. It was supposed to take 30 minutes one way to get to the end with a breathtaking waterfall - I however made it 30 minutes and I don’t know that I was even halfway. The area surrounding is beautiful, so it wasn’t a wasted morning by any means but it’s slippery, some is scrambling at points, and I ended up turning back before making it the full way. I had places to be and things to see that day! The drive to and from this point was so beautiful though and I did find some highland coos (cows) on my way out - ‘twas a very happy gal.

From my hike, I headed up to Fort Augustus where I booked a boat ride on Loch Ness. It was a bit of a drive comparatively speaking but I wanted a glimpse of the famous loch while I was so close. The town was a bit tourist-facing, more gimmicky than my liking and overall, I would say you probably could save yourself a ticket and just drive some of the rim of the loch for the same views. It probably strongly depends on where you get on, on the loch so maybe there is more to be seen from the middle or higher up. Slight bummer since I do love a good boat ride.

After a brief walk around Fort Augustus, I drove back to Fort William where I headed into the town center and strolled about for a bit. Ya girl loves a good bookshop so I perused through The Highland Bookshop ahead of dinner at a nearby pub. After grabbing a bag of crisps from the town Tesco, I headed back to my wee shack for a cozy Harry Potter night. Also, Cadbury hot chocolate HITS THE SPOT on a cold night.

Day 2: Fort William to Glenfinnan to Glencoe to Edinburgh

This was one of my favorite days in Scotland. One of those days where the dreary weather makes the landscape *pop* because the gray skies make the oranges, reds, and greens showstopping. Here’s what I covered:

• Glenfinnan Viaduct 

• Hagrid’s Hut

• Three Sister’s Viewpoint

• The Meeting of Three Waters

• James Bond Skyfall Road

• Kingshouse Hotel

Once again today was a lot of driving but oh so worth it. Starting with Glenfinnan Viaduct, even if you aren’t a Harry Potter fan, this spot is a beauty. After parking you can walk up to the overview to look out at both the viaduct as well as the Glenfinnan Monument, which looks out on Loch Shiel. Honestly, stunning. From there you can walk down and right under (and to a viewpoint above) the viaduct to wait for shots of the magical Hogwarts Express - sadly I got my timing wrong and missed it. Learn from me! From there take the time to walk over to the monument, it’s so pretty and peaceful. The pictures speak for themself while at the same time not doing the place justice. Even though there were plenty of people visiting, it still managed to be quiet and easy to get around. 

Afterwards, I headed toward Glencoe and after a recommended (by a classmate) stop in Crafts & Things for a peruse and a quick bite (more for sustenance than anything highly recommendable) I headed towards Hagrid’s Hut. I’m not sure that this was actually filmed for the movie or if someone on TikTok is just tricking me into believing it was but, of course I stopped and yeah, it definitely could be the location of our beloved half-giant’s home. No dragon eggs in sight though.

From there, this part of my day was more of a drive, stop, walk a smidge, appreciate and photograph - and then get back in the car. The Meeting of Three Waters is really cool and quite a powerful flow of water - be careful when you are getting out of your car as cars are coming by fast and their isn’t much space between the pulloff and the road (see note above about Scottish driving). 

HIGHLY recommend driving Skyfall Road, honestly some of my best shots of Scotland came from this strip off the main road. The colors, the mountains, the water… it’s beautiful. 

My last official stop was in the hopes of seeing some Scottish wildlife, which came true at Kingshouse Hotel. You’re not supposed to feed the deer but that, of course, doesn’t stop some people though it did allow me to see one of these beauties up close. Talk about a picture-perfect moment! 

From there I started my drive back to Edinburgh. This is where, if I’d had more daylight, I would have done at least one hike but, sadly dusk was already starting to settle in and I wanted to have road visibility from mother nature for as long as possible on my drive back. I did make one recommended pitt stop at The Green Welly Stop, which seems to be a popular trip spot. I grabbed some gas, snacks, and a potty break before heading non-stop back to the capital.

Be sure to tag @accentgolden in your travel pictures, I love to see where you’re exploring!