The 20 Best Long Distance Walks in Scotland

Scotland’s first official long-distance route is still its most famous, and around 50,000 people walk the whole of it every year. It starts in Milngavie, on the edge of Glasgow, and heads north along the east shore of Loch Lomond, over Rannoch Moor and past the mouth of Glen Coe to finish in Fort William, below Ben Nevis.

Most people take seven or eight days. The path is well signed and the southern half is the gentler one, so walking north gives your legs time to settle in before the Devil’s Staircase, the highest point at 550 metres. Book your beds early, and let a baggage company carry your bag if you like.

More about West Highland Way

This one follows the River Spey upstream, from the Moray coast through whisky country and into the Cairngorms. It starts by the sea at Buckie, passes the Scottish Dolphin Centre at Spey Bay, and works its way through Craigellachie, Aberlour and Grantown-on-Spey to Aviemore. Since 2022 it has carried on to Newtonmore.

Allow six to nine days. It’s one of the gentler routes here, well signed and with plenty of places to stay. If you want a harder day in the hills, a spur from Ballindalloch climbs to Tomintoul.

John Muir was born in Dunbar in 1838 and went on to become the great campaigner for America’s national parks. The route named after him crosses central Scotland from coast to coast, from Helensburgh on the Clyde to his home town on the North Sea.

On the way you touch the edge of Loch Lomond, follow the Antonine Wall and the canals to the Falkirk Wheel, pass Linlithgow Palace and Blackness Castle, and walk through Edinburgh and along the East Lothian coast. Allow nine to eleven days. The gradients are gentle and it runs through towns for much of the way, so it’s easy to walk a section at a time.

This is the big one in the south, and it was the UK’s first official coast-to-coast route. It crosses the whole country from Portpatrick on the Irish Sea to Cockburnspath on the North Sea, over the hills of Galloway and the Borders, and it takes most people twelve to sixteen days.

It is also one of the hardest walks here. The hills are high and empty, some days are very long, and in places there is a long way between beds, so it needs planning. In return you get St Mary’s Loch, Traquair and Melrose. Look out for the thirteen hidden boxes of specially minted coins along the way.

St Cuthbert was a seventh-century monk who was prior at Melrose and later Bishop of Lindisfarne, and this walk joins the two. It leaves Melrose over the Eildon Hills, follows the Tweed past Dryburgh, crosses the hills by Kirk Yetholm and Wooler, and finishes on Holy Island, off the Northumberland coast.

Allow four to six days. The first day is a stiff one, and the last is the one to plan carefully. You can only reach the island at low tide, by the causeway road or the old Pilgrims’ Path across the sands, so check the safe crossing times and never set out on a rising tide.

The Annandale Way follows the River Annan from its source to the sea. It begins in the hills above Moffat with a circuit of the Devil’s Beef Tub, the great hollow where the river rises, then heads south through low country by Lochmaben or Lockerbie, whichever you choose, to Annan and the shore of the Solway.

Allow four or five days. Only the first day does any real climbing, to about 500 metres, and the rest is low and easy. It’s a good choice for a first long walk.

You can walk out of the middle of Glasgow and, three to five days later, arrive at a World Heritage Site. The Clyde Walkway follows the river upstream from the city, through Strathclyde Country Park and past Bothwell Castle, Chatelherault and Craignethan Castle, into the wooded gorge of the upper Clyde.

It finishes at the mill village of New Lanark, with the Falls of Clyde just beyond, where Corra Linn drops 28 metres. It never climbs above 200 metres, so it suits most walkers. The signs are patchy in places, though, so take the free Clyde Walkway app or a map with you.

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The caterans were cattle thieves who raided these glens from the Middle Ages to the 1600s, and this circular walk follows old drove roads through their country. It loops through Strathardle, Glenshee and Glen Isla, in Perthshire and Angus, by way of Kirkmichael, the Spittal of Glenshee and Alyth.

Most people start in Blairgowrie and take five days. It’s well signed, with one long climb and nothing very steep, and the highest point is about 650 metres. If you only have a weekend, the Mini Trail is a 20-mile loop of the northern end from Kirkmichael.

The Hebridean Way crosses ten islands, six causeways and two ferries on its way up the Outer Hebrides, and there is nothing else like it. It starts on Vatersay, in the south, and works north through Barra, Eriskay, the Uists, Benbecula, Berneray and Harris to finish at Lews Castle in Stornoway.

Walk it south to north and the wind should be at your back. The route is signed and never climbs very high, but it’s long, often wet underfoot and open to the weather, with little shelter. Allow about twelve days. A separate route for cyclists runs 185 miles to the Butt of Lewis.

This is a young route, begun in 2015 and still being built by volunteers. It follows the coast north from Inverness for 147 miles, through Tain, Dornoch, Golspie, Brora and Helmsdale, and on along the cliffs of Caithness by Dunbeath, Lybster and Wick to John o’ Groats.

Some stretches are good, popular paths. Others are rough and pathless, with fences and burns to cross. Each stage is graded green, amber or red on the trail’s website, so you know what to expect. Allow nine to fourteen days, take boots and a map, and check the website for the latest on each stage before you go.