Hidden Scotland
Sign in
Victoria Falls dropping in a white thread through a steep gorge thick with green trees.
Ross and Cromarty

Victoria Falls

A waterfall in a wooded gorge above Loch Maree, a short walk from the road, named after Queen Victoria, who came here in 1877.

Welcome

On the road along Loch Maree, one of the loveliest lochs in the Highlands, a small car park looks out over the water, and a path leads into the trees behind it.

Two minutes later the ground drops away into a gorge, and a waterfall pours down through it, white against the green of birch and fern.

These are the Victoria Falls. Queen Victoria came to Loch Maree in 1877 and they were named in her honour. The water comes from Beinn Eighe, the great mountain to the south of the loch, whose slopes are clothed in ancient Caledonian pinewood.

From the viewing platform, a path climbs on up the side of the gorge to the top of the falls, where the river spreads wide over the rock before it plunges. A circuit through the woods takes about twenty minutes.

A short drive awayLoch MareeThe long loch below the falls.5 min by roadSee itLoch Coruisk valley beneath the jagged Cuillin ridge under grey clouds
Before you go

The falls are open at all times and free, with a free car park by the A832.

The viewing platform is a couple of minutes' walk; a path climbs on to the top of the falls, and a short circuit takes about twenty minutes.

Where
By the A832 on the shore of Loch Maree, IV22 2HW.
Walk
Two minutes to the viewpoint; a 20-minute circuit.
Named for
Queen Victoria, 1877.
Where it is

By the A832 on the south-west shore of Loch Maree, between Kinlochewe and Gairloch.

Close byLoch Maree.
  1. Hiker in red watches the sun set over a mountain ridgeA' Mhaighdean6 miles8 min by road
  2. The crowded shelves and tables of the Hillbillies bookshop beside the Mountain Coffee Co in Gairloch.Mountain Coffee Co9 miles15 min by road
  3. Red telephone box beside Hillbillies Bookstore and Trading Post's orange painted frontHillbillies BookstoreA small rural bookshop next door to the Mountain Coffee Company, Hillbillies is packed with quirky finds.10 miles16 min by road
  4. The pale quartzite slopes of Beinn Eighe rising above old Scots pines under a blue sky.Beinn Eighe Visitor CentreThe pinewood reserve the water comes from.10 miles14 min by road
  5. The terraced walled garden at Inverewe, curving beds running down towards the loch and hills.Inverewe GardenThe garden by the sea at Poolewe.15 miles22 min by road
Directions
Loch Coruisk valley beneath the jagged Cuillin ridge under grey cloudsAttractionsLoch Maree1.0 miles
White cottage below a Highland loch flanked by autumn hillsAttractionsLoch Maree Viewpoint5.4 miles over the water
Stay nearby

Places to stay near the falls, and when each is next free.

A gable-fronted white and stone house glows from within at dusk, its triangular glazed end lit against the darkening hillside.The Net Store
  • Sleeps 4
  • In Ardheslaig
  • 12 miles from Victoria Falls
Check datesA white two-storey house stands on a grassy point above a rocky shoreline, pine trees rising behind it at sunset.Rhuroin
  • Sleeps 3
  • In Ross and Cromarty
  • 12 miles from Victoria Falls
Check datesPlaces to stayEvery stay in Ross and CromartyAll our places to stay nearby, to search by date and by who is coming.See them all
Hidden Scotland, the magazine

Scotland, in print.

Every photograph commissioned, every word written by somebody who went. Printed twice a year, made in Scotland.

Get Issue 13Read it here
Find out more

For further reading, before you go.