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Museums and history
in Lochaber.

It’s 20:55 in Lochaber.
Lochaber

A turf house and a tin hut.

Among the birch woods outside Glencoe village, the National Trust's centre shows how volcanoes and glaciers made the glen, with a turf and creel house outside and the story of February 1692. The village has its own folk museum too. The Camerons tell their clan's story at Achnacarry, near the Great Glen. In Mallaig, by the station, photographs and films follow the fishing and the railway that built the town. On Eigg, a single room holds oil lamps, the old shop scales and cuttings from the year the islanders bought their island. Allow an hour or two for each.

Glenfinnan Monument→
Commando Memorial→
Jacobite Steam Train→
Glencoe Folk Museum→
Glenfinnan Viaduct→
Rest and be Thankful→
Caledonian Canal→
Glencoe Visitor Centre→
Eigg Museum→
The Prince's Cairn→
Place of the day19 hours ago

Rest and be Thankful.

The pass at the head of Glen Croe, 803 feet up, where travellers have stopped to rest since the military road of 1749.

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Free18 hours agoFort WilliamGlenfinnan ViaductAttractionArgyll and ButeGlencoe Folk MuseumAttractionFort WilliamGlenfinnan MonumentAttractionLochaberThe Prince's CairnAttractionGlencoeGlencoe Visitor CentreAttraction

Free to visit.

Beaches, waterfalls, viewpoints and stones: nothing to pay and nobody to ask.

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From our guide17 hours ago

Caledonian Canal.

Thomas Telford's canal runs 60 miles through the Great Glen from Fort William to Inverness, linking Loch Lochy, Loch Oich and Loch Ness. It opened in 1822, years late and well over budget, and boats still use it today. The place to see it at work is Neptune's Staircase at Banavie, a ladder of eight locks that lifts boats 70 feet up the hillside. Stand by the lock gates on a summer's day and watch the yachts climb, with Ben Nevis behind. The towpath makes an easy walk or cycle.

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Newly discovered15 hours agoGlencoeLodge on the LochRestaurantArdnamurchanLoch MoidartAttractionArdnamurchanLoch SunartAttractionLochaberMallaig Heritage CentreAttractionLochaberSilver Sands of MorarAttractionLochaberThe Chlachain InnRestaurant

Some good places to go, newly added to the site.

The newest places on our pages in Lochaber.

Browse everywhere to go
Lunch14 hours agoFort WilliamLime Tree Hotel12.8 milesArgyll and ButeCrannog at Garrison West12.8 milesFort WilliamThe Wildcat12.9 miles

Lunch near Glenfinnan Monument.

The three good places closest to it: Lime Tree Hotel, Crannog at Garrison West and The Wildcat.

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From our guide11 hours ago

Commando Memorial.

Three bronze commandos stand on the hillside above Spean Bridge, looking out to Ben Nevis over the ground where they trained. From 1942 the commando training centre was at nearby Achnacarry, and volunteers marched from Spean Bridge station right past this spot. Scott Sutherland's memorial was unveiled by the Queen Mother in 1952, and its plinth reads United We Conquer. There's a remembrance area alongside. Even on a grey day, the view to Ben Nevis and Aonach Mòr makes it well worth pulling in.

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From our guide10 hours ago

Cille Choirill Church.

High on a hillside in Glen Spean, a little east of Roy Bridge, this small stone church looks out over a lovely sweep of the glen. It dates from the 15th century, and legend says a Cameron chief built it as penance for his raids. It fell into ruin until descendants of Lochaber emigrants in Nova Scotia paid for its restoration, and it reopened in 1932. The Gaelic bard Iain Lom lies in the churchyard among the old crosses. Fans of Monarch of the Glen may know it from the series.

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From our guide7 hours ago

Glencoe Visitor Centre.

Start a day in the glen at the National Trust for Scotland's timber visitor centre, set among birch woods just outside Glencoe village. A giant carved map lays out the mountains in front of you, and films and an exhibition tell how volcanoes and glaciers made them. The story of the 1692 massacre is told here too. Outside, the Trust has built a turf and creel house of the kind the MacDonalds lived in, with turf walls and a thick thatched roof. Entry is free, and the Highland Coo café serves food all day.

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From our guide6 hours ago

Jacobite Steam Train.

The Jacobite runs from Fort William to Mallaig and back, 84 miles of mountains, lochs and sea. It sets off in the morning from beneath Ben Nevis, usually pulled by a Black Five locomotive from the 1930s. The big moment comes seventeen miles out, as it sweeps across the Glenfinnan Viaduct with Loch Shiel stretching away beside it. Beyond, it passes Loch Eilt, Loch Morar and Arisaig before reaching Mallaig, where there's an hour or two to wander the harbour. It runs in summer and fills fast, so book well ahead.

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From our guide5 hours ago

The Old Fort.

Most people drive straight past it, but by the roundabout at the north end of town are the remains of the fort that gave Fort William its name. Cromwell's troops built a timber fort here in 1654, and under William III it was rebuilt with stone walls. Soldiers set out from here in 1692 to carry out the Glencoe Massacre, and in 1746 the garrison held out against a Jacobite siege. The railway swept most of it away, but grassy ramparts and the old sally port survive by Loch Linnhe. The Great Glen Way starts here too.

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From our guide4 hours ago

The Prince's Cairn.

On the shore of Loch nan Uamh, a stone cairn among the birches marks where Bonnie Prince Charlie left Scotland for good. He had first landed on the mainland at this same loch on 25 July 1745. Fourteen months later, on 20 September 1746, with the rising lost and a price on his head, he boarded a French ship here and sailed for France. He never came back. The cairn was raised by the 1745 Association in 1956. A marked path leads down through the woods from a large layby on the A830.

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From our guide2 hours ago

The Seven Men of Moidart.

When Bonnie Prince Charlie landed on the mainland in July 1745, only seven companions came with him. In the 1800s a line of seven beech trees was planted by the shore at Kinlochmoidart in their memory, and they became known as the Seven Men of Moidart. The seven included his old tutor, a banker and a clergyman. Storms have taken their toll, and only a few of the old beeches still stand, with younger trees planted since. A lay-by on the A861 has a cairn and boards that tell the story.

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