Villages
in Lochaber.

It’s 20:57 in Lochaber.

Lochaber

Ferry piers and an aluminium village.

Lochaber's villages sit at the ends of roads, and sometimes beyond them. Mallaig is a working fishing port, where the railway meets the ferries to Skye, the Small Isles and Knoydart. Arisaig is a scatter of white houses on Loch nan Ceall, with boats to Eigg, Muck and Rum in summer. Inverie, on Loch Nevis, has no road in at all, so you arrive by boat or on foot. Kinlochleven grew up around an aluminium works and is now a base for the Mamores. On Eigg, the stone walls of Grulin recall the families cleared for sheep in 1853. Check the ferry times before you plan the day.

Village of the day18 hours ago

Inverie.

The village of the Knoydart peninsula, on Loch Nevis, with no road in: reached by boat from Mallaig or on foot over the hills.

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Lunch16 hours ago

LochaberThe Chlachain Inn6.6 miles

LochaberThe Cabin Restaurant and Takeaway6.6 miles

LochaberThe Tea Garden, Mallaig6.6 miles

Lunch near Arisaig.

The three good places closest to it: The Chlachain Inn, The Cabin Restaurant and Takeaway and The Tea Garden, Mallaig.

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From our guide13 hours ago

Mallaig.

Mallaig sits at the very end of the Road to the Isles and the railway, a working fishing port with boats crowding the harbour and houses climbing the hill behind. Ferries leave here for Skye, the Small Isles and Knoydart. The town is younger than it looks. In 1841 there was only a farm here, and after the railway arrived in 1901 it grew so fast on herring that by the 1960s it was the busiest herring port in Europe. The station and the harbour sit side by side, so it's easy to step off the train and onto a boat.

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From our guide11 hours ago

Fort William.

Fort William sits at the head of Loch Linnhe with Ben Nevis rising behind it, and it's the natural base for exploring Lochaber. It calls itself the outdoor capital of the UK, and the shops along its long High Street are full of boots, maps and waterproofs. Walkers who finish the West Highland Way have their picture taken beside the bronze walker on a bench in Gordon Square. Call in at the West Highland Museum on Cameron Square for the story of the Jacobites. In summer, the Jacobite steam train leaves the station each morning for Mallaig.

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From the magazine8 hours ago

Mallaig, the port at the end of the West Highland Line, was deemed Europe's busiest herring port a few decades ago, yet in 1851 it had just 134 people.

The village was founded in the 1840s, when a local landowner encouraged his tenants to settle there and take up fishing as a profession. Things moved slowly at first. Then the railway opened in 1901, and with it came the chance of lasting prosperity. In a remarkably short time Mallaig grew into the leading commercial port on the west coast. Today its main catches are white fish, crab, prawn and lobster, and it is still a busy place to catch a boat to Skye and the Small Isles.

See Mallaig · Lochaber

Did you know6 hours ago

The first car ferry from Mallaig to Skye, in 1932, carried just two cars.

In 1932 a local boatbuilder launched the first car ferry service from Mallaig, in Lochaber, to Armadale on Skye. The vessel was a small boat called the Road to the Isles, and it could carry only two cars.

See Mallaig · Lochaber

From our guide3 hours ago

Isle of Muck.

Muck is the smallest of the four inhabited Small Isles, a green farming island about two and a half miles from end to end, with white-sand bays and Rum and Eigg across the water. The ferry comes in at Port Mòr, and almost everything is within walking distance. The tearoom near the pier is the island's meeting place, with home baking and seafood. Walk over to the beach at Gallanach Bay, or climb Beinn Airein, the highest point, for a view of all the islands. There's no shop, so bring food from Mallaig.