Fort William works better with children than its reputation as a mountaineering town suggests. There is a steam train that crosses a famous viaduct, a gondola up a mountain, a gem and crystal museum, a staircase of canal locks, waterfalls you can reach in ten minutes, and beaches on a sea loch with Britain’s highest mountain behind them.
What it does not have is much in the way of indoor entertainment, which matters in a place this wet. The trick to a family week here is to have two or three wet-weather options held in reserve and to be flexible about which day you use them.
The steam service that runs west from Fort William along the West Highland Line to Mallaig, crossing the Glenfinnan Viaduct — the curved twenty-one-arch viaduct that appears in the Harry Potter films. For a great many children this is the reason they are in Scotland.
Be realistic about the practicalities. Tickets sell out months ahead in summer, the booking process frustrates a lot of people, and the service has attracted a mixed reception for exactly that reason. It is a long day out — several hours each way with a break in Mallaig — and it is not cheap. If you cannot get tickets, you can see the same train cross the viaduct for nothing from the Glenfinnan viewpoint, which many families end up enjoying more. Our Jacobite and Glenfinnan guide covers both.
Ten kilometres north-east at Aonach Mòr. A gondola lifts you to 650 metres in fifteen minutes, where there is a restaurant, walking trails and a view across to Ben Nevis and the Great Glen. In winter it serves the ski area; in summer there is downhill mountain biking, a treetop adventure course and easy walks at the top.
It is the single easiest way to show a child what a Scottish mountain looks like from the inside, and it does not require anyone to climb.
Three kilometres out at Corpach. A large private collection of gemstones, crystals, fossils and minerals displayed in recreated caves and mines. It is genuinely impressive, it is entirely indoors, and it is the wet-weather option that Fort William families rely on.
Steall Falls at the head of Glen Nevis is an hour and a half round trip through a gorge to a 120-metre waterfall. It is rocky and needs sure feet, and it is the best short walk in the area for children old enough to manage it.
Lower Falls, further down the glen, is five minutes from the car and has rapids, pools and a bridge.
Neptune’s Staircase at Banavie is eight locks in a row, and watching boats work up or down them is oddly gripping for all ages. The canal towpath either side is flat and good for bikes.
Corpach and Caol have beaches on Loch Linnhe with the beached wooden boat that everyone photographs, and Ben Nevis behind it.
Glencoe Lochan, fifteen kilometres south, has three short waymarked trails around a small loch and is sheltered and easy.
Our walks guide has more.
The West Highland Museum on the High Street is small, free to enter with a donation, and much better than its size suggests — Jacobite relics including a secret portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie that only resolves when reflected in a cylinder, weapons, and the story of the Highlands told without condescension. Half an hour to an hour.
The Commando Memorial at Spean Bridge, thirteen kilometres north, is a bronze of three commandos looking towards Ben Nevis, on the ground where they trained during the Second World War. It is free, it takes ten minutes, and the view alone justifies the stop.
Old Inverlochy Castle, two kilometres north, is a thirteenth-century ruin with four round towers by the river.
Lochaber is full of operators running things children can do: canyoning and gorge walking at Inchree, sea kayaking on Loch Linnhe, boat cruises out of the town looking for seals, mountain biking at the Nevis Range and in Leanachan Forest, and high ropes courses. Most have minimum ages, typically around eight to twelve for the adventure activities.
And it will. Treasures of the Earth is the main indoor option. The West Highland Museum is free and dry. The Nevis Centre in the town has a swimming pool, bowling and soft play. The Highland Soap Company visitor centre at Banavie has a café and a factory viewing area. And Ben Nevis Distillery is adults-only in practice but has a visitor centre and café.
Beyond that, the drive south through Glen Coe is one of the great British road trips and can be done entirely from a warm car. Our wet weather guide has the list.
Fort William’s High Street has the pubs and restaurants and most are family-friendly. The Tavern and Sónas cover pub food, Tuk Tuk does Asian food to eat in or take away, and the Wildcat is a well-regarded café. Out of town, the Ben Nevis Inn at Achintee sits at the foot of the mountain path and is where everybody eats after a walk. Our eating guide has more.
Getting here. The train from Glasgow Queen Street takes four hours through some of the best scenery in Britain, which makes the journey part of the holiday. The Caledonian Sleeper runs overnight from London Euston, arriving mid-morning — children generally find this thrilling.
Parking. Free at Morrisons, the station, the Nevis Centre and the West End car park.
Midges from June to September will bother children more than adults. Repellent and a head net.
Ben Nevis is not a family walk. It is a serious mountain that kills people every year, and the gondola at Nevis Range is the sensible alternative.
A mountain day without a mountain. Drive or take the bus to the Nevis Range at Aonach Mòr, take the gondola to 650 metres for the view and the trails at the top, and have lunch in the restaurant looking across at Ben Nevis. Come down and spend the afternoon in Leanachan Forest on the easy bike trails, or drop into Glen Nevis for the Lower Falls. Nobody climbs anything and everybody sees the Highlands properly.
A water and trains day. Morning at Neptune’s Staircase watching boats work through the locks, then along the towpath or the shore to Corpach for the beached boat and the sea lock. Afternoon at Treasures of the Earth, five minutes away, or out to Glenfinnan for the viaduct and the monument. If you have Jacobite tickets, this is the day they slot into.
Under five: Neptune’s Staircase, the Lower Falls, Caol beach, the gondola, the West Highland Museum for twenty minutes.
Five to eleven: the sweet spot. Treasures of the Earth, the Steall Falls gorge walk with supervision, the gondola, Glencoe Lochan, the steam train.
Teenagers: canyoning and gorge walking at Inchree, mountain biking at the Nevis Range, sea kayaking on Loch Linnhe, and — with an experienced adult and a good forecast — Ben Nevis itself.
Waterproofs for everyone, every day. Midge repellent and, in still weather between June and September, head nets. Boots rather than trainers if you are going up Glen Nevis. And a plan for at least two indoor days in a week, because the odds are against you.
The Nevis Range gondola for the mountain without the climb, the Jacobite steam train if you can get tickets, Treasures of the Earth when it rains.
Fit older children do, with experienced adults and in good conditions. It is a long, exposed eight-hour day and not a casual undertaking.
If your children want the Harry Potter train, yes — but book months ahead. Watching it cross the viaduct from Glenfinnan is free and, for many families, just as good.
Treasures of the Earth, the West Highland Museum, the Nevis Centre pool, and the soap company visitor centre.
Fifteen to twenty kilometres south, around twenty-five minutes, and the drive is one of the best in Britain.