Wherever you are from, feel at home in Glen Nevis.
Getting here
Glen Nevis is one of the most spectacular glens in Scotland. Easily accessible from Fort William, it skirts the flank of Ben Nevis to the west and south, and from here you can see some of the rocks that make up the Highlands of Scotland, sculpted by the Ice Age glaciers that carved out the glen.
By far the best way to visit Glen Nevis is to walk, run, bike or wheel. Travel time to walk from Fort William High Street to the entrance to the glen is 11 minutes; by bike is only 5 minutes.
Bike hire in Fort William Nevis Cycles // Off Beat Bikes // Hi-Bike
Glen Nevis bus timetable on weekdays and Saturdays
Scooter and wheelchair hire from Shopmobility Lochaber
Parking
Parking can be tricky in Glen Nevis in the summer months. Where possible please leave the car at your accommodation and use alternative ways to access the glen but there is parking at the following car parks which fill up early in the morning in summer. Please park sensibly and leave entrance ways clear for Mountain Rescue and farmers, and passing places clear on single track roads.
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Park here for: Peat Track, Cow Hill Circuit, Dun Deardail. This is the first car park you come to in the glen, on your right.
Operated by: Forestry & Land Scotland
Spaces: 25
Toilets: No (Nearest toilets are a 9-minute walk to the Ben Nevis Visitor Centre)
Water bottle Refill: No
Day parking for Campervans / Motorhomes: Yes (No overnight parking)
Parking Charges:
Up to 1 hour =£1.00
Car All Day =£3.00
Blue Badge Holder =Free
Annual Pass £40 from here.
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Park here for: the Visitor Centre, Ben Nevis Mountain Path, Riverside All-ability Trail, Place of Contemplation. The second car park you will come to in the glen, past the Braveheart car park and on your left.
Operated by: Highlife Highland
Car Spaces: 120
Toilets: Yes, though check opening times
Water bottle Refill: Yes
Day parking for Campervans / Motorhomes: Yes
Parking Charges:
Up to 1 hour =£2
All day =£8
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Park here for: Lower Falls, Lower Falls to Paddy’s Bridge trail, climbing at Polldubh and accessing the Mamores
Operated by: Nevis Landscape Partnership
Spaces: 50
Toilets: Yes, composting
Water bottle Refill: No
Day parking for Campervans / Motorhomes: Yes (4 Spaces)
Parking charges:
Up to 1 hour =£1.00
All Day =£3.00
Blue Badge Holder =Free
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Only as a last resort…
After the Lower Falls Car Park, the road turns to single track for a couple of kilometres, with very few passing places. It is not suitable for campervans! This road frequently becomes blocked due to the volume of traffic, and the narrow and infrequent passing places. Tempting as it is to drive up it, we would strongly recommend that you leave your vehicle in the Lower Falls car park.
Outwith summer, it eases off and there are free parking places here with easy access to the Gorge walk up to Steall.
Walk
There are a lot of walks to choose from in the glen and you can plan your route using the excellent Walk Highlands website, but the jewel in the crown of Glen Nevis is the walk through the River Nevis Gorge to Steall Falls. This is a straight-forward, two mile, low-level walk, though the usual caveat of sensible footwear applies, as there are a few burns to cross and the going is rough and rocky. The journey to Steall Waterfall begins from the Top Car Park on a well-marked path that skirts the gorge with the River Nevis below you.
The highlight of the walk is reaching the mighty Steall Waterfall, one of Scotland's tallest waterfalls, tumbling down from a height of more than 100 metres. The sight of the waterfall as you leave the gorge and the landscape opens up to meadow is truly awe-inspiring. There’s a wire bridge crossing the river that is always fun to mess about on, just don’t fall in or it’s a soggy walk home.
This land (and the summit of Ben Nevis) is owned by the John Muir Trust. Be sure to follow the Outdoor Access Code if you are visiting.
Climb
Glen Nevis contains some of the best rock in Scotland as well as its finest scenery. The upper half of the glen is littered with countless crags on the lower slopes of Ben Nevis and Sgurr a’ Mhaim, often hidden among old Scots pine and birch woods. The first major collection of buttresses, known as Polldubh, lies just beyond Lower Falls. Many of them have slabby front faces and overhanging left walls, plucked by the glacier that once filled the glen. The slabby walls give mainly easier classics such as Pinnacle Ridge (severe), Pine Wall (hard severe) and The Gutter (V diff). The left walls offer harder lines on steep cracks such as Storm (HVS), Black Friday (E5) and Vincent (E3). The sunny aspect looking across to the Mamores make spring and autumn climbing glorious, although the birches can provide a haven for the midge during midsummer.
Impressive crags line the gorge running through to Steall, where some of the finest rock can be found, sculpted from water and stone into delicate curves. Many of the best crags lie well up above the crowded gorge path, and retain a solitude you might not expect when leaving the busy car park below. The only residual sound is the Steall Waterfall, the centrepiece of a stunning post ice age landscape. To think that it may have been dammed and filled with water, were it not for a campaign led by climber Bill Murray in the 1930s.
Although the scenery and ambience of Glen Nevis is a big part of why it is a special place, the rock also leaves a big impression. The schist, slowly baked by volcanic granite on either side on Ben Nevis and the Mamores has left it with an incredibly rough, pitted grain, forming the most intricate and beautiful holds, which become more interesting as you move up the grading scale to the hardest climbs. Intricacy is the key word when it comes to finding protection as well. It is no accident that many of the obvious lines were finally climbed when micro-wires first appeared in the late 1980s. If the season and constitution allows, a fine way to finish a days climbing is with a dip in one of many fantastic pools that line the river Nevis. Or you could just jump off the Lower Falls bridge.
Explore
A walking tour to Dun Deardail - The Vitrified Hillfort, Glen Nevis
9km, 3-4 hours, 340 metres ascent, going moderate
On leaving the Ben Nevis Visitor Centre, turn left and after a few minutes walk take the path on the right marked The West Highland Way. Continue uphill until you reach the main forestry track and turn left, climbing uphill at the fork marked Dun Deardail and WHW. After a steady climb through working forestry and moraine, we follow the sign to leave the WHW to skirt the forest and arrive at open views across the glen to the western flank of Ben Nevis. Climb the grassy flanks to reach Dun Deardail. Return by retracing your steps.
Dun Deardail, or ‘Derdriu’s Fort’, was built around 2500 years ago and may have been the seat of a tribal chief. As we walk around the grassy ramparts we can imagine the scenes of every day life that were played out within. The view would have been quite different for the residents of the fort; the glen was once covered in Scots pine and oak with boar and wolves roaming in them. The stone ramparts we are walking on were double-walled and filled with soil, wood and stone. The outsides were covered in timber and at some point set alight. Nobody knows whether this was deliberate or not, but it reached such high temperatures that the stone melted and vitrified, becoming incredibly strong. Experiments have been held to try and replicate the process but the required temperatures have never been reached, a skill which has been lost. You will also note that there is no evidence of a natural water source nearby and it is believed that water was carried uphill from the river we can see far below us, where we started our walk!