Glencoe
Glencoe: the valley every Highlands tour stops at, and why
Almost every tour on this page drives through Glencoe, and almost all of them stop for twenty minutes at the same car park. That stop is, for a lot of people, the moment the Highlands stop being an idea and become a place.
Quick answer
Glencoe is a glacial valley in the western Highlands, about two and a half hours from Edinburgh on the A82. Tours stop for 15 to 25 minutes at the Three Sisters viewpoint; entry costs nothing. Every listing on this page that heads west or north passes through it. The ridges above the road are Beinn Fhada, Gearr Aonach and Aonach Dubh, and behind them stands Bidean nam Bian, the highest mountain in Argyll.
Glencoe, at a glance
- What it is
- A glacial glencarved by ice, deepened by a fault
- The road
- The A82the main route north and west
- From Edinburgh
- ~2.5 hoursabout 110 miles
- The Three Sisters
- 3 ridgesBeinn Fhada, Gearr Aonach, Aonach Dubh
- Behind them
- Bidean nam Bian1,150 m — highest in Argyll
- Buachaille Etive Mòr
- 1,021 mthe pyramid at the eastern entrance
- Typical stop
- 15–25 mina viewpoint, not a walk
- Cost
- Freethe car park and the view both
- Also filmed here
- Yesfamously, and repeatedly
- Tours through it
- Nearly allsee the table below
The landscape
Why the glen looks the way it does
A collapsed volcano, then ice, then a road along the bottom of it.
Two things made Glencoe, and you can see both from the road.
The first is volcanic. Around 420 million years ago this was the site of an enormous caldera — a volcano that collapsed into its own emptied chamber. The rock that fills the glen today is what settled into that collapse, which is why the walls are so sheer and so strangely layered.
The second is ice. Glaciers ran down the fault and ground the valley into the classic U-shape you can trace with a finger from the coach window: flat floor, steep sides, hanging side valleys left stranded above the main one. Glencoe is one of the textbook examples in Britain, which is why geology students are bussed here as reliably as tourists.
The result is a glen that is narrow, deep and almost theatrically enclosed. The road runs along the bottom of it for about ten miles, and for that whole stretch the mountains are directly above you rather than in the distance. That proximity is what people react to. Landscape at that scale usually keeps its distance.
At the eastern entrance stands Buachaille Etive Mòr, ‘the great herdsman of Etive’ — a near-perfect pyramid of 1,021 metres and probably the most photographed mountain in Scotland. Most drivers slow down here whether or not there is a stop scheduled.
The stops
What tours actually stop for in Glencoe
The glen is ten miles long. Tours stop at one or two of these, never all four.
- The Three Sisters viewpoint
The standard stop, and the one in every photograph. A large lay-by on the A82 looking straight up at the three ridges. Fifteen to twenty-five minutes, no ticket, and busy from ten in the morning in summer.
- The Meeting of Three Waters
A waterfall a mile further on where three streams come together beside the road. Some drivers pull in here for five minutes instead of, or as well as, the main viewpoint.
- Glencoe Visitor Centre
A National Trust for Scotland centre at the western end with an exhibition, a café and proper toilets. Some tours use it as their comfort stop, which quietly turns twenty minutes of view into twenty minutes of gift shop.
- Glencoe village and Loch Leven
At the far end, where the glen opens onto sea loch. A handful of the smaller-group tours stop here for lunch, and it is a much prettier lunch than Fort William.
Every trip, current fare
Every tour that goes through Glencoe
All twelve listings, cheapest first. The Loch Ness column tells you which of them carry on north to the loch and which turn west to the viaduct.
| Tour | Length | Price | Loch Ness | Cost per hour | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Outlander ExperienceThe Outlander locations, and the cheapest day | 10 h | $47 | No | $4.70 | 4.6 · 2,285 |
| Glenfinnan Viaduct, Glencoe & Fort WilliamThe viaduct and Fort William, rated 4.8 | 12 h | $57 | No | $4.75 | 4.8 · 4,281 |
| Loch Ness, Glencoe & The HighlandsLoch Ness and Glencoe in twelve and a half hours | 12.5 h | $57 | Yes | $4.56 | 4.7 · 2,459 |
| Glenfinnan Viaduct, Glencoe & HighlandsThe viaduct, with the steam train timed in | 12 h | $60 | No | $5.00 | 4.7 · 4,383 |
| Loch Ness, Glencoe & Scottish HighlandsLoch Ness and Glencoe, heavily reviewed | 12.5 h | $62 | Yes | $4.96 | 4.7 · 12,284 |
| Loch Ness, Glencoe, Coos & the HighlandsThe northern route with a stop for the cows | 12.5 h | $70 | Yes | $5.60 | 4.5 · 2,725 |
| Loch Lomond, Stirling Castle & the KelpiesLoch Lomond and the Kelpies in nine hours | 9 h | $73 | No | $8.11 | 4.6 · 2,670 |
| Glenfinnan Viaduct, Glencoe & Highlands DayThe viaduct and Glencoe, 9,171 reviews | 12 h | $73 | No | $6.08 | 4.6 · 9,171 |
| Loch Ness, Glencoe & the Scottish HighlandsThe classic route north, most booked anywhere | 12.5 h | $74 | Yes | $5.92 | 4.6 · 20,368 |
| Outlander Filming Locations ExplorerThe Outlander locations, properly explored | 9 h | $85 | No | $9.44 | 4.7 · 1,560 |
| Outlander Adventure Day with EntryOutlander with the entry tickets included | 8 h | $116 | No | $14.50 | 4.8 · 1,459 |
| 3-Day Isle of Skye and the HighlandsThree days, and the Highlands with time in them | 3 days | $229 | On the way | $7.63 | 4.8 · 2,936 |
On screen
Glencoe on film, and why it keeps getting cast
A wilderness with a road down the middle, which is exactly what film crews need.
Glencoe has appeared on screen more than almost any other landscape in Britain. The road through the glen and the moor above it have stood in for Scotland, for the north of England, for various invented kingdoms, and in one very famous sequence for the ancestral home of a certain fictional intelligence officer.
Directors keep coming back for a practical reason. The A82 gives you a paved road running along the floor of a glen with 900-metre walls immediately above it, which means a crew can get cameras, trucks and a hundred people into genuine wilderness scenery in a morning. There are very few places in Europe where that is true.
Rannoch Moor, just east of the glen, does the same job for anything that needs emptiness: fifty square miles of peat bog, lochans and no buildings. Your coach crosses it on the way in, and it is worth staying awake for — it is the emptiest place most visitors to Britain will ever be driven through.
The Outlander tours on this page work a different set of locations further south, and the Glenfinnan tours pick up the railway line west of Fort William. Glencoe is the piece they all share.
Common questions
Glencoe, answered
Where is Glencoe?
In the western Highlands, on the A82 about 110 miles and two and a half hours northwest of Edinburgh, between Rannoch Moor and the sea at Loch Leven.
How long do tours stop in Glencoe?
Fifteen to twenty-five minutes at the Three Sisters viewpoint. It is a photo stop rather than a walk, though a few smaller-group tours add a short leg-stretch.
What are the Three Sisters of Glencoe?
Three ridges on the southern side of the glen: Beinn Fhada, Gearr Aonach and Aonach Dubh. Behind them, out of sight from the road, is Bidean nam Bian at 1,150 metres, the highest mountain in Argyll.
Do you need to pay to see Glencoe?
No. The glen, the road and the viewpoints are all free. Only the National Trust visitor centre exhibition charges, and most tours do not go in.
Which tours from Edinburgh include Glencoe?
Nearly all of them. Every listing on this page that heads north to Loch Ness or west to Glenfinnan passes through the glen, and the table above shows which is which.
Is Glencoe worth stopping for?
It is the stop most people remember. The mountains are directly above the road rather than on the horizon, which is an unusual thing to stand under.
Can you walk in Glencoe on a day tour?
Not properly. The hill walks here start at three hours and go up steeply. A day tour from Edinburgh gives you a viewpoint; walking Glencoe needs a night in Fort William or Ballachulish.
Go deeper
More on the Scottish Highlands
The classic day trip
Twenty thousand reviews, and what the twelve hours contain.
Loch NessLoch Ness tours
What the loch is, and what the cruise costs on the day.
The viaductThe Glenfinnan viaduct
Twenty-one arches, a steam train and the 1745 rising.
All day tripsDay tours from Edinburgh
Every direction, compared, from nine hours to three days.
SkyeIsle of Skye
Three days, two nights, and why a day trip cannot do it.
OutlanderOutlander locations
Midhope, Culross and which tours go inside.
