Glenfinnan tours from Inverness are the only days that cross to the west coast at Mallaig, and one of them puts a Jacobite Steam Train ticket inside the fare rather than leaving you to photograph the viaduct from the hillside. The train runs from June to late October only, which decides more about this page than the price does.
The one that puts you on the train: a one-way Jacobite Steam Train ticket from Fort William to Mallaig, held inside the fare. Runs June to late October.
From $275 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
The coach alternative — an hour at the viaduct and an hour in Mallaig, without a train ticket, for roughly a third of the fare.
From $89 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Eight hours to Glenfinnan and Fort William with a kilted guide, collected from your accommodation at 7:45. Per group for up to three; all entry fees extra.
From $1,073 per group, up to 3
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Between November and May the viaduct is still there and the train is not. See what else runs in the month you are travelling.
Compare every Inverness tourThe only direction out of this city that reaches the west coast. These days run down the Great Glen to Fort William, then along the Road to the Isles past the Glenfinnan Viaduct to the fishing port of Mallaig, and back. Eight to twelve hours depending on the tour.
The viaduct is the reason people book. Twenty-one arches on a curve, a hundred feet above the River Finnan, built by Sir Robert McAlpine and opened with the Mallaig extension on 1 April 1901. It is Category A listed and it has carried every train on the line since.
The first hour of the drive runs the length of Loch Ness, which is why these days are sometimes sold as loch tours. They are not: the water is the road out rather than the destination.
A single fare here includes a one-way Jacobite Steam Train ticket from Fort William to Mallaig. The other routes west photograph the viaduct from the ground instead.
Mallaig is a working fishing port with the Small Isles offshore, and it is the only saltwater on any day tour sold out of Inverness.
The Glenfinnan Monument stands where Bonnie Prince Charlie raised his standard on 19 August 1745, at the head of Loch Shiel. Culloden, where the same rising ended, is twenty minutes from Inverness in the other direction.
At Spean Bridge, with the Ben Nevis range behind it. Most routes stop for fifteen to thirty minutes.
This is the whole decision, and the fares differ by a factor of three because of it. The third row is the private version of the same route.
| Tour | Hours | The train | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Jacobite Steam Train day | 12 | A one-way ticket, Fort William to Mallaig, inside the fare | $275 per person |
| The coach day to Mallaig | 12 | Not included — you see the viaduct from below | $89 per person |
| The private Great Glen day | 8 | Not included — it is named in the exclusions | $1,073 per group |
West Coast Railways sells the standard adult single for £36 and a day return for £76, which is most of the difference between the first two rows. If riding the train is the point, the fare that holds a seat is the only one that does it.
In every fare: the vehicle, a driver-guide, and the stops. Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
On one fare only: the Jacobite Steam Train ticket, one way.
Never: lunch, and entry to Urquhart Castle where a route passes it. Most of these days name the castle in their exclusions outright.
The train has a season and the coaches do not. The 2026 morning service runs Monday 1 June to Friday 23 October, and the afternoon service Wednesday 10 June to Friday 25 September. Outside those dates the tours still run and the viaduct is still there, but there is no train to ride. Check the month you are travelling before you book the expensive one.
These are twelve-hour days. Departures are from Union Street and Railway Terrace between 7:45 and 8:30, and returns are around eight in the evening. On some dates the itinerary reverses when the tour starts at 9:30am, so the order of your day may not match the description you booked from.
If you are travelling between November and May, the train is not running and the premium fare buys you a long coach day rather than a rail journey. Take the coach version, or go west to Skye instead, which is the same length and a bigger landscape.
If twelve hours is too much, nothing in this direction is shorter than eight hours, and the eight-hour option is a private day priced per group. The Loch Ness direction is where the shorter days are.
A one-way seat on the Jacobite, held inside the fare, June to late October.
Check availabilityNext: every fare on Inverness Scotland Tours, the practical detail on planning your trip, and the month you are coming on Inverness weather.