Loch Lomond

Things to do at Loch Lomond

Twelve picks, starting on the loch and working back into the Trossachs, with the honest note that the famous bits (Luss, Conic Hill, Balmaha) are best before ten on a summer Saturday and the quieter ones are on this list for that reason. Prices and hours were checked on the operators' own sites in August 2026; they change every spring, so treat them as a guide.

1. Conic Hill

The best view of the loch for the least effort: 361 metres above Balmaha, with the islands lined up along the Highland Boundary Fault below you and Ben Lomond across the water. The path is good, with steps on the way up and a short rocky scramble at the top, and it is the first proper climb on the West Highland Way. Go early; the Balmaha car park is full by mid-morning from Easter to October.

Practical: 4 km (2.5 miles) and 350 m of ascent from the Balmaha car park, two to three hours there and back, Walkhighlands grade 2. The car park is pay and display. Checked August 2026.

2. Luss

The village on the postcards, on the west shore fifteen minutes up the A82 from Balloch: a single street of 19th-century cottages built for the slate quarry workers, a pier with the loch spread out in front of it and Ben Lomond behind, and a shingle beach for skimming stones. It takes half an hour to see, which is why the coaches stop here, so come first thing or in the evening, walk the pier, and eat at The Village Rest in the middle of the village. With children, the Loch Lomond Faerie Trail starts at the car park. Parking in the village is charged.

3. A cruise on the loch

You have not seen Loch Lomond until you have seen it from the water, and the boats are the way to reach the islands and the east shore without a car. From Balloch, Sweeney's run a one-hour Experience cruise for £18.50, a two-hour Island Discovery for £29 and a return ferry to Luss for £28, with under-5s free. From Luss, Cruise Loch Lomond does a 90-minute circular for £19, a 45-minute crossing to Balmaha for £20 and a landing on Inchcailloch, the island nature reserve, for £18 adult, £10 child and £54 for a family. From Tarbet further north, the same company runs a 60-minute circular over the deepest part of the loch for £17 adult and £12 child, a waterbus across to Inversnaid at £15 (£12 child) each way, and weekend boats to Rowardennan for the West Highland Way and Ben Lomond.

Practical: Sweeney's from Balloch pier by Loch Lomond Shores; Cruise Loch Lomond from Luss pier and Tarbet. Sailings are seasonal and the two-hour trips need booking in summer. Prices checked August 2026.

4. Ben Lomond

Scotland's most southerly Munro and, for a lot of people, their first: 974 metres, with a path built by the National Trust for Scotland that is clear all the way, and a summit view from Glasgow to the Arrochar Alps. It is still a mountain. Allow five hours, carry waterproofs and food, and turn back if the cloud comes down, because the top is a ridge with a drop on one side. The Ptarmigan ridge descent is the better circuit if your knees are up to it. Our guide to hiking Ben Lomond has the route in detail.

Practical: 12 km (7.5 miles) and 990 m of ascent from the Rowardennan car park, 4.5 to 5.5 hours, Walkhighlands grade 3. The car park at the end of the east shore road is charged and full by nine in summer. Checked August 2026.

5. Balmaha, Inchcailloch and the Oak Tree

Balmaha is the east shore's village: a bay of moored boats, the National Park visitor centre, the foot of Conic Hill, and The Oak Tree Inn, which is the pub, the restaurant, the ice cream shop and the place every West Highland Way walker stops. From the boatyard, a five-minute ferry crosses to Inchcailloch, an island of oakwood, bluebells in May and a 13th-century chapel site, with a two-hour loop walk and a beach at Port Bawn. Milarrochy Bay, a mile north, is the swimming beach.

6. Loch Lomond Shores and Sea Life

At Balloch, where the train arrives, Loch Lomond Shores is the loch's front door: shops, cafés, bike and paddleboard hire, the cruise pier and the Sea Life aquarium, which has otters, rays and the loch's own fish and is the wet-afternoon answer with children. The Loch Lomond Birds of Prey Centre next door does flying displays. It is a good half day with a family and a good hour without.

Practical: Sea Life is open 10am to 5pm with last entry at 3.50pm, from £16.50 adult online (the standard price is £21) and under-2s free; the reduced summer price runs to 1 September 2026. Parking at the Shores is pay and display. Checked August 2026.

7. Loch Katrine and the steamship

Half an hour behind Loch Lomond, Loch Katrine is the Trossachs' loch and the one Sir Walter Scott wrote The Lady of the Lake about; it has also been Glasgow's water supply since 1859, which is why there is no development on its shores and the water is so clear. The steamship Sir Walter Scott, built in 1899 and restored in 2023, sails from Trossachs Pier, and the classic day is the boat to Stronachlachar and the bike back along the private lochside road, which is flat and closed to traffic. Bike hire is at the pier.

Practical: Trossachs Pier is at the end of the A821 past Callander or over the Duke's Pass from Aberfoyle. The steamship's two-hour return to Stronachlachar sails at 10.30am and 2.30pm from 28 March to 25 October 2026, from £28.50; the one-way leg for the bike-back day is from £20, the one-hour afternoon circular from £20, and the 45-minute cruises on the smaller Lady of the Lake from £16, with winter sailings on that boat from late October to March. Dogs welcome on all of them. Checked August 2026.

8. Ben A'an

The little mountain with the big view: 461 metres, a steep but short pull up through the trees from the car park on the Loch Katrine road, and a rocky top that looks straight down Loch Katrine and across to Loch Achray. Two hours there and back, and the best two hours in the Trossachs for anyone who is not ready for Ben Lomond. The car park is small and pay and display; arrive early or late.

9. The A82 north: Falls of Falloch and Inveruglas

North of Tarbet the road narrows and the loch does too, with the Arrochar Alps on the far side. Stop at Inveruglas for the viewpoint pyramid and the boat to Inversnaid, at Ardlui for the pub at the top of the loch, and at the Falls of Falloch, a ten-minute walk from the layby north of Ardlui, where the river drops thirty feet into a pool the Victorians called Rob Roy's Bathtub. Firkin Point, south of Tarbet, is the flat lochside walk on the old road and a permit camping area in season.

10. Wild swimming and paddleboards

The loch is swimmable and people do, from Milarrochy Bay on the east shore, the beach at Luss and Firkin Point on the west. It is cold even in August, it gets deep quickly off the shingle, and the boats do not always see you, so wear a tow float, stay near the shore and never swim alone. Paddleboards and kayaks are for hire at Loch Lomond Shores and Luss, and In Your Element runs guided paddling and canyoning in the Park if you would rather have someone in charge.

11. Camping by the loch

Yes, you can camp at Loch Lomond, and it is one of the best places in Scotland to do it, with one rule that catches people out. From 1 March to 30 September the busiest shores sit inside four Camping Management Zones, where you need a £4.50 permit or a campsite; outside the zones and outside those months the Scottish Outdoor Access Code applies. Our wild camping guide explains the zones, the permits and where you can still pitch for free, and our campsites at Loch Lomond guide covers the sites with a shower and a shop.

12. Aberfoyle and the Three Lochs Forest Drive

Aberfoyle is the Trossachs village on the south side, with the Lodge Forest Visitor Centre above it (red squirrel hide, a café with a view and Go Ape in the trees) and the Three Lochs Forest Drive, a seven-mile gravel road through the forest past Lochs Drunkie and Achray with picnic spots and permit camping. The Duke's Pass from Aberfoyle to Loch Katrine is the best short drive in the Park. Eat at the Faerie Tree Inn in the village or at Nick's at Port of Menteith on the Lake of Menteith, Scotland's only lake, where the ferry crosses to Inchmahome Priory.

Where to eat

The Oak Tree Inn at Balmaha is the loch's pub and the one place everybody agrees on, from the walkers to the Sunday drivers. The Village Rest in Luss does breakfasts and lunches in the middle of the village. For the occasion, Cameron Grill at Cameron House on the Balloch shore is the loch's grand hotel dining room. In the Trossachs, the Faerie Tree Inn is Aberfoyle's pub and Nick's at Port of Menteith is the restaurant on the lake. See all places to eat at Loch Lomond.

Getting there and around

Balloch is the one Highland destination you can reach on a suburban train: every half hour or so from Glasgow Queen Street, fifty minutes, and you step off beside Loch Lomond Shores. The West Highland Line from Queen Street to Fort William stops at Arrochar and Tarbet and at Ardlui on the way up the loch, and Citylink coaches on the A82 stop at Luss and Tarbet. For the east shore and the Trossachs you want a car, or the summer waterbus and a lot of planning; our public transport guide has the options.

Drive times are for normal traffic in August 2026; the A82 up the loch is slow behind a coach and the east shore road is single track beyond Balmaha. Check for the day you travel.

Parking is the thing to plan around. Luss, Balmaha, Rowardennan, Ben A'an and Loch Lomond Shores are all pay and display and all full by mid-morning on a fine weekend; and the Park asks you not to park on verges or in passing places.

When to visit

May and June are the months we would choose: the bluebells on Inchcailloch, the long evenings on the pier at Luss, and the midges not yet at full strength. September has the colour starting and the crowds gone. July and August are busy every day and heaving at weekends, and the permit pitches and the good cottages go early. Winter is quieter than you would expect and the loch is at its most beautiful with snow on Ben Lomond; the cruises run a reduced timetable and the Sea Life centre and the Shores stay open, and the Christmas market at Loch Lomond Shores is in our Christmas markets guide. Midges are a real thing here from June to September on still evenings by the water; take repellent.

Day trips and nearby

Glasgow is forty minutes for the museums and a night out. Stirling and its castle are forty-five minutes east through Drymen, and the Rob Roy Way starts at Drymen if you want a long walk that is not the West Highland Way, which starts at Milngavie and runs up the east shore of the loch. North on the A82, Glencoe is ninety minutes and the finest drive on the mainland, with Rannoch Moor on the way, and Fort William is two hours. West, the Rest and Be Thankful pass leads to Inveraray and Loch Fyne in an hour. Our cycling guide covers the loch's traffic-free paths, and the family activities guide plans a day with children.