This Interrail route takes you from London to the Scottish Highlands. The Caledonian Sleeper Night Train runs from London to Fort William. Continue via the Gelenfinnan Viaduct to Mallaig and Armadle on the Isle of Skye. From Kyle of Lochalsh on to the far north of Scotland, to Thurso. And from there back again via Inverness and Edinburgh.

To London by train

The Eurostar train will take you from Brussels and Paris directly to London. You will need to buy an Interrail reservation for 30 EUR. You can get it online from ACPRail and B-Europe. If this is too expensive for you, you can also look for a bus connection: Flixbus or Omio. These also go overnight and save the cost of a hostel or hotel.

From London to Fort William at the Caledonian Sleeper

The Caledonian Sleeper night trains connect London with Scotland. In the meantime, they offer completely new and very comfortable coaches. With Interrail you travel free of charge on a seat! You can reserve your own private compartment with Interrail from 120 GBP. It leaves London at 21:15. Your arrival in Fort William is at 09:57. The train from London to Fort William does not leave on Saturday evening!

Your free seat reservation can be obtained via the Caledonian Sleeper customer service. Reservations for private compartments can be made directly on their website. Check the box "Room Supplement Only" to buy only the reservation.

Decide by date of travel: by ferry to Isle of Skye or by bus

Note: you now have two possibilities to travel further. This depends on your travel date.

  • Fort William - train to Mallaig - ferry to Armadale - bus to Kyle of Lochalsh: this is probably not possible on weekends, as there is no bus connection between Armadale and Kyle of Lochalsh. But it is my recommended route. Find out about the travel times on your travel date using the following links in the text.
  • Fort William - Train to Mallaig - Train to Fort William - Bus to Kyle of Lochalsh: here you take the beautiful train route from Fort William to Mallaig and back to Fort William. From here you can take the bus to Kyle of Lochalsh which runs all year round. From Kyle of Lochalsh your journey continues normally.

Bus from Fort William to Kyle of Lochalsh

The bus from Fort William to Kyle of Lochalsh runs three times a day. The journey takes two hours. The bus ticket costs 25 GBP and you can buy it either directly from the driver or online on Citylink. The departure from Fort William is at 10:00, 14:00 and 18:40. This bus journey is not included in the Interrail ticket.

Fascinating route from Fort William to Mallaig via the Gelenfinnan Viaduct

This photo was taken by Connor Mollison - thank you!

The train route from Fort William to Mallaig is described as the most beautiful section of the West Highland Line. The journey takes 1:30 hours. This journey is free of charge with Interrail. The highlight of this route is the Glenfinnan Viaduct, which can be seen in the Harry Potter films! Sit on the left in the direction of travel. There is also a station museum worth seeing. You can also sleep there in 1950s sleeping cars - from 25 GBP. The walk to the viaduct is about 1km and takes about 20 minutes.

Departure times from Fort William: 08:30 / 12:12 / 16:19 / 22:11

Departure times from Mallaig: 06:03 / 10:10 / 16:05 / 18:15

Fewer departures at the weekend. You can find current timetables on Scotrail.

With the ferry from Mallaig to Armadale

Mallaig is a fishing village and terminus of the West Highland Line. On the Isle of Skye you can take a ferry to Armadale. The ferry runs up to eight times a day. The journey time is 25 minutes. The fare is GBP 3. You must check in at least 10 minutes before departure!

You can find the exact timetable and other routes (if you plan them) on the website of the operator Caledonian MacBrayne.

The ferry offers a beautiful view. There are seats inside and outside.

In Armadale the ferry stops briefly to pick up passengers and then returns directly to Mallaig.

By bus across the Isle of Skye to Kyle of Lochalsh

The Isle of Skye offers you absolutely great opportunities to enjoy Scottish nature. I am now only referring to the connection from Armadale (arrival of the ferry) to Kyle of Lochalsh (connection to the train). On Skye itself there is no train, only buses.

The bus service from Armadale to Kyle of Lochalsh is a bit cumbersome: it runs rarely and sometimes not at all on weekends. Fridays usually at other times. You have to change buses in Broadford. Please check the website of the operator Stagecoach. It is bus number 52 (Armadale, Pier to Broadford, Post Office) and 50 (Broadford, Post Office to Kyle of Lochalsh, Harbour Slipway). If you use the timetable search, you will need to search in two steps: Armadale-Broadford and Broadford-Kyle of Lochalsh

Armadale, Pier from 10:45

Broadford, Post Office on 11:10

TRANSIT

Broadford, Post Office from 14:58

Kyle of Lochalsh, Harbour Slipway at 15:18

As you can see, it can be more comfortable (as mentioned above) to drive from Fort William to Mallaig (a route worth seeing!) and back again. And then by bus from Fort William to Kyle of Lochalsh.

From Kyle of Lochalsh to Thurso one day through Scotland

Your journey now continues through the Highlands. First from Kyle of Lochalsh to Dingwall. The journey takes two hours. There you change to Thurso. The journey from Dingwall to Thurso takes three hours. It is a very scenic route through mountainous country with many bridges and tunnels. You can adjust the train connection a little and thus extend your stay in the market town of Dingwall. This journey is free for you with the Interrail Pass.

Kyle of Lochalsh from 12:08

Dingwall from 14:09

CHANGE

Dingwall from 14:37

Thurso at 17:50

Thurso is the northernmost railway station in the UK. From here ferries go to the Orkney Islands. An overnight stay is quite nice, for example in the Station Hotel, which I can recommend. It has something so far north.

Train journey from Thurso to Inverness

You already know parts of the route from Thurso to Inverness. The journey from Thurso to Inverness takes four hours and is free with Interrail. There are two to four connections depending on the day of the week.

Thurso from 13:06

Inverness on 17:06

In Inverness you can stay overnight or take an earlier train from Thurso and continue straight through to Edinburgh.

Interrail from Inverness to Edinburgh

From Inverness to Edinburgh you have connections almost every hour. The journey time is 3:30 hours and is free with Interrail. As an example a connection from Thurso via Inverness to Edinburgh.

Thurso from 08:34

Inverness at 12:26

CHANGE

Inverness from 12:49

Edinburgh at 16:34

Edinburgh to London: by day or night train

Edinburgh is definitely worth staying two or three nights. There is a lot of culture to see and in the evenings there are countless pubs to linger in. I personally like Edinburgh very much. Edinburgh offers a wide range of cheap hotels, hostels or Airbnb-apartments.

From Edinburgh you can then travel back to London via Caledonian Sleeper. Either free of charge with Interrail in the Seat Car. Or in a sleeping car from 120 GBP. Read how to book this at the top of the blog post. This night train does not run on Saturday evening.

Edinburgh from 23:40

London at 07:07

You can get on the train as early as 23:00 and not leave until 07:30. Then your night will be a bit longer. Optionally you can take the night train to London from Inverness if you want to skip Edinburgh.

During the day, the journey from Edinburgh to London takes 4:30 hours. An Interrail reservation is compulsory, but is available free of charge from stations in the UK. Or online at ACPRail for a fee.

Which Interrail ticket is best for Scotland?

It depends on how you travel to London. The 5 days within a month Interrail Pass is sufficient. Where I myself would choose one with more days of travel. This gives you more flexibility and the individual Interrail travel day is calculated more favourably on the ticket price.

Summary: what do I need

Conclusion and evaluation of the Interrail route through Scotland

Beautiful landscape and not too crowded. If you drive a little bit in the off-season, there is really not much going on. But pay attention to the running times of trains, buses and ferries. The connection on Skye is difficult with the bus from Armadale to Kyle of Lochalsh. If you have a little more time, there are a few more trips around Britain. There are really many connections and great places to visit. Above all, you travel in Great Britain very cheaply with Interrail compared to the normal ticket prices.

Have a good trip! :)

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