The West Highland Way: Stages and Accommodation
Ninety-six miles from the edge of Glasgow to the foot of Ben Nevis, and Scotland’s most-walked long-distance route by a wide margin. It is also the one where the camping rules are genuinely complicated, because part of it runs through a byelaw zone.
Published 18 August 2026
The West Highland Way runs from Milngavie on the northern edge of Glasgow to Fort William, opening in 1980 as Scotland’s first official long-distance route. It works because of the transition: you start in commuter-belt woodland and finish under the highest mountain in Britain, and the landscape changes decisively about four times on the way.
The stages
| Stage | Roughly | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Milngavie to Drymen | 12 miles | Gentle farmland and woodland; the easiest day |
| Drymen to Rowardennan | 15 miles | Conic Hill and the Highland Boundary Fault, then Loch Lomond |
| Rowardennan to Inverarnan | 14 miles | The rough loch-side section, slow, rooty, harder than the distance suggests |
| Inverarnan to Tyndrum | 12 miles | Glen Falloch, Crianlarich, opening into real Highland country |
| Tyndrum to Kingshouse | 19 miles | Rannoch Moor, the big empty one, and the best day on the route |
| Kingshouse to Kinlochleven | 9 miles | The Devil’s Staircase, the highest point at 550 m |
| Kinlochleven to Fort William | 15 miles | The Lairigmor military road, and Ben Nevis at the end |
Two sections surprise people. The east bank of Loch Lomond between Rowardennan and Inverarnan is genuinely slow, a rough, undulating, tree-root path where three miles an hour is optimistic. And Rannoch Moor is superb but exposed, with no shelter and no escape once you commit.
The camping rules (the important bit)
Scotland has statutory access rights under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, which make responsible wild camping lawful across most of the country. The West Highland Way is the notable exception to that simplicity, because its southern half passes through the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, where camping management byelaws apply in defined zones.
- Check the current zone map and dates on the national park’s own site before you plan a wild camp. The boundaries have been revised more than once.
- Book permits early if you intend to camp in a managed zone in season.
- North of the park, ordinary Scottish access rights resume and responsible wild camping is lawful again.
For how this compares elsewhere in the UK, see wild camping in Northern Ireland, which is the strictest jurisdiction of the four.
Midges
The West Highland Way runs straight through the worst of it. Midge season is roughly late May to September, peaking in July and August, and it is at its most severe in still, damp, overcast conditions at dawn and dusk, which is when you are pitching and striking camp. Walking in May or late September avoids the worst and is a large part of why those months are so popular on this route.
Where to stay
Accommodation along the Way is heavily booked and concentrated in a handful of settlements: Drymen, Rowardennan, Tyndrum, Kinlochleven. Our coverage of the corridor itself is thin at 11 sites within ten miles, against 50 across the Scottish Highlands as a whole, so treat the list below as a starting point rather than a complete stage-by-stage solution.
Sites near the West Highland Way
Within ten miles of the route between Milngavie and Fort William.
See all 11 sites (5 more not shown here).
Beyond the corridor, Loch Lomond covers the southern half and the Scottish Highlands the northern.
Common questions
- How long is the West Highland Way?
- 96 miles from Milngavie near Glasgow to Fort William. Most walkers take seven or eight days.
- Can you wild camp on the West Highland Way?
- Partly. Scottish access rights permit responsible wild camping in general, but the southern section passes through Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park where camping management byelaws restrict it between March and September without a permit.
- What is the hardest section of the West Highland Way?
- The east shore of Loch Lomond between Rowardennan and Inverarnan is the slowest and most awkward. Tyndrum to Kingshouse across Rannoch Moor is the longest and most exposed.
- When is the best time to walk the West Highland Way?
- May and late September, before and after the worst of the midges, which peak in July and August.
Keep reading
- Long-distance trailsThe Coast to Coast Walk: Stages and Where to StayWainwright’s Coast to Coast, now a National Trail, around 190 miles from St Bees to Robin Hood’s Bay through three national parks, broken into stages, with stays near the route.
- Long-distance trailsThe Pennine Way: Stages, Distances and Where to StayBritain’s first National Trail, 268 miles up the spine of England from Edale to Kirk Yetholm. The stages, the hard sections, and the sites near the route.
- Campervans & motorhomesWild Campervan Spots in the UK: What’s Actually LegalWhere you can legally sleep in a campervan in the UK, the law in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, the Loch Lomond byelaws, and the legal alternatives.
- Long-distance trailsThe Cleveland Way: Moors to CoastA guide to the Cleveland Way National Trail, 109 miles from Helmsley across the North York Moors and down the Yorkshire coast to Filey, with stages and stays.