Often voted the world's most scenic railway, this line from Fort William to Mallaig crosses lochs, moor and one very famous curved viaduct.
The regular ScotRail service already justifies the trip on its own — Rannoch Moor's bog and heather stretching to the horizon, Loch Eilt's small wooded islands, the sudden reveal of the sea at Arisaig. But most people come for one specific ninety seconds: the curve of the Glenfinnan Viaduct, twenty-one arches sweeping in a long stone bow above the glen, best known now as the bridge the Hogwarts Express crosses in the Harry Potter films.
You can ride it on the ordinary diurnal train for a fraction of the cost, or take the Jacobite steam service that runs the same route in summer, trailing smoke over the viaduct for the photographers gathered on the hillside viewpoint above Glenfinnan station. Either way, sit on the left heading toward Mallaig for the water views along Loch Shiel and the coast.
Mallaig itself is a working fishing port rather than a tourist set piece — arrive hungry and eat whatever came off the boats that morning, then catch the ferry across to Skye if you want to keep the journey going by water instead of rail.
The full line runs from Glasgow, but the Fort William to Mallaig leg is the concentrated highlight — about ninety minutes each way. Book the Jacobite well ahead in July and August; it sells out weeks in advance.
