Scottish Highlands Tours

The wild and rugged beauty of the Highlands of northern Scotland has inspired artists for centuries, its dramatic imagery gracing countless postcards and shortbread tins. Explore the Scottish Highlands with Great Rail Journeys and you'll discover some of the most magical, picturesque and unspoilt landscapes in the British Isles.

Our Scottish Highlands tours offer varied and exciting itineraries; one moment you could be sweeping through the breathtakingly majestic scenery of the mountain glens of Glenfinnan on an iconic steam train, and the next be visiting the fairy-tale perfect Eilean Donan Castle, one of the most photographed locations in Scotland thanks to its superb setting on an island in Loch Duich.

Whilst large areas of the Scottish Highlands are wild, open and uninhabited, traversed only by remote roads and scenic railway lines, the region is also dotted with charming and picturesque villages, interesting towns, ancient castles such as Dunrobin Castle near the town of Beuly, and a host of distilleries, each with its own history and characteristics, which produce Scotland's most famous export: malt whisky.

When you explore the Scottish Highlands on one of our tours you'll have free time to seek out these highlights of Scotland and many more as you journey through a region rich in tradition, culture, history and sublime beauty.

Great Rail Journeys offers a selection of tours which explore different aspects and areas of the Highlands of Scotland. A tour of the western Highlands reveals Scotland's rugged coastline, as well as wild inland areas such as the remote Rannoch Moor which, in the absence of roads, can only be crossed by train. The western Highlands, back-dropped by dramatically scenic mountain ranges is a region of legend - on this tour you'll visit Loch Ness, home of the infamous monster - and of legendary beauty in the form of the wildlife-rich Hebrides and Small Islands, Fort William and Ben Nevis; the highest mountain in the British Isles.

Some of the UK's most scenic railways are to be found in the Scottish Highlands and when you taking a Highland Adventure with Great Rail Journeys offers the chance to travel on the Strathspey Steam Railway, the Jacobite Steam Train and the Cairngorm Mountain Railway; Scotland's only funicular railway which gently ascends to give superb views of the Cairngorm range and the popular Highland resort of Aviemore.

There can be few more enjoyable ways of enjoying Scotland's unique scenery, remarkable railways and historic heritage than by exploring the Scottish Highlands with Great Rail Journeys.