Loch Ness from Edinburgh: The Best Way To Visit

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Tell someone you’re off to Scotland and the jokey response is often “Look out for the Loch Ness monster”. But despite having grown up in the North of England about 10 minutes away from the Scottish border, I had never been to Loch Ness until a few years ago. But finally I felt like I just had to look into visiting Loch Ness from Edinburgh during a stay in the city. Spoiler: I didn’t see a monster, but keep reading for more on this excellent day trip.

Staying in Edinburgh

Before we get to the whole Loch Ness part of this, let’s just talk a little about Edinburgh. It is by far one of my favorite places in the UK. The city is so beautiful, full of history and culture. If you’re planning a trip to Scotland (or even just the UK for that matter) I urge you to visit somewhere else that isn’t London and head on up to Scotland.

There’s a train from London that goes to Edinburgh and will get you there in just over 4 hours. To put that in perpective, it takes about an hour to get from London city center to the airport by train.

The lower part of the city of Edinburgh is accessible to either train station (they have two so note where your train is coming in). But the upper part of the city, along the Royal Mile between the castle and the palace, is where you’ll find the real history soaked streets you’ll want to explore.

Be sure to catch some live music in a local pub, try some Scotch Whiskey and maybe even take a ghost walk. But putting Edinburgh aside for now, let’s get back to this famous loch.

What is a Loch?

A loch is a lake or another similar expanse of water. It’s your first lesson in Gaelic, and let’s face it, it’s much cooler than just saying the word Lake. In fact, I’m not sure Lake Ness would have ever had the same ring to it, do you?

Now Scotland is full of lochs. Over 30,000 of them! So what made this one so famous? Well for one, it’s the largest loch/lake in Britain (when you take into account volume of water). And it is so deep, and the water often murky, that people have talked about the existence of a “monster” in the loch for a very long time.

Feeding into these legends, people often claim to have “seen something” that might be Nessie. Who knows if it’s true or not, but the fact is myths and stories cause notoriety. Hence the famous Loch Ness.

Where is Loch Ness from Edinburgh?

Loch Ness is way up into the Scottish Highlands, which are as awesome as they sound. The nearest bigger city to Loch Ness is Inverness, less than a half hour drive away. So if you are looking to stay over near the loch, Inverness is about as good an option as any unless you want something a little more remote.

But where is all of this in relation to Edinburgh I hear you ask? Well, I’ll level with you, it’s a long way. A 3 hour drive to Loch Ness from Edinburgh. The roads are often winding and it’s a remote place, so if you can spend the night up there I would.

Spending the night is obviously much better than a day trip from Edinburgh. But if you’re in a hurry without time to spare a day trip is still possible.

How should you get to Loch Ness from Edinburgh?

TRAIN to Loch Ness from Edinburgh?

As much as I love trains, I would discount this option as that would only really get you as far as Inverness. From there you’d still have to find another way to get to the loch.

So considering the remote location, the best two options are to rent a car and drive or take a tour:

Driving to Loch Ness from Edinburgh

A car is the most convenient way to reach Loch Ness. You can stop along the way, go at your own pace, and enjoy the journey as much as anything else.

Take this option especially if you plan to see more than Loch Ness. You can really spend a good amount of time in the Highlands or head up to some of the Scottish Islands.

The downside to a car? This is a lot of driving if you’re only going for a day. And you might not get as much enjoyment as being able to sit and look out of the window from a bus.

Taking a bus tour to Loch Ness

Not everybody likes organized tours. You have to keep to a schedule, wait for other people, and you’ll no doubt end up falling asleep on the way home every time.

However, a day tour to Loch Ness is helpful if you don’t want to drive all that way yourself. You’ll also see a beautiful part of the world very easily, and it’s genuinely the best option if you can only do a day trip. Personally I wouldn’t want to drive to Loch Ness and back in a day.

Day tour to Loch Ness from Edinburgh

Given my time restrictions, you might have guessed that I ended up going with the day tour to Loch Ness. So this post is about my experience on the tour as well as information on a general Loch Ness visit.

I booked my tour in advance through Viator. There are a number of good tour options on there, but I would probably recommend a small group tour as we were on a much larger bus and spent a bit of time herding people back to the bus at every stop. Much quicker with less people!

When searching for a tour I would recommend one that includes Urquhart Castle, and many have an optional add on cruise on the loch.

An early start

If you opt for a day trip to Loch Ness from Edinburgh, I’m not going to sugarcoat it…you are going to be up early. If you are traveling in the fall like I was this means you’re most likely finding your way to the tour bus in the dark. But don’t worry it’ll be worth it.

Most of the tours leave from a central point in Edinburgh. Ours went from the tour offices on the Royal Mile. Since we weren’t staying there we had to leave plenty of time in the morning to get there (and grab a snack along the way).

TOP TRAVEL TIP: Your first stop likely won’t be for a while, bring some breakfast or snacks and a bottle of water for the road.

Stops on the way to Loch Ness from Edinburgh

We did the typical route that most of the tours take. There are a couple of rest stop breaks with the chance to go use a bathroom, buy a drink or snack and do a little souvenir shopping. If you’re as lucky as I was there will also be the chance to get up close with some real Highland cows!

We also had stops at Glen Coe and even found a random bagpiper in a remote spot playing traditional Scottish music with mountains in the background. Not a bad experience at all.

Our tour guide was really engaging, telling us stories about the history of the areas we were going through. And of course pointing out the highlights of places we were passing.

We passed a lot of Bens on our way. A Ben (or beinn) is the Gaelic word for mountain in case you’re wondering. The tallest of all (and the highest mountain in Britain) is Ben Nevis. We lucked out on an early fall day and had the most perfect views of the Scottish Highlands.

Urquhart Castle

The tour we took had an optional add on of Urquhart Castle and a Loch Ness cruise. Since we felt like we might only there once, we did it, even though it is an additional fee.

It was about 25 GBP and you had to do both since the tour dropped us at Urquhart Castle and picked us up at the other end of Loch Ness after our one way cruise. Those choosing not to do the attractions had time to spend along the loch on the drive along to where they would pick us up.

Urquhart Castle is beautiful, although it might not be the kind of castle you’re expecting. It is very much a ruin of a castle. And I don’t mean in a bit of a fixer-upper kind of way. In a they-blew-it-up-to-stop-the-enemy-using-it way.

Yet it’s position above the great loch is breathtaking and there’s something really fascinating and eerie about it. You’ll be free to walk around the ruins and the visitor center – which has a lot of great history about the castle.

Loch Ness lake cruise

After our whistle stop tour of Urquhart Castle (we had about 45 minutes to an hour there) we had to find out boat. Luckily it was a lovely day, the perfect day for a boat ride. In fact it was warmer and sunnier in Northern Scotland than it was the rest of our UK trip!

The boat tour is about 45 minutes to the other end of Loch Ness. I searched and searched but unfortunately didn’t see any signs of Nessie. Like an epic game of Waldo I eventually gave up and started enjoying the cruise, sat outside in the sun.

I’m sure seeing Loch Ness from the shore is nice, but I do love a good boat ride so I was pretty happy from the water.

The return journey

After a lot of stops along the way including a stop to buy lunch, a couple of photo opportunities and then the castle and loch, we had an uneventful drive back.

Like most full day tours, they anticipate everyone will be exhausted and just be ready to get back. Therefore the return journey was just about sitting back, relaxing, and maybe dozing a little on the bus back to Edinburgh.

Of course you’ll still catch glimpses of more mountains, rivers and spectacular views between sporadic naps, and arrive back in Edinburgh about 7-8pm for most tours.

I felt this had been a long day. About 7 hours of our time had been on a bus. But I’m still glad we went. The day was fantastic and Loch Ness was more impressive than I thought it would be. Honestly I thought it would be a little too hyped to be any good. I can see why it’s appealing to people and why there are so many stories about it.

Extending Your Stay Around Loch Ness

As you can tell, my day was action packed and much longer than anyone would usually want to spend on a bus. I am glad I did the tour and got to see what I wanted to see. But there were parts I felt were rushed.

Urquhart Castle, for one, would have been nice to spend more time at. Even the obligatory photo stops can feel a little rushed when you need to keep to a schedule. It would be nice to go at your own pace.

Therefore if I had to do it again, instead of just visiting Loch Ness from Edinburgh, I would extend my stay. I’d plan to really tour the Highlands by renting a car. If you have the time, this might be a more leisurely way to see more of Scotland. Here are some other places not to miss:

Inverness

Inverness is a good base for exploring the Scottish Highlands. The city is the most Northern City in the British Isles and has a ton of history.

Compared to a lot of cities Inverness is quite small, so might feel quieter and less city-like than you’re used to. But enjoy a walk around the cathedral, a day out to one of the battle sites outside of the city, or don your kilt for a Highland Whiskey tasting you won’t forget (unless you have too much).

Time your visit right and you could also attend the Highland Games festival, an annual sporting event in the city.

Fort William

Other than the fact that this town is in the heart of the Scottish highlands surrounded by fantastic scenery, the main reason you might want to give Fort William a visit is not what you’d think. It is the starting location of the Jacobite Express train ride.

You might know that train ride better as the Hogwarts Express. That’s right, Potter fans, you can ride on the Hogwarts Express. The journey takes you round trip up to the coastal town of Mallaig and back in about 6 hours. 2 hours there and back and just over an hour and a half free time in Mallaig. If you’re heading to Scotland, you’re not going to want to miss this. Check out this post for some other great reasons to visit the United Kingdom.

Cairngorms National Park

Cairngorms is Britain’s largest National Park (is there anything Scotland doesn’t have bigger and better? – mountains, lakes and now National Parks). There are any one of a number of fun recreational activities you can do in the park. Or you could just go for a drive, park the car and take a wander around the serene National Park of Scotland.

If you’ve already had a busy trip I would opt for the latter rather than cram in more activities, but to each their own. Either way, a stop at the Cairngorms is warranted if you choose to drive.

Should you visit Loch Ness?

Of course you should. Not only is it eerily fascinating, but it’s big and beautiful and everything you want from the rugged landscape of Northern Scotland. However the choice of whether you drive and stop over, or take a bus tour is up to you and the time you have available.

People think the UK is just London and that you might only need a couple more days somewhere else, until you realize that this could be a vacation on its own.

I recommend taking some more time to explore the area, something I plan to do next time I get back to the United Kingdom. And maybe on my next trip I’ll actually spot Nessie.

If you’ve enjoyed this post leave a comment or share using the social media buttons below. Have you visited Loch Ness from Edinburgh or anywhere else? How did you get there?