Glen Nevis without the summit: the gorge, An Steall and the wire bridge

Glen Nevis is the valley that curls round the west and south sides of Ben Nevis, and you do not have to climb the mountain to get a big day out of it. The road runs up the glen from the Nevis Bridge end of town, past the Ben Nevis Visitor Centre, the youth hostel and the campsite, and stops at a car park at the very end. From there a path goes through a gorge to a waterfall that drops more than 100 metres.

The visitor centre first

High Life Highland runs the Ben Nevis Visitor Centre on Glen Nevis Road, about two miles from the town centre. It is open 08:00 to 16:00 every day and says it is open all winter, with accessible toilets, and High Life Highland points walkers to the safety advice from its staff. Parking is £8 a day. If you are heading further up the glen, it is the place to check the mountain weather report first.

The Nevis Gorge and An Steall

Drive on past the visitor centre to the car park at the end of the road. Walkhighlands, which the John Muir Trust links to from its own Ben Nevis page, describes the route from here as 3.5 kilometres with 220 metres of ascent, taking an hour and a half to two hours, on a path that is very rough and rocky with steep drops. The path climbs through the Nevis Gorge and comes out into the meadows below An Steall, the waterfall.

The John Muir Trust, which looks after the ground, calls An Steall Scotland's second highest falls, with water plunging more than 100 metres, and says around 60,000 people walk the route through the Steall Gorge each year. It describes the walk as passing through rocky gorges and grassy meadows.

The wire bridge

The John Muir Trust mentions the chance to cross the wire bridge over the River Nevis. Walkhighlands calls it notorious and says it can be crossed by the brave with great care, and that you then have to cross back.

Things to know before you go

• Keep children close in the gorge. Walkhighlands warns of steep drops beside the path.
• Wear boots. This is a rocky path, not a woodland track.
• Do not use this car park to climb Ben Nevis. In 2021 Mountaineering Scotland and the John Muir Trust warned that Google Maps could direct people to the car park at the head of the glen with a dotted line to the summit, across steep, pathless ground, and called it potentially fatal. The Ben is climbed from the visitor centre.
• The John Muir Trust's 'Exploring Ben and Glen Nevis' map is a free PDF linked from its Ben Nevis page.

Eating and staying in the glen

Glen Nevis Restaurant and Bar, run by the same company as the campsite, opens at 15:00 on weekdays and noon at weekends, with table service from 17:00 and the kitchen closing at 21:00, and it recommends booking at weekends and holidays. It warns that low-season hours can be shorter than advertised. It describes its menu as Highland classics with modern flavours, from venison and local seafood to burgers.

At Achintee, the Ben Nevis Inn opens from noon and has a session band on Thursday evenings. Glen Nevis Youth Hostel, open all year, has private rooms and dorms, a drying room and a self-catering kitchen, and welcomes dogs. Glen Nevis Holidays runs the caravan and camping park and self-catering cottages; it does not take bookings through an online engine, so phone or use its enquiry form.

If the weather closes in

Glen Nevis is a dead end, so a bad forecast means turning back towards town. The Nevis Range gondola at Torlundy runs weather permitting and is no help in a storm, but the West Highland Museum on Cameron Square is free and open Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 16:00, and the Ben Nevis Distillery visitor centre at Lochy Bridge is open on weekdays, with tours booked by phone on 01397 700200 or by email.

Getting there without a car

The visitor centre is about two miles from the town centre, along Glen Nevis Road. The car park at the end of the road is much further up the glen, about eight kilometres from the town centre in a straight line, so without a car you will want a taxi. Check Traveline Scotland for any seasonal bus up the glen before relying on one.