Driving the Highlands with children sounds romantic until you are on a single-track road behind a caravan, with someone asking for a snack and someone else feeling sick. The train solves most of that. Nobody has to navigate, the scenery arrives at eye level, and a restless six-year-old can walk to the end of the carriage and back without anyone pulling over.
Scotland’s rail network is not huge, but the lines that head north from Edinburgh happen to run through some of the best landscape in the country. With a bit of planning, you can link a city break, a mountain base and a sea loch in one trip without ever renting a car.
Before anyone boards
The paperwork side is quick, but it catches families out more than it should. Travellers from Australia, the US, Canada and most of Europe need an electronic travel authorisation to visit the UK, and the rule applies to every passport in the family, babies included. Each UK ETA is linked to the passport used to apply, and airlines check it before you board, so a child’s missing approval becomes a problem at the check-in desk rather than at the border. Apply a few weeks ahead, and if anyone renews a passport before the trip, remember that the authorisation does not move across to the new one.
Train tickets are friendlier. Children under five travel free on ScotRail services with an adult, and the Kids for a Quid ticket covers up to four children aged five to 15 travelling with a paying adult. It is sold by staff at ticket offices or on board rather than online, which is worth knowing before you spend ten minutes hunting for it in the app.
Edinburgh first, and not in a rush
Give Edinburgh two or three days. Long-haul children need time to land, and the city is compact enough to explore on foot while everyone’s body clock catches up. Arthur’s Seat is a proper climb that small legs can manage in an hour or so, Camera Obscura keeps older kids busy for longer than you would expect, and the zoo is an easy bus ride from the centre.
Stay near Waverley station if you can. When departure day comes, wheeling cases five minutes downhill beats a taxi through morning traffic.
North on the Highland Main Line
The line from Edinburgh to Inverness takes around three and a half hours, and the second half is the reason to do it. The city gives way to Perthshire farmland, then forest, then the open, bare hills of Drumochter.
Break the journey rather than doing it in one go. Pitlochry is a good first stop, with a salmon ladder at the dam that children find far more gripping than it sounds. Aviemore, further north, makes a strong base for two or three nights. It sits at the edge of the Cairngorms, the Strathspey heritage steam railway runs from the town, and the free-ranging reindeer herd near Glenmore is the kind of outing kids talk about for years.
Inverness and the line to the sea
Inverness is a practical hub rather than a destination in itself, though Loch Ness is close enough for a half-day trip by bus or boat. The real prize is the Kyle Line, which runs west from Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh in roughly two and a half hours.
It is a quiet, unhurried railway. The train climbs through empty glens, skirts lochs and finishes facing the bridge to Skye. Pick a seat on the left as you head west for the best water views, and bring lunch, because there is not much on offer along the way.
The western alternative
If your children have seen the Harry Potter films, they will ask about the Glenfinnan Viaduct. That means the West Highland Line, which leaves from Glasgow rather than Edinburgh, so it fits better as a separate leg via Glasgow to Fort William and on to Mallaig.
The Jacobite steam train runs this route seasonally, roughly from late spring to autumn, and sells out well ahead in summer. Its timetable has wobbled in recent years, so check before you build a trip around it. The regular ScotRail service crosses the same viaduct, costs far less and still gets a cheer from the back seats.
Pacing it with children
Rail days are easier than driving days, but they still add up. A few rules keep the trip on track:
- Keep train legs under four hours, and break anything longer with a night somewhere
- Reserve seats on longer routes so the family sits together
- Pack one small bag per child with snacks, a book and a jumper, because Highland trains can run cold
- Build in a day with no train at all every three or four days
Luggage is the other thing to keep in check. Highland trains are short, racks fill quickly in summer, and lifting four large suitcases on and off at every change will wear thin by day three. Two medium bags for the family and one daypack each is usually enough.
