The Magical Highland Tour Including the Jacobite Steam Train Journey

Recommended by 91% of travelers

Edinburgh, Scotland

Popular pick

Booked 5+ times last week!

13 hours 30 minutes (approx.)
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

Explore our promoted experiences

St Andrews & the Fishing Villages of Fife Small-Group Day Tour from Edinburgh

Edinburgh, Scotland

4.7

(2,038)

St Andrews & the Fishing Villages of Fife Small-Group Day Tour from Edinburgh

from $85

Edinburgh: Loch Lomond, Stirling Castle and the Kelpies Day Tour

Edinburgh, Scotland

4.6

(1,262)

Edinburgh: Loch Lomond, Stirling Castle and the Kelpies Day Tour

from $79

Edinburgh City private driving tour Castle Rosslyn Chapel

Edinburgh, Scotland

4.5

(2)

Edinburgh City private driving tour Castle Rosslyn Chapel

from $1,226

Per group

Viator earns higher commissions on experiences featured here

Overview

Follow in the footsteps of the Harry Potter cast—and admire some of the Scottish Highlands’ most attractive scenery—on this full-day coach tour from Edinburgh. You’ll visit a number of filming locations used in all eight movies, including Eilean na Moine island (the site of Dumbledore’s grave) and Loch Shiel (used as a stand-in for Hogwarts Lake). You’ll even go for a ride on the Jacobite Steam Train—better known as the Hogwarts Express.

Comfortable, round-trip coach transportation from Edinburgh
Get up close and personal with some of the Highlands’ prettiest scenery
Climb aboard the Jacobite Steam Train (aka the Hogwarts Express)
A small packed breakfast is included

What's Included

Coach Tour
Jacobite Steam Train, single journey
Knowledgeable tour manager on board.

Exclusions
Gratuities
Lunch
Hotel drop off service
Bottled water

No food or drinks and included

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

Frankenstein
26 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1EN, UK
The ORIGINAL Elephant House beside Frankenstein's George IV Bridge at 6am

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

Operating hours
.6:00 am

Itinerary

Fort William

2 hours • Admission Ticket Free

Kinloch Rannoch (Pass By)

Glenfinnan Viaduct (Pass By)

Mallaig

1 hour 20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Pitlochry

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Most travelers can participate
Children must be accompanied by an adult

Children must be 6 years of age to travel
Tour may operate in reverse of the itinerary
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 48 travelers

Supplied by

Cancellation Policy

This experience is non-refundable and cannot be changed for any reason. If you cancel or ask for an amendment, the amount you paid will not be refunded.

Traveler Photos

Gallery picture 1 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 2 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 3 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 4 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 5 (from a traveler's review)

Featured review

Sharon Z

The highlands where amazing and the scenery breathtaking, especially for Harry Potter fans. The train ride was an ordinary ride, we expected it to be a bit more magical, however an overall enjoyable day.

Reviews

4.6

based on 179 reviews

Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor

We perform checks on reviews

Pricey

Dawn_L, Oct 2025

The tour guide Brendan was fabulous but no I don’t think the its worth the price the tour bus was great and Brendan was great but for me paid over 200 and most of my time was spent sitting on the bus just not worth the money but to each his own

Only the train ride was enjoyable

Stefanie_F, Aug 2025

We wanted the full magical Highland experience, not just the train ride. Unfortunately, aside from the train itself, everything else was disappointing—mainly due to poor organization by the tour provider. The bus arrived late and was overbooked, leaving two passengers without seats. To avoid missing the train, we set off towards Mallaig anyway, with the plan that a larger bus would meet us at our first stop. However, the replacement bus was unsuitable, which meant we had to wait nearly two hours in a small town where most shops were closed—and it was raining—just for the right bus to finally arrive. As a result, all other scheduled stops were cancelled. We reached Mallaig with so little time to spare that the only option for lunch was grabbing something quickly from the supermarket. On the return journey, our driver tried to make up for it by stopping at one or two places we had missed earlier, but it hardly compensated for the lost experience. Considering the cost of this trip, it fell far short of our expectations and what was promised. To make matters worse, not even a proper apology was offered, which was truly astonishing. In addition I am pretty sure that the long time our driver was not able to do any stops himself was rather dangerous.

Response from Host, Aug 2025

Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. We are truly sorry that your experience did not meet expectations, and we completely understand how disappointing the day must have felt given the delays and disruption. On the day of your tour, we experienced unforeseen logistical issues with the replacement coach, which unfortunately caused significant delays and the cancellation of several planned stops. We recognise how frustrating this was, and we regret that it impacted the full Highland experience we always aim to deliver. We also want to reassure you that at no point was passenger safety compromised. Our driver remained fully within his legal driving hours and acted responsibly throughout the day, doing his best under very difficult circumstances. We are reviewing what happened carefully to ensure this type of situation is avoided in the future. Your comments are valuable in helping us improve, and once again, we sincerely apologise that your day did not live up to the standard you expected or that we strive to provide.

Super fun. Especially if...

Sherokee_R, Aug 2025

Super fun. Especially if you’re a Harry Potter fan. You see lots of the film locations and we saw the train in famous spots as well as getting to ride it.

Response from Host, Aug 2025

Thank you for your review! We’re thrilled to hear you had so much fun and enjoyed seeing the famous Harry Potter film locations. Riding the train and spotting all the iconic spots really makes the experience extra magical. We hope to welcome you on another adventure soon!

Bad

Nancy_K, May 2023

Need more things to changed, there ii nothimg fancy eith the train, too many hours in the bus,i would not doing this again

Response from Host, May 2023

Thank you for taking the time to review your tour. The Jacobite train is historic and described as the greatest railway journey in the world. The full itinerary of the tour is available online with the total hours visible for all who choose to book. We truly hope you managed to take some special memories away from this iconic day trip!

Beautiful highlands

Sharon Z, Nov 2019

My trip to the Highlands

Harry_L, Jul 2019

Fantastic trip to the Highlands. Especially enjoyed the steam train ride. Would recommend this trip adults and youngster whether you are a Harry Potter fan or not. The sheer beauty of the place is unbelievable. The tour guide was both delightful and knowledgeable. Her comments added to much to the overall to the experience.

Disappointing and Unmemorable

Payal_T, Jun 2019

Tour guide: probably a nice person. Awful tour guide. Especially for a 'Harry Potter' themed journey. Failed to point out any significant relation between the highlands, train and movie (and/or didn't follow the expected highlighted scenes mentioned on the tour website). An unimpressive "quiz" was conducted, but was quite pointless because the bridal group in the back half of the coach were scathingly obnoxious, rude and so irritating to spend 13 hours with. Nothing the tour guide said could be heard and she ("Bob") did nothing to account for the half of the bus who were trying to listen. Maybe asking them to keep it down a bit would have helped? Also the temperature on the bus was very irregular, freezing most of the time...hot for 2 seconds and then freezing again. Recommend going into it with very low expectations.

Response from Host, Jun 2019

Thank you for taking the time to give us your feedback, we appreciate knowing which parts of the tour our passengers enjoyed and knowing which areas have room for improvement. I am sorry that we did not live up to your expectations and that you did not enjoy our guides particular style but would like to assure you that our guides are frequently monitored with mystery shoppers as we pride ourselves on having excellent drivers & guides who constantly help us achieve our 5 star Visit Scotland award which is reviewed several times per year. With up to 48 passengers on board, the temperature on the coach can be challenging at times with many people making requests for their own comfort level. This tour is a fantastic sell out, the train tickets are extremely rare, so I hope you manage to take away some special memories of this unique experience

Meh

201dresdenm, Apr 2019

As a day trip through the Scottish Highlands, the trip was okay. If your purpose is to experience “Harry Potter-ness”, it can be quite disappointing, as none of the filming sites are recognizable from the motorway - the coach does not stop at any of them. The Jacobite steam train is alright in its own right, but missing any of the Harry Potter elements. The most Harry Potter experience was the gift shop (one shop) in Malaig.

A fascinating coach tour to a disappointing destination.

Leo_L, Jul 2025

To be honest, the moments on the bus with Brendan (or Brandon I don't know anymore) were a thousand times more fun than those spent in the Jacobite. An old, stinking train whose smoke suffocates the lungs, we wonder why we pay so much for travel. Listen to me, there is NOTHING reminiscent of Hogwarts Express, no compartment, blue seats, NOT red, some goodies that are found everywhere else, it is NOT worth it. A picture in front of the train or on the Glennfinnan is more than enough. Even the view is spoiled by the dirt of the windows. There is NO effort to immerse yourself in the world of Harry Potter except one or two comments from the controllers to tell you once “watch out Dumbledore’s grave is on the right” that’s the only time I felt the effort. No bierraubere but a hot water chocolate with absolutely infamous glitter, in short it is a disaster. Everyone was half asleep so boring the show was. Plus it lasts two hours. HOWEVER... I have an excellent memory of that day. Brendan our driver was funny, his continuous comments kept us busy throughout the loooong round trip. And thanks to him, I felt the magic working, we saw by bus far more locations of HARRY POTTER than with the train. Brendan is full of cultural references that he is happy to share. You come out rich. So I highly recommend this activity. Especially not for that horrible Jacobite but for the bus trip.

Auto-translated

Response from Host, Jul 2025

Thank you so much for taking the time to share your feedback. We’re really glad to hear you enjoyed your day overall and that Brendan made the experience special , we’ll be sure to pass along your kind words to him! We’re sorry to hear that the train journey didn’t meet your expectations. Just to clarify, the Jacobite Steam Train portion of the tour is operated independently by West Coast Railways. As such, feedback specifically about the train experience may be more appropriate to share directly with them, as we have no control over the service or facilities on board. That said, we truly appreciate your honesty and your recommendation of the tour. We're happy that the magic still came through on the coach portion of the journey, and we'll continue doing our best to deliver a memorable experience.

Muy lindo pero....

ABELRENE_A, Apr 2025

El paisaje es maravilloso, es muy recomendable ir. El chófer Brendan, fue genial muy amable e informativo. Lo malo de este tour, fue que nosotros lo contratamos en español y no hubo absolutamente nadie de habla hispana que te ofreciera algo de información, es más, cuando me llegó el aviso del punto de recogida, decía "idioma español - escrito" y ni eso tuvimos. Una lastima. Ahora, si tienes pensado ir en vehículo a Inverness evita este tour ya que puedes ver estos paisajes , yendo de Inverness a Glasgow.

Response from Host, Apr 2025

Thank you for your feedback and for your kind words about the scenery and our driver Brendan – we're glad to hear you enjoyed those aspects of the tour. We’re sorry to hear about the confusion regarding the language offering. To clarify, all our tours are conducted in English only. However, we do provide written translations upon request in advance. Additionally, please note that our tours operate from Edinburgh, so it's a bit unusual to reference travel from Inverness to Glasgow. We understand everyone’s travel plans are different, but we believe our itineraries offer a unique and memorable experience. We appreciate your comments and will use them to help improve our service.

Recomendable 100%

Sandra_L, Aug 2024

El tour es 100% recomendable! Vale cada € que cuesta!!! Espectacular día!!! :) El viaje en tren fue mágico y ver el tren desde fuera tambien y todos los puntos en los que paramos y nos contaba el guía cosas!