2018-19 eXPLORE Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park visitscotland.com BOAT TOURS • BOAT HIRE • WATERSPORTS • OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES OPEN 7 DAYS • LUSS • ROWARDENNAN • LOCH LOMOND Loch Lomond Leisure can offer a wide range of guided tours and outdoor activities which are suitable for all ages. Advance booking is recommended. • Speedboat Tour • Guided Canoe Trip • Waterski & Wakeboard • Speedboat Taxi • Stand Up Paddleboard • Ringo & Banana Boat • Boat Hire & Fishing • Kayak & Bike Hire • Water Trampoline Please visit our website for more information and pricing. FUN FOR ALL THE FAMILY SELF-DRIVE BOAT HIRE & FISHING GUIDED CANOE TRIP BANANA BOAT RINGO PADDLEBOARD EXPLORE KAYAK WATERSKI & WAKEBOARD LESSONS RATED #1 ON TRIP ADVISOR SPEEDBOAT TOUR: Please visit website for interactive map, route planner & pricing freephone: 0333 577 0715 www.lochlomond-scotland.com WELCOME TO Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park 1 Welcome to… Contents 2 Loch Lomond & The BOAT TOURS • BOAT HIRE • WATERSPORTS • OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES Trossachs National Park Loch Lomond at a glance OPEN 7 DAYS • LUSS • ROWARDENNAN • LOCH LOMOND & The Trossachs 4 Adventures in the park Loch Lomond Leisure can offer a wide range of guided tours and outdoor activities 6 Water adventures which are suitable for all ages. Advance booking is recommended. National Park 8 Wonderful wildlife • Speedboat Tour • Guided Canoe Trip • Waterski & Wakeboard 10 Gateway to the park • Speedboat Taxi • Stand Up Paddleboard • Ringo & Banana Boat 12 Natural larder • Boat Hire & Fishing • Kayak & Bike Hire • Water Trampoline 14 Year of Young People 2018 FUN FOR ALL THE FAMILY Please visit our website for more information and pricing. 16 What’s on 18 Travel tips Balmaha, Loch Lomond 20 Practical information 24 Places to visit listings Scotland’s beautiful wilds are calling you. Loch Lomond & The Trossachs 43 Display adverts National Park was created as Scotland’s first National Park to protect a place 29 Leisure activities listings of outstanding natural beauty with over 720 square miles of untamed and 47 Display adverts unspoilt ancient landscapes. It was also established to welcome people from 30 Shopping listings SELF-DRIVE BOAT HIRE & FISHING GUIDED CANOE TRIP all over the world to share in the joy of such a natural idyll. This is a natural 48 Display adverts playground for wonderful wildlife including eagles, red deer, otters and pine martens, and it could be a wonderland for your family too. You can try 32 Food & drink listings walking, climbing, fishing, watersports, mountain biking or even cliff jumping. 50 Display adverts 35 Tours listings It’s time to venture out and explore the ‘bonnie banks’ of Loch Lomond, its 52 Display adverts secluded islands and over 20 other lochs, as well as the region’s 21 Munros and enchanting glens that lie between these 36 Transport listings peaks. You’ll find we’re just a short journey 55 Display adverts BANANA BOAT RINGO PADDLEBOARD from Glasgow and Stirling so you can be here 37 Accommodation listings in less than an hour from the city centre. 56 Display adverts After you’ve worked up an appetite you can 60 Regional map reward yourself with delicious food and drink – much of it produced right here in the park. And with 2018 marking the Year of Young People, the region will be alive with outdoor adventure, exciting events, family- friendly attractions and much more for the EXPLORE KAYAK WATERSKI & WAKEBOARD LESSONS whole family to get involved in. Get ready to enjoy fascinating events, a rich culture and to meet some welcoming people. The memories you take away with you from here will stay with you for the rest of your life. Cover: Conic Hill, Loch Lomond Credits: ©VisitScotland. Kenny Lam, Neil McIntyre, Scottm5588/istockphoto, Paul Tomkins, Gryffe Studios, Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park Authority 18LOCH RATED #1 ON TRIP ADVISOR SPEEDBOAT TOUR: Please visit website for interactive map, route planner & pricing Produced and published by APS Group Scotland (APS) in conjunction with VisitScotland (VS) and Scottish Provincial Press (SPP). Disclaimer APS / VS / SPP have produced and published this guide in good faith to reflect information submitted by the proprietors/managers of the businesses listed who have paid for and approved their entries to be included. Although APS / VS / SPP have taken reasonable steps to confirm the accuracy of information contained in this guide at the time of going to press, it cannot guarantee that the information published is and remains accurate. Accordingly, APS / VS / SPP recommends that all information is checked with the proprietor/ manager of the business prior to visiting/booking to ensure that the accommodation, facilities, price and all other aspects of the business are satisfactory. APS / VS / SPP accepts no freephone: responsibility for any error or misrepresentation contained in the guide and excludes all liability for loss or damage caused by any reliance placed on the information contained in this 0333 577 0715 guide. APS / VS / SPP also cannot accept any liability for loss caused by the bankruptcy, or liquidation, or insolvency, or cessation of trade of any company, firm or individual contained www.lochlomond-scotland.com in this guide. Quality Assurance awards are correct as at January 2018. 2 Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park Did you LOCH LOMOND & know? THE TROSSACHS There are 21 Munros (mountains over NATIONAL PARK 3,000 ft high) inside AT A GLANCE the park. Loch Lomond National Park Memorial Sculpture at Rowardennan Where will you start exploring? Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park is Scotland’s first National Park, and here you can roam over 720 square miles of beautiful mountains, ancient woodlands, hidden glens and remote islands. Within its winding 220-mile boundary are 57 special nature conservation sites, creating precious sanctuaries for wildlife – maybe you’ll see some of these creatures when you’re here. Argyll Forest Park before cars, which is how the 162 species of trees from around This ancient woodland was the ‘Rest and Be Thankful’ got its the world grow thanks to the mild first in Britain to be designated as name! Today you can simply west coast climate. a Forest Park, back in 1935. Here turn off the A83 road to enjoy the you can wander amid craggy peaks, view, and the panorama of deep Loch Lomond deep glens, peaceful sea lochs and glens, shimmering lochs and Loch Lomond is the largest expanse rushing rivers. Its rugged scenery rocky mountains is every bit as of fresh water in mainland Britain, was formed by the Highland impressive as it’s always been. and a place of outstanding natural Boundary Fault, the great crack beauty. Where better to try a fantastic Glenbranter’s carpet of bluebells range of water-based activities? You in the Earth’s surface that divides adds a dash of mesmerising colour Lowland and Highland Scotland. can go water skiing, sailing, canoeing to the forest in spring and early and kayaking or hire boats for fishing Watch out for otters as you stroll summer. If you explore quietly on the calm loch. along the shores of Loch Long. enough, you may even find yourself If you feel like a challenge, you observing some grazing red deer. Recharge your batteries in can continue your walk up one attractive loch-side towns and The steep, narrow gorge at villages, such as Luss, Tarbet, of Britain’s most spectacular Puck’s Glen will enchant you mountains – Ben Arthur, known Balmaha and Balloch. Exploring is with its rock pools and cascading even easier by water bus! as the ‘Cobbler’. waterfalls. Visit after rainfall to You can see yachts bobbing gently see the waterfalls at their most It was hard work indeed to reach in the water in the bay of the sleepy spectacular. Stroll around the this lofty viewpoint in the days village of Balmaha. It’s a hypnotic nearby Kilmun Arboretum where VISITSCOTLAND.COM loch lomond & the trossachs national park AT A GLANCE 3 scene, but for the best view, climb Queen Elizabeth Forest Park is one up the summit of Conic Hill just of the most vibrant parts of the behind the village. You can see the park with dozens of rare wildlife Highlights majesty of the loch and the clear species for you to spot. Catch a Cruising on Loch Lomond – line of the Highland Boundary glimpse of awe-inspiring birds of several operators can take Fault, the geological rift that divides prey in the wild or see directly into you on cruises on the loch. Highlands and Lowlands and runs the nests of ospreys at the Lodge You’ll be able to explore right beneath your feet. Forest Visitor Centre thanks to live some of its 23 islands. Imagine calling the stunning CCTV footage. Inchailloch – carpeted in Hill House in Helensburgh your Spend a day in the bustling town bluebells in springtime, home. This beautiful dwelling was of Callander and browse its this island on Loch Lomond designed and furnished by Charles independent stores before enjoying transforms in winter, Rennie Mackintosh. lunch in one of its many pubs and unmasking its many ruins. It restaurants. Save an hour or so for is also the perfect spot to see Breadalbane the lovely walk up to the impressive roaming deer. Delve into the fascinating past of footbridge over the Bracklinn Falls. the picturesque village of Killin on Inchmahome Island – If you’re a waterfall fan, you have the Killin Heritage Trail. Discover take a ferry from April to to walk the Waterfall Trail, which the stories behind its beautiful old October to see the ruins of leads from the Lodge Forest Visitor buildings, the origins of its place a 13th-century Augustinian Centre, near Aberfoyle, to the names, its local folklore and more.