One of the things we wanted to do while visiting Fort William was to not only watch the Jacobite steam train pass over the Glenfinnan Viaduct, but to ride it too. In case you’re not familiar with the Jacobite steam train, it’s the train that appears as the Hogwarts Express in the Harry Potter movies.
Alas, it didn’t all work out as planned. By the time we went to book tickets for us and our two friends who we were traveling with, it was all sold out for our dates. Tickets were available for a few days after our friends were due to fly back to the US though, so Shae and I decided to stick around in Scotland for an extra few days to ride it then.
The Jacobite Steam train sets off from Fort William, traveling west and then north up to Mallaig which is the end of the line. You then get a couple of hours to explore Mallaig before returning on the same route.
Here’s a video we put together of our trip, but there’s a lot more detail in the rest of the post about the journey, so be sure to keep reading after watching the video.
Jacobite Steam Train From Fort William To Mallaig
We booked our tickets on the Jacobite steam train for the afternoon service which departs promptly at 12:50pm. I highly recommend getting there well before then though, especially if you’ll be driving your own car or a rental car as you might need more time to find parking than you expect (more about that in the FAQs section at the end).
Shae and I got to the train station with enough time to also stop in at the Signal Box Shop. This gift shop sells a variety of Harry Potter souvenirs and snacks like chocolate frogs, Jacobite steam train souvenirs, other snacks, tea and coffee, etc.
From there, we headed out to the platform (sadly not 9 3⁄4) to board the train.
If you want to get a photo of the actual steam train part of the locomotive, now’s the best time to do it! For starters, in Mallaig you don’t get such a good view of it. Then at the start of the return journey, not only is this part in the distance beyond the end of the platform at Mallaig train station, but it’s attached to the train in reverse.
When booking your tickets, you’ll receive assigned seating in both a specific carriage and specific seats. The carriages are all lettered (A, B, C, etc.), so find your carriage based on the letter on the window; ours was carriage E.
Once on board, head to your seats, but make sure you look at the correct seat numbers as there’ll be different ones for the outbound and inbound journeys. I’d overlooked that when we boarded, so I thought someone else was in our seat; it turns out I was looking at the inbound seat numbers. Right opposite that table were our seats – E-23f and E-24f. In addition to the table, there’s a small, open storage compartment overhead where you can place small bags.
After finding our seats, I’d gone outside to take a photo of the steam train at the front. On the way back to our carriage, I noticed that the train itself had its own gift shop area where you can buy Harry Potter merchandise, Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans, etc.
I snapped that photo a few minutes before the scheduled departure, so I headed back to our carriage and, sure enough, we left promptly at 12:50pm.
If you’d like anything to eat or drink on the train, there is a cart that comes around. Considering they have a captive audience, the prices aren’t unreasonable.
Sadly, the employees walking through the carriages with the cart didn’t say “Anything from the trolley?”
One of the many nice things about a ride on the Jacobite steam train is that you can bring along your own food and drink – including alcohol. We’d therefore stopped off at the Morrisons grocery store next to Fort William train station before the journey to get a bottle of prosecco, as well as some scones, jam and clotted cream. Shae had also grabbed some Harry Potter candies from the Signal Box Shop beforehand so that we could properly pretend we were on the Hogwarts Express.
It’s a wonderfully scenic journey out to Mallaig, passing by numerous lochs and hills/mountains.
The highlight for many though will be passing over Glenfinnan Viaduct which we approached about 35-40 minutes after departing from Fort William. You can see all the people at the west viewpoint waiting to see the train pass over the bridge.
On the journey out to Mallaig, we were on the opposite side of the carriage to the one with the best view of the viaduct. If you find yourself in a similar position, don’t worry – you’ll be on the other side for the return journey, so you’ll get the better view of the viaduct on your way back.
A few minutes later we stopped at Glenfinnan train station – the only stop along the way.
There aren’t any passengers picked up here, but there is a small museum that you can take a look around. You’ll have many of the other train passengers wanting to walk through too, so it does gets crowded in there.
If you’d like to visit the museum outside of a stop on the steam train, it’s open from 9am-5pm from May to October.
Soon enough we were on our way again, continuing to Mallaig. As before, the views along the route are beautiful.
In case you’re wondering, there are restrooms in each of the carriages. In some, the sink’s water tap is turned on normally; in others, you have to press down on a foot pedal to pump the water out of the tap.
If you’re on the right side of the train, keep an eye out of the window on your way to Mallaig. At the end of Loch Eilt you’ll see a small island; this is Eilean na Moine which was the filming location for Dumbledore’s grave in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part I. You can get an even better view of it if traveling by car, so find out more about that here.
Exploring Mallaig
The afternoon Jacobite service is scheduled to arrive in Mallaig at 3:06pm, but we arrived almost 10 minutes early.
With the train departing at 5pm on its way back to Fort William, that gave us two full hours to explore the port town of Mallaig. Considering fewer than 700 people live in Mallaig, there’s a lot you can see and do in two hours.
I’d taken a quick look online for things to do in Mallaig before our trip, plus I checked out Google Maps to see if there was anything notable to do in town. I’d spotted that there’s a Mallaig View Point that overlooks the town, so I figured it’d be worth checking that.
Distance-wise, it’s not a particularly long trek up to the viewpoint. That said, it is a very steep trek uphill, so be prepared. I did it in my flip-flops, but it would probably be a wiser decision to do it in good footwear, especially for the journey back down where there’s some loose gravel.
It was a bit of a slog, but the views were lovely.
In the distance, one of the CalMac ferries that transports passengers between Mallaig and other Scottish locations was coming in to port. Based on the direction it was traveling from, I think it was arriving from Eigg or Rùm.
Shae – understandably – hadn’t been keen on making the trek all the way up to the view point. She therefore decided to go with a more relaxing option by stopping at the West Highland Hotel and Terrace Restaurant.
The hotel/restaurant/bar was part way up the hill, so she got to have nice views overlooking the bay while enjoying a glass of prosecco.
I met up with her there on my way back down from the viewpoint, then we continued down towards the center of Mallaig. Shae had seen ahead of time that there’s a store called Haggard Alley that sells Harry Potter merchandise, so we popped in there to check it out. It was a cute store with a friendly cashier who we got chatting to for a little while.
Our next stop was a shop on the corner which sold ice cream.
Having lived in the US for the last 15 years, it was nice to be able to order a 99 again (that’s soft-serve ice cream with a Flake chocolate bar pushed in it). Shae meanwhile got a chocolate thick shake.
Treats in hand, we walked back past the train station to enjoy them while sitting on some rocks overlooking the water. There were several islands we could see from there which included Eigg, Rùm and the Isle of Skye.
After hanging out by the water for a while, we wandered back into town to grab a snack from the Co-op convenience store for the train ride back, then made our way to the platform. There are other pubs, restaurants, cafés, bakeries, boutique stores, etc. that you can peruse as well.
Jacobite Steam Train From Mallaig To Fort William
Rather than turning the entire Jacobite train around in Mallaig, only the steam engine is moved. It’s removed from what was the front of the train carriages and attached to the back seeing as it’ll be traveling in the opposite direction. However, despite the steam locomotive being moved to what’ll be the front of the train for the return journey, it’s attached on there in reverse. That means the smokestack is closer to the carriage end of the train rather than facing out to the front.
The steam locomotive is beyond the end of the platform in Mallaig, so you can’t see it so well there. This view from when we watched it pass over the Glenfinnan Viaduct ourselves gives a better view of what I’m talking about. In the photo below, it’s traveling from right to left, despite it seemingly facing the wrong direction.
On the way back from Mallaig to Fort William, you’ll find yourself sitting on the opposite side of the carriage to the one you arrived on. That means you get a good view of the opposite side of the route, making it fair for all passengers.
Just over an hour into the return journey, we passed back over the Glenfinnan Viaduct. We’d had to look at it on the opposite side of the carriage on the way to Mallaig, but this time it was on our side.
Towards the end of the journey we passed by Neptune’s Staircase. This is a set of eight locks on the Caledonian Canal and is the longest staircase lock in the UK, transporting boats up and down 20 meters (~65 feet).
A few minutes later we arrived back in Fort William, ending our magical afternoon of fun on the Jacobite steam train.
Jacobite Steam Train FAQs
Where can I buy Jacobite steam train tickets?
The Jacobite steam train is run by West Coast Railways. You can access the website here; click on the ‘Book Now’ button to find available dates and to book your ticket.
How much do Jacobite steam train tickets cost?
At the time of our visit in 2025, here were the ticket prices:
- Adults (standard) – £69 (~$93.50)
- Adults (first class) – £105 (~$142.50)
- Children (16 and under) (standard) – £39 (~$53)
- Children (16 and under) (first class) – £69 (~$93.50)
- Private table for two round trip (first class; standard class not available) – £229 (~$310.75)
- Compartments (seats up to six passengers) – £425 (~$576.75)
There’s also a £3.75 (~$5) booking fee which is charged per order, rather than per passenger. We also pre-booked a Jacobite steam train tour guide booklet for £1 (~$1.35) when booking online; this was brought to our seats during the journey.
How far ahead of time do I need to book Jacobite tickets?
Several months in advance. We tried booking tickets in mid-January for late April, but they were all sold out; we weren’t able to get tickets until the second week of May. I’d therefore recommend trying to book tickets on the Jacobite at least four months ahead of time, but even earlier if possible.
When does the Jacobite steam train run?
The morning service runs from early April through late October, while the afternoon service runs early May through late September. The dates will differ from year to year, so you can find this year’s dates here.
What time does the Jacobite steam train leave Fort William?
The morning service leaves Fort William at 10:15am, arriving in Mallaig at 12:26pm. It then leaves Mallaig at 2:10pm and arrives back in Fort William at 4:03pm.
The afternoon service leaves Fort William at 12:50pm, arriving in Mallaig at 3:06pm. It then leaves Mallaig at 5pm and arrives back in Fort William at 6:52pm.
Where can you park your vehicle for the Jacobite steam train?
The Fort William train station has a parking lot, but there’s a limited number of spaces. There’s a Morrisons grocery store next door, but there are time limits for parking your vehicle there (I think it was four hours), so you risk getting a ticket if parking there.
Instead, we parked in a parking lot just behind Morrisons near the Nevis Centre; I didn’t make a note of the cost, but I think it was ~£5 ($6.75). You can find it on Google Maps here in order to get directions to it. From there, it was a five minute walk to the train station entrance.
Saga 2025 Trip To London, Liverpool & Scotland – All The Posts
Here are links to all of the posts in this series:
- Saga 2025: Trip With Friends To London, Liverpool & Scotland – An Intro
- Saga 2025 Day 1: London – Police Station Hotel, British Museum, Dinner In Darkness & Abbey Road
- Saga 2025 Day 2: Liverpool – Cavern Club, Hard Day’s Night Hotel, Cocktails & More
- Visiting The Kelpies In Falkirk, Scotland By Day & By Night
- Saga 2025 Day 3: Falkirk – Kelpies, World’s Only Rotating Boat Lift & More
- Saga 2025 Day 4: Drive From Falkirk To Fort William – Castles, Distillery, Monument & More
- Hotel Review: Inverlochy Castle Hotel In Fort William, Scotland
- How To Watch The Jacobite Steam Train On Glenfinnan Viaduct (Harry Potter Hogwarts Express Train)
- How To Find 6 Harry Potter Filming Locations Near Fort William, Scotland
- Jacobite Steam Train Review: What It’s Like Riding The Hogwarts Express
[…] Shae and I also rode on the Jacobite steam train itself a couple of weeks later – read more about the fun experience here. […]