Fort William – Mallaig ScotRail service on south side of Loch Eilt. Next station Loch Ailort.
This section highlights some ways you could save money on your West Highland Line rail ticket. Ticket advice is available from ScotRail (travel passes & discounts) and the Caledonian Sleeper. Detailed fares information may be found at www.brfares.com and http://data.atoc.org/fares-data.
PlusBus
For £2.20 in addition to your ScotRail ticket you can use the Shiel Buses around the Fort William area with PlusBus.
‘Split’ Tickets
For many journeys on the West Highland Lines it is possible to save money by purchasing a combination of tickets which together cover the entire journey.
The opportunities for savings change all the time and we suggest you make use of a website that specialises on tracking up to date information on ticket savings such as: SplitMyFare.
If travelling with a combination of tickets, National Rail Conditions of Travel require you to ensure that the train stops at the station where one ticket ends and the next ticket begins, although you are not required to leave the train.
Off-Peak and Anytime Return Fares
If travelling with an Off-Peak or Anytime fare between a West Highland Lines station and another station in a different part of Scotland, check whether it is cheaper to buy separate tickets for the West Highland and Non-West Highland sections.
Super Off-Peak Day Returns
Available Monday-Friday on some trains and cheaper than Off-Peak. Super Off-Peak tickets are only available on Smartcard or as an mTicket on your mobile device. They’re not available as paper tickets
Day Returns
If you are making a complete round-trip journey in a single day, it is often cheaper to use one or more Day-Return tickets. These are available from many West Highland stations to Glasgow but not for journeys via Glasgow to other parts of Scotland. It is therefore often cheaper to buy one ticket for the West Highland Line section of the journey and one for the journey between Glasgow and the non-West Highland station.
Advance Tickets from Glasgow
Advance tickets restrict you to one specific train but are often much cheaper than more flexible tickets. Unfortunately Advance tickets to/from Glasgow are only available for a handful of West Highland destinations (including Oban, Fort William and Glenfinnan). If travelling from Glasgow to stations between Banavie and Mallaig (except Glenfinnan) it may be worth purchasing an Advance for part of your journey.
NOTE: Unfortunately Advance tickets do not allow journeys to be ‘cut short’. In other words, you are not allowed to purchase an Advance ticket from Glasgow to Fort William but leave the train at Spean Bridge.
Advance Tickets from South of Glasgow
Although Advance tickets are available between West Highland Line stations and many stations in the rest of the UK these are restricted by quota (i.e. only a few such tickets are available for each train). It can therefore be difficult to obtain them. However, Advance tickets to/from Glasgow generally have much larger quotas. For example, London-Glasgow (Advance) plus Glasgow-Fort William (Advance) will tend to be much more available.
Highland Rover
Travel between Glasgow and Oban, Fort William, Mallaig, Isle of Mull, Isle of Skye, Aberdeen, Inverness and as far as Wick and Thurso: four days of unlimited travel over eight consecutive days across the Highlands for £95 (July 2023 price).
Travel between Glasgow, the Isle of Skye, Inverness and Edinburgh on some truly dramatic rail lines: the West Highland Line, Kyle Line, and Highland Main Line. Hop on and off at any station on your route and explore Scotland your way – with train, ferry and coach travel on just one ticket: four days’ travel over eight consecutive days for £89 (July 2023 price).
Spirit of Scotland
It includes travel on trains, buses, coaches and ferries across Scotland and over the Border to Carlisle and Berwick upon Tweed: four days unlimited travel over eight consecutive days for just £149, or eight days unlimited travel over fifteen consecutive days for £189 (July 2023 price).