Panorama taken at the head of Loch Shiel in Scotland. The picture shows the hills around this long loch, as well as the Glenfinnan Monument with a statue of a Highlands soldier on the top.

Loch Shiel - Fort William visitor guide showing a virtual tour of 'Loch Shiel' linked to an interactive map with local and travel information. 360° panoramas from Highland.

Loch Shiel is a long, narrow, freshwater loch in the Locharber region of the Highlands on the west coast of Scotland. The landward end is near to Fort William and well known for both the Glenfinnan Monument and Glenfinnan Viaduct, both local tourist attractions.

Loch Shiel is about 17 miles long and about 120m deep. It is fed by the Finnan River at the northern end, where it is surrounded by tall hills. None of these quite reach high enough to be classified as a Munro, and are therefore rarely walked even though they are very picturesque. At the southern end, Loch Shiel drains into River Shiel which runs for 3 miles before draining into Loch Moidart, a sea loch near Castle Tioram.

Loch Shiel is quite isolated, there are no roads down either side of it and only the small settlements of Glenfinnan near the northern end and Dalelia, Moss and Acharacle at the southern end. It is only recently that boat tours along the loch have been started, which may lead to more tourists visiting the area.

Train: Glenfinnan Station.
Bus: From Fort William to Mallaig and Acharacle.
Road: The head of Loch Shiel is on the A830 'Road to the Isles', 17 miles west of Fort William and 25 miles from Mallaig. To reach the southern end continue along the A830 to Lochailort and then turn left onto the A861 following this to Acharacle, which is about 46 miles from Fort William.