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Glencoe

A82 · Tyndrum → Glencoe village · Scotland

Length
28 miles
Drive time
40 min
Type
Mountain pass
Region
Scotland

Arguably Britain's most dramatic main road: across the lunar emptiness of Rannoch Moor, past Buachaille Etive Mòr and down through the towering walls of Glen Coe itself. A big, fast, well-surfaced road through impossibly big scenery.

Tyndrum to Glencoe village on the A82 is a main road through big scenery: Rannoch Moor's empty plateau, Buachaille Etive Mòr at the head of the glen, then the walls of Glen Coe itself. The surface is good, the alignment is fast in the engineering sense, and it is still a trunk road with coaches, motorhomes and people stopping without warning. The Three Sisters viewpoint is the photograph — a signed car park on the glen floor, often full by mid-morning in summer. Kingshouse Hotel is the food at the edge of the moor; Glencoe Service Station is the fuel; the visitor centre has loos.

There is no winter closure of the A82 in the alpine-pass sense, but Rannoch Moor ices and closes in bad weather. Check before you leave Crianlarich. Dawn and the shoulder months are the drive; August is a procession.

Pair it with Glen Etive (the road to the head of the loch, off the A82 at Kingshouse) if you want a dead-end single-track coda, or with the A87 toward Skye if you are heading north. The Highlands & Applecross Great Escape already starts here.

This is the road people mean when they say they drove Glen Coe. Stay in your lane, use the car parks, and do not stop on the A82 for the Buachaille. Glen Etive is the signed single-track off to the left at Kingshouse if you want a dead end and a Bond location; it is not a shortcut. Crafts & Things is a useful café stop on the way into the village. The Three Sisters car park fills, overflows, and then people stop on the A82 — do not join them. Fuel in Glencoe or Ballachulish rather than hoping for Tyndrum's pumps to still be open on the way back.

Highlights of the Glencoe

Where to stop on the Glencoe

Drive the Glencoe

Open Glencoe on the map → ⬇ Download GPX

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Route research: Venture Bound

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