Loch Lomond Shores is a small shopping complex mainly aimed at tourists so you will find an…read moreoverload of tartan and shortbread on offer here. There's a few stores including; -Jenners -Catherine Kinloch -Misty Glen -Edinburgh Woollen Mill -Thorntons -Julien Graves ...So it's not the kind of place you could go on a shopping spree but it caters for tourists and is a pleasant place to browse. In addition to the shopping centre there's also a Sea Life Centre and if you're looking for some activities then you can hop on the loch for a spot of canoeing or paddle boating. Like Gavin, I find it a little odd that there's a complete lack of place to eat apart from a small cafe attached onto Jenners and a restaurant with the worst looking menu I've ever seen.

Ugh, I clearly made an error in planning to launch my exploration of Loch Lomond from this site…read more It's a tourist-choked amusement park. Besides restaurants and an aquarium (to which I'll give a pass), they have paddleboats and a "retail crescent." They do offer some legitimate services for exploring the park, such as kayak and mountain-bike rentals. On the upside, the park service has a large visitor center here which serves as a gateway to Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park. What I really wanted to do was hike around the vicinity above the lake, since I didn't have time enough in my day to climb Ben Lomond. I got plenty of pamphlets and then got the hell out to drive up the west side of the lake towards Luss.

Came here for an easy walk along Loch Lomond. There's a good-sized carpark and even free public…read moretoilets. It was a cloudy/rainy weekday and plenty of space to park left. Just down at the Loch are several picnic spots. A nice little beach as well. Offering wonderful Loch views. From there we walked along the (traffic-free) path heading south. It's a nice, flat and easy walk. In the beginning lined with trees and very close to the water. We walked until Inverbeg and back again. That's about 4 miles. A nice little walk. Closer to Inverbeg the path is more out in the open, and sadly a lot closer to the A82, which makes it a bit noisy. But the views are fantastic all the way. It was really a nice thing to do. And we only met a handful of other walkers. On the way back it was fully raining. Somehow it always rains when we come to Loch Lomond. But it just added to the atmosphere and we were well prepared for a wet day out. Surely a nice place and a nice walk. Great for dog walkers (like us) as well.

The trail for the Great Glen Way was located directly behind an Airbnb we stayed at outside of…read moreInverness. We didn't spend too much time on the trail, but we checked it out a bit one night and it seemed like it would be a nice trail to take a stroll through the woods on. There were a lot of cyclists coming through that night and we quickly got out of their way!

This is considered to be an easy long-distance route. But…read morethat's all going to depend on your resources and the weather. Walking with everything on your back is tough to manage but exhilarating. And the landscape is beautiful. The Great Glen Way is a route that goes along The Caledonian Canal from Fort William to Inverness. It's long and people do it in 5 days but I'd say that would be pretty tough going. With all the clobber if you are camping, it's tough going. I'd say you need to be able to be flexible because the weather is temperamental. You need enough money to stay in hostels or B and Bs whether you want to or not. Lots of lovely things to see along the way. If you donate £6 to British Waterways, you can camp at the locks along the way. There are a few of them and the loos and showers come in very handy indeed when it's raining all day long. Dry rooms with driers that cost £3 for 30 mins and work very efficiently. I'm now wiser by doing this walk. And I am considering doing another long distance walk already.

Beautiful lake in the Trossachs area of the Highlands. We came on an extremely cold day or we would…read morehave taken a boat tour. Pretty area to hike or bike around. The tiny gift shop has hot tea served by a friendly staff.

If ever I needed encouragement at the mid-point of a challenging, torturously hilly 32 mile cycle,…read morethen catching sight of Loch Katrine was it. The Aberfoyle/Dukes Pass/Loch Katrine loop we tackled was a beautiful, scenic route and any difficult climbs paid off in the abundance of awe-inducing views as we came soaring back down. Loch Katrine was a definite highlight for me. She's a beauty and well-worth the visit whether you're planning on biking, walking or taking a trip on the flagship Sir Walter Scott steamship which we were lucky enough to catch sight of. Cyclists, this whole area in general is just great and this route has been my favourite so far. The hills are tough but coming down them is genuinely breath-taking. I definitely want to return to Aberfoyle again and do all kinds of lovely touristy things. Visiting Loch Katrine will definitely be one of them.

Go Ape in Aberfoyle is AWESOME!!! The basic concept of Go Ape is that you are to complete a giant…read moreassault course which has been built high up the forest. There are tunnels, rope ladders, wobbly bridges and all sorts! The piece de resistance is of course, the two zip wires. Sorry, make that Britain's two longest zip wires! As expected you are given a safety briefing and all the necessary equipment before you are set loose! I went to Go Ape on a team building day with my work colleagues and at the time I found the safety briefing alarmingly, well, brief! The instructor explained the equipment to use and let us have a practice go on obstacles which were lower to the ground before we actually got to the 40ft high course itself. All in all this only took about half an hour. However once I was up there (waaaaaay up there, it is so high!) I realised that they had told us everything we needed to know and there were always staff on hand if we were struggling at any point. I would recommend you book your day at Go Ape in advance because the course can only hold so many people at once so there is no guarantee you'll get to go on it. Also it always helps to try and book in for a day when the weather is going to be decent! I found Go Ape to be sufficiently challenging. I am not particularly daring but I'm not a total wimp either and I found that the course gave me a good adrenaline rush but wasn't so terrifying that I couldn't complete it. The highlight of my Go Ape experience was watching my boss go down the flying fox screaming, "aaarrrrggghhhh my baaaalllls." Now that is what I call team building!

Funtastic! I have been dying to try Go Ape for approximately 7 years and finally went last week…read morewith some fellow tri club nutters (including one who was terrified of heights) and it did not disappoint. You are set up for the whole experience by starting with a long zip wire across the valley to spectacular views. There are then four sites of steadily increasing 'difficulty' from tight ropes to crawling through barrels to stirrups, all strung up in the trees (and of course harnessed and attached to a safety rope) and with a zip wire ending each site. I have cycled up Dukes pass and past the David Marshall lodge many a time and was really impressed that you can't see anything from the road so it doesn't marr the landscape. The crowning jewel for me was not the longest zip wire in Scotland (not the longest in Britain anymore!) which was your last aerial experience on the way back to the start (amazing as it was) but the big tarzan swing on site 5 - a definite leap of faith with a (relatively) huge drop before the safety rope catches you and launching myself off left me shaking for the next few minutes! Next time I'm going backwards....

We stopped at the South Car Park and picnic area on Loch Lubnaig off of the A84 near Callander…read more It's managed by Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park. There's not much in the way of facilities here. Just a few picnic tables and grill. You'll find the rest of the facilities at the North Car Park that is about a mile up the highway. The picnic area is just to the left of the entrance and over the bridge. It does get a little boggy there since it sits right on the bank of the lake. However, it appears to be a good place to launch paddle boats. The water comes right up to the edge. We did see a person paddle boating along the way. Just make sure to heed the warnings about the sudden drop close to shore. It's very deep water. It truly is a hidden scenic spot that is worth a visit. We enjoyed a peaceful view of whispy clouds, mountains, forested hills, and the beautiful Loch Lubnaig (the crooked lake). It's the perfect spot for those who enjoy water activities and nature.

Oh this was good fun. If you have ever wanted to zip-line and climb along a tightrope in Loch…read moreLomond this is for you. At 25 pound per adult, I am not sure it was 100% worth the money, although you had an instructor with you at all times, and the safety kit was of a high standard. My brother and i arrived an hour before our booking time and were allowed to go early by ourselves, which was an added bonus. There are lockers with keys (at no additional cost), to leave any unwanted coats, bags etc. You are then given a safety harness, asked to take your height and weight against a colour coding system and given a rope and buckle. A 5 minute safety presentation is then given and you are good to go. The instructor will attach you to the smaller course of about 8 obstacles, including a zip-line, tightrope and some bridges. I was shaking during the first tightrope I could not get my balance at all and freaked myself out. Eventually, with the help of a lovely isntructor who reassured me I was fine (if you do fall as such, you basically zipline to the next platform), I managed to make it to the next platform. We then went on the taller course, which was so much fun. Personally favourites include jumping/stepping between tyres, swinging rope bridges and wooden x-s. The final 2 obstacles are another rope bridge which leads you to the final zipline. At this point you get an incredible view of Loch Lomond. We were definitely lucky to be able to go round ourselves, it took us about 45 minutes. They said it could take up to an hour and half, due to more people etc etc. If you are scared of heights, there is a path along the whole route that any other members of the party could walk around and watch you swinging from the trees. A great idea if only one parent wants to do it, the other parent can take photos! The minimum age is 7, but there is also a height restriction. A really good and fun addition to Lomond Shores. I feel a yelp event swinging along?!

Great day out!! I…read morewent here for my hen do with 3 others. We started our course at about 12noon, it took us roughly 3 hours to complete as we were having such a good time laughing at each other's dirty backsides from the zip line descents. You are high up in the trees so might not be a good idea if you are scared of heights. However you do have your harness on which you are responsible for on your own. Safety demo at the start before you set off which is helpful. Staff were great, really friendly and helpful. Would recommend as a good fun activity day out with friends and family. There was a children's version which obviously didn't have the same as the adult version. There is options to do some of the walks which looks nice also. Visitor centre with a shop also. Take a pair of gloves for your hands as climbing up some of the ropes is hard work. Also take a change of clothes as you may get dirty!!