Family-Friendly Fun in Loch Lomond & The Trossachs

With sparkling lochs, towering mountains, waterfalls and forest trails galore, Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park is an enchanting place for families to visit. Our guide to Loch Lomond activities for families takes in everything from canoeing, boat trips and treetop adventures to castles, caves and beaches to explore, with some gentle walks and cycle rides thrown in for good measure.

Scenic walks and trails

There are lots of easy hikes around Loch Lomond for families to discover. The two walking trails we've picked here are both suitable for children of all ages.

Balloch Castle and Country Park

The leafy 200-acre estate surrounding this former 19th-century manor beside Loch Lomond is home to woodlands, formal gardens and play areas, with broad concrete paths that are accessible for pushchairs and wheelchairs, and three trails specially designed for mobility scooters. All in all, it's a great place for an easy walk and a picnic. There’s plenty to explore, including a Fairy Glen with wood carvings by Patrick Muir, a walled garden and a choice of shoreline trails overlooking the water, all dotted with benches and picnic areas where you can stop to take in the view. 

Good to know: If some members of your family don’t want to walk, send them to the nearby Loch Lomond Shores leisure development, which has shops, restaurants, beach activities and family attractions including an aquarium. It’s easy to get to the castle from here too – a gentle stroll up the east bank of the loch will take you there in half an hour.

Loch Lomond Faerie Trail

Close to Luss Beach on the western shore of Loch Lomond, this enchanting faerie-themed woodland trail is designed for younger children, with wooden houses to explore, sound effects, hidden trolls to spot and a guide book with clues to solve along the way. It’s around a mile long, but allow plenty of time to discover and enjoy all the activities. As a bonus, the ticket includes a visit to meet the goats, donkeys and cows at Faerie Tale Farm.

It’s open Thursday to Monday, 9.30am-4.30pm (last admission 3.30pm), and seven days a week in July and August. The trail is not recommended for buggies or pushchairs, but you might manage it if determined. Dogs on leads are welcome on the trail, but not at the farm. Full details are available on the trail’s website.

Boat trips and water activities

Loch Lomond cruises

If you’d like to sit back, feel the breeze and admire the woodlands and mountains around the loch, a relaxing boat trip is just the thing. Loch Lomond’s cruise companies offer everything from hour-long trips to longer adventures, with informative commentaries that highlight all the local points of interest. 

• Cruise Loch Lomond offers both circular tours and hop on and off trips from Luss, Tarbet and Balmaha. 
• Sweeney’s Cruises runs trips from Balloch, including evening cruises, island discovery tours and short sightseeing excursions. 

Kayaking and paddleboarding 

Do you want to learn how to kayak or paddleboard? Loch Lomond is a great place to start, and older children and teenagers will relish the chance to get out on the water and explore.

If you need equipment, Loch Lomond Leisure has several sites around the loch where you can hire kayaks, canoes, paddleboards (SUPs) and boats (April to October, advance booking is advisable). They also have activity centres at Loch Lomond Shores in Balloch, Rowardennan and Luss Beach (where they also offer guided two-hour tours). 

The Loch Ard Adventure Centre in Kinlochard (usually open Thursday to Sunday in season) has kayaks, Canadian canoes and SUPs to hire too.

If you already have your own equipment, good launch sites include Milarrochy Bay on Loch Lomond, the car park at Loch Chon and Jubilee Point at Loch Eck.  

The See Loch Lomond website has details of more launch sites and places where you can hire equipment throughout the park.

Nature and adventure

The Lodge Forest Visitor Centre

Close to Aberfoyle, the Lodge Forest Visitor Centre is the gateway to the Queen Elizabeth Forest Park. Open seven days a week from 10am, it has lots of information about the forest and its inhabitants, including a wildlife room with live video feeds of local creatures and films of birds of prey.

With car parking, toilets and a café, it’s a good starting point for a family walk, and within the forest there are several easy to follow trails ranging from a mile to four miles long, taking in waterfalls, ancient oaks and hides where you can spot red squirrels and maybe even ospreys.

Children can rent a ‘bug bag’ with binoculars, an identification booklet and a map to keep them interested while you explore. The centre's website has full details of all the available activities.

Go Ape Aberfoyle

Also in the Queen Elizabeth Forest Park, this thrilling treetop adventure course is suitable for kids over the age of 10, and great fun for adults too. It includes bridges, rope swings and obstacles to navigate, as well as no less than six zip wires, including two of the longest in the UK. With fabulous views of the forest and surrounding mountains all the way, it takes around two hours to complete, and we’d recommend booking in advance. If you’re all thrillseekers, it’s also possible to ride the zip lines as a separate activity.

Argyll Forest Park

If you’re looking for somewhere a little wilder to explore, Argyll Forest Park is a good bet. Britain’s oldest forest park marks the beginning of the Highlands, and is home to rugged peaks, hidden glens, miles of woodland and plenty of Scottish wildlife. There are some great places for families to walk, including the easy riverside trails at Ardentinny (with a sandy beach nearby), the trail through the woodlands at Lochgoilhead that leads to the Donich Falls and – our pick – the atmospheric Puck’s Glen, an enchanting rocky gorge hung with ferns and moss where footbridges criss-cross a burn with several waterfalls.

Check out Forestry and Land Scotland’s Argyll Forest Park page for details of these and more trails in the park.

Arrochar Caves

A family adventure with a little bit of history thrown in, this moderate three-mile walk from Succoth car park in Arrochar takes you through a forest and up to the Arrochar (Glen Loin) Caves, reputedly the hiding place for Scottish hero Robert the Bruce’s army following their defeat in 1306 in Methven. Kids will have great fun exploring all the cracks and crevices, and the walk is suitable for all but the youngest children.

AllTrails has a useful map of the route, with pictures that will give you an idea of what to expect.

Historical and cultural sites

Inchcailloch Island

This fascinating island in the Loch Lomond National Nature Reserve is accessible via a 35-minute water bus journey from Luss (usually March to October), or a short ferry trip  from the Balmaha Boatyard (May to September). Once you arrive, there are waymarked trails that take in the island’s ruined 13th-century church and burial ground (an ancient monument), oak woodlands and a sandy beach, as well as some great viewpoints overlooking the loch, other islands and the surrounding mountains. Look out for deer, ospreys and a profusion of bluebells in spring. 

You can download an informative walking guide to the island from the national park’s website.

Doune Castle

Just outside the park, but well worth a trip, this splendid medieval castle featured in Game of Thrones, Outlander and Monty Python and the Holy Grail and is open daily. Inside, you can wander through the cavernous great hall, the courtyard and the cellar, explore the kitchens and best of all, climb up to the battlements for views of the River Teith and Ben Lomond. There’s a woodland walk and the site of a former Roman fort within the grounds too. 

If you want to learn more about the castle’s history, there are downloadable audio guides and a quiz for children to complete as they run around. Full details are available on the Historic Environment Scotland website.

Cycling for families

If you’d like to take your family cycling in and around Loch Lomond, there are plenty of rides to choose from. We've chosen three of our favourites to get you started.

Loch Lomond Shores to Balloch Castle

Distance: 3 miles (5 km) each way

Time: 30 minutes each way

This gentle ride along the shore of Loch Lomond is suitable for all members of the family, and offers great views over the water en route. It finishes at Balloch Castle Country Park, a great place for a picnic and a spot of exploring.

Bikes (including pull-alongs for younger children) are available to hire from Loch Lomond Leisure at Loch Lomond Shores (open all year round, booking in advance is recommended).

West Loch Lomond Cycle Path – Balloch to Tarbet

Distance: 17 miles (27 km) each way

Time: 2 hours each way

This flat, waymarked route is a little longer, so best suited to older children. Mostly off-road, it has great views of the loch, Conic Hill and Ben Lomond, and passes through several villages, beaches and waterside picnic spots on the way, so there are lots of places to stop for a break. 

Bikes are available to hire from Loch Lomond Leisure in Balloch, and you can download a route card from the national park’s website.

Loch Katrine North Shore Road

Distance: 13 miles (21 km) each way

Time: 1.5 hours each way

With a little planning, this largely traffic-free, scenic route along the northern shore of Loch Katrine from Trossachs Pier to Stronlachar can be combined with a boat trip for the return journey, or vice versa. Needless to say, there are great views of the loch and surrounding Trossach mountains to keep you going all the way, and you’ll also pass through Glengyle, the birthplace of Scottish hero Rob Roy MacGregor.

Bikes (including electric bikes and trailers for small children) are available to hire from Katrine Wheelz at Trossachs Pier (we recommend booking in advance).

If you love a good bike ride, check out Pitchup’s guide to cycling in Loch Lomond and The Trossachs.

Planning the details

Camping is a great way to make the most of this scenery, so if you're looking for somewhere to stay, check out Pitchup’s collection of campsites in Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park.

With a wealth of activities suitable for children of all ages, Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park is a great pick for an adventurous family holiday. Whether you prefer boats, bikes or your own two feet, spotting fairies or swinging through the treetops, you’re sure to find something for everyone to enjoy. Take a look at the Loch Lomond & the Trossachs National Park website for more ideas of things to do and places to go.