Banavie: Neptune's Staircase, the Canal and Getting There from Fort William

Banavie is a small settlement on the Caledonian Canal just outside Fort William, in the Highland Council Area. The reason to make the short trip is a flight of locks: Neptune’s Staircase, the longest staircase lock in the United Kingdom, which raises vessels into the upper canal, where a long pontoon takes visiting boats and yachts. Wikipedia calls Banavie one of the closest villages to Ben Nevis and describes the scenery around it as exceptional, with the mountain dominant on the skyline.

Wikipedia puts the village about 4 kilometres (2½ miles) northeast of Fort William town centre; the straight-line distance from the centre is 3.2 km. It sits next to Caol and Corpach, and the Great Glen Way long-distance path runs through it, mostly following the canal towpath on towards Gairlochy.

Beyond the canal, Banavie is not much of a destination in its own right: Wikipedia’s account of it amounts to the locks, the bridges, the railway and a number of bed and breakfasts, guesthouses and hotels. Most people come for an hour or two, or pass through on the towpath.

The eight locks and the two hours they take

Neptune’s Staircase carries 4.5 from 5,135 Google reviews. The interest is entirely in whether a boat happens to be in the locks when you arrive. A visitor in August 2026 wrote, “One of Scotlands genius inventions still working and we were lucky to to see it in action as 2 sailboats were making their way through. The operator was very friendly and happy to answer questions, said it takes 2 hours total to go thru, there are 8 sections.” Another, also in August 2026: “We were lucky that there were four yachts going up the staircase when we visited.”

The word doing the work in both is “lucky”. With nothing moving on the canal there is a towpath, a set of gates and a view of the mountain — a good walk rather than a spectacle. There are places to eat and drink along the canalside.

Parking is the recurring complaint, and it is finding it rather than a shortage of spaces. The same visitor who watched the two sailboats added, “Parking isnt very well signposted, or if there are signposts, not easy to see as the trees/bushes and weeds are so overgrown.” Another in August 2026 gave the location plainly: “Car park near the garage, just a short walk away with plenty of parking.”

The swing bridges and the signal box that runs the line

The canal is crossed at Banavie by two swing bridges, one carrying the railway and the other the road, so both can be stopped by a boat going through. The road bridge is listed separately on Google at 4.0 from 17 reviews, too small a sample to mean much.

Banavie railway station sits on the West Highland Line, and the signalling centre at the station uses radio communications to control train movements over a large area — from Fort William to Mallaig and from Fort William to Helensburgh, including the branch line to Oban.

There was a second station once. Banavie Pier station served the paddle steamers that worked the canal until 1939. Its building, platform and station master’s house all survive as private dwellings.

Whisky, minerals and soap, mostly for wet days

The attractions grouped with Banavie are largely indoor, which matters in this part of Scotland. Ben Nevis Distillery holds 4.3 from 827 Google reviews and runs guided tours, which fill up. A visitor in July 2026 wrote, “Wasn’t able to participate in a guided Tour (you should book in advance!), but had a nice Tasting of delicious Malts there.” A visitor in July 2026 who arrived during the maintenance shutdown did not mind: “We went in silent season (no distilling as they stop for maintenance) Didnt really matter i felt.”

Treasures of the Earth, 4.3 from 1,168 Google reviews, is a private rock and fossil collection on display, with a shop attached. Reviewers agree on the scale even when they differ on the verdict: a visitor in July 2026 called it “fairly small” and “Ideal to visit on a rainy day”, while one in August 2026 “thoroughly enjoyed nerding out about minerals”.

The Highland Soap Company Visitor Centre and Larder Cafe scores highest of the lot, 4.7 from 1,159 Google reviews, and runs soap-making sessions alongside the café. The café system is the sticking point. A visitor in June 2026 gave it one star: “The system in the café is very disorganized. You have to find a table first and then go up to the counter to order.”

Also listed here: Old Boat of Caol at 4.5 from 49 Google reviews, and the Nevis Centre, a leisure centre, at 4.2 from 487.

Saint Patrick, pigs and shinty

Banavie has a claim on Saint Patrick, and a contested one. The theory holds that Patrick was the son of a Roman tax collector, born here around AD 389 to a family that had come with the Romans into the West Highlands and Islands. William J. Watson’s 19th-century History of Celtic Placenames records that Patrick was born at Banna-venta, a town south of the Grampians, and a similar name, Bannavem Taburniae, appears in one of only two authenticated letters by Patrick himself. Watson also thought Banavie meant Pig Place, from banbh, an old Irish word for pig.

The village was also once the seat of the Camanachd Association, the ruling body of shinty, since moved to Inverness. Mary Earle, born here as Mary Cameron in 1929, became Professor of Food Technology in New Zealand.

Getting there from Fort William

Banavie railway station is on the West Highland Line, 2.7 km from Fort William town centre — the closest to the town after Fort William’s own, which is 0.1 km from the centre with the bus station next door. As a stop it is a minor one, 4.5 from 12 Google reviews. No bus service between the two is established here.

The better approach is under your own power. The towpath carries both the Great Glen Way and the northern section of National Cycle Network Route 78 towards Fort Augustus, mostly traffic-free over towpath, forest track and a disused railway line. A flat 10-mile (15 km) ride along the Great Glen Way to the Caledonian Canal makes an easy half-day, with a stop at the Moorings Hotel at Banavie. Bike hire is in Fort William rather than here: Off Beat Bikes on the High Street at 0.6 km from the centre, Nevis Cycles at 0.9 km.