Glenfinnan Visitor Centre (National Trust for Scotland) — Attraction in Scotland

TLDR: if you've come here as this is "the Harry Potter bridge", you'll probably give this place 5 stars. Otherwise - not much of merit to see.

Downsides: when steam trains are due over the viaduct, the place is a nightmare as it's jammed with tourist coaches who come specifically for that happening. Likewise many, many of the visitors. I felt sorry for the poor girl on the car park entrance having to turn people away. If you want to see the train go over, arrive well in advance. If you wish to avoid gridlock and car park rage, come when there are no trains running.

The viaduct itself - well it's cast concrete, it runs in a nice curve, but it's not actually anything special, and I'd bet a tenner it was somehow visually enhanced for the Harry Potter films as it looks smaller and somewhat drab in it's grey concrete guise. There are many better viaducts in the country to see.

The more historical aspect is that Glenfinnan is where Charles Stuart started his invasion of Great Britain here and raised his standard. There's what turns out to be a rather average monument to this event erected by the dissolute landowner who clearly had some very Jacobite leanings.

Finally, the visitor centre has typically high quality cafe toilets and shop that you'd expect from the NTFS, and even though I guess the staff were having a stressful day, they were all lovely.

The visitor centre features a rather ambiguous examination of what led to Charles Stuart's bloody adventure to conquer Great Britain, and features quite a few of the romanticised highland tropes. The exhibition at Culloden visitor centre is much more informative, and certainly...

A "must see" touristic location for anyone. The Trust did and is doing an incredible job by trying to go over this pandemic. Even if their plans to upgrade the local parking had to be delayed, this winter the parking was patched/fixed as needed and also recommended by visitors. I know for sure that the Trust is trying their best to provide better services, and even if there were some issues in the past, or malevolent comments sometimes, they all work hard to provide a welcoming place. Please don't forget that this place is a charity and many of the tourists use the facilities and parking without even bothering to donate a little, or abandon litter in the area. The Visitor Centre has a beautiful exhibition as seen in the attached pictures that I do recommend to visit. I couldn't add too many pictures this time, but it is more to see and learn than you can see here. The best way to do it is by visiting an important historical site as this one. As a bonus try their new winter menu, have a yummy hot chocolate as I had, try the only homemade soups they do in this area, or just warm up with a cup of mulled wine. Indeed it is always more work to do, but for a charity, things get managed very well, obviously the pandemic definitely affected massively the new parking plans. DO VISIT the Glenfinnan Visitor Centre, Glenfinnan Monument and the Glenfinnan Viaduct, as this will be a memory you'll keep for...

There's a lot of good stuff about this place- dramatic scenery, interesting cultural history, interesting engineering (the viaduct is quite an extraordinary thing, being built in 1899 by one Robert McAlpine- yes that one)

However it is somewhat overshadowed by the sheer numbers of people coming. The car parks are at capacity by 0930 and coachloads of people disgorge dozens more on top. Harry Potter has a global reach and that is reflected in the huge diversity of people who visit.

This does somewhat distract from the otherwise splendid isolation of the place. Local police had to be called because of the spectacularly inconsiderate parking (i.e. dangerous) parking of some visitors who couldn't accept that the car park was full and they had to try again later or another day. So they abandoned their car more or less on the only, main, road. Verges are torn to shreds in a mile either direction.

It's worth visiting don't get me wrong. Just keep an eye out when the Jacobite steam train is due. If you want to catch it across the viaduct, get there early. Otherwise, avoid 2 hours either side.

The NT staff on site are their usual friendly approachable selves! With the patience of saints once they have to shut the car parks.

The trip over the hill to the station is well worth doing. Once out of sight of the viaduct most go no further and its a pleasant path with lovely views...