The Scottish landscape, particularly in the highlands, is characterized by inhabited Glens (valleys), an indefinite number of sheep and hundreds of hills. An important distinction is between Munros, which are all the mountains higher than 3000 feet (914.4m), and Corbetts, which are the mountains over 2,500 feet (762 metres) but under 3,000 feet (914.4 metres). The Munros are the highest mountains in Scotland and a lot of Scottish hikers challenge themselves to climb all the 282 Scottish Munros, an activity also known as “Munro Bagging”.
Despite the limited altitude of the hill, climbing a Munro is not always easy because you often have to walk for 4 to 6 hours in, sometimes, very harsh weather conditions. However, there are different levels of difficulty and, as general rule, the northern you go the harder it gets (with some exceptions). If you decide to climb a Munro, please note the following:
- Bring food and water, you will not find anything on the Scottish hills
- Bring water proof equipment but try to keep you backpack relatively light
- Be aware that a lot, if not the majority, of Munros are NOT waymarked. However, quite often you will find somebody climbing the same hill. Surprisingly enough there are people climbing hills even in mid-week with a terrible weather
- Downloading a map on Maps.me or buying map may be good idea. We recommend the OS explorer maps, since they are waterproof and you can download the maps on your phone as well (please note that pathways are not reported on OS explorer maps, they are just geographical maps but they can still be useful)
- Walkhighlands is a reliable website. Here you can find the list of every single mountain in Scotland with the detailed route and the grade of difficulty
- Some Munros are very isolated (Torridon area in particular) while some are technically difficult so you may need a guide (Isle of Skye)
- Be aware that most of Scottish hills are not accessible via public transport so you will need a car. On average, we drove 2-3hrs from Edinburgh to reach the start of the walk. We climbed most of the mountains in day trip (except Buachaille Etive Mòr) and it took us the all day. For most of the hills up in the highland we recommend to camp or to go to a hotel locally otherwise it takes too long if you come from the “central belt”.
- If you want more information about hiking in Scotland, have a look at our dedicated article
This article does not want to be an exhaustive guide for climbing a Munro. On the map you can find the location of the Munros that we climbed as well as the grade of difficulty according to our experience. Walkhighlands is definitely the most appropriate website for more in depth information.
