Which West Highland Way map is the best?

With numerous West Highland maps for sale, which map is the best to help you plan your West Highland Way adventure AND whilst your on the trail?

I have three West Highland Way maps to show you and no they are not the Ordnance Survey Maps that cover this region of Scotland.

Obviously for weight reasons you only want to buy one West Highland map, unless you’re trekking as part of a bigger group and then it can be valuable to have a variety of maps between the group so you can compare and discuss.

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Some West Highland Way maps are better than others. I absolutely LOVE the Vertebrate Publishing West Highland Way map purely because it includes a large elevation chart broken down into helpful timing points with all the stats (ascent / descent / distance / cumulative distance) and timings for a walker, trekker, fast packer and trail runner as well as suggested itineraries. This information is invaluable whilst planning your West Highland Way trek.

I also have Vertebrate Publishing’s Tour du Mont Blanc map which follows the same format. I only wish they did more trekking trails. You can read details of this West Highland Way map further below.

I also think the Footprint West Highland Way map is very good. It’s very clear and breaks the trail up into concise sections. It manages to fit a lot of information onto the double sides including directions every few kilometres. It’s the first West Highland Way map I ever bought and still take it every time.

The Cicerone WHW guidebook has a free map booklet that comes with it when you buy it. You can also buy this separately (available on Amazon) which is a good option if you want a super detailed map however I don’t really like map booklets – I either want a map to be in the guidebook or in proper map format. I find the booklet to be too large scale but on too small pages and it feels fiddly – that’s just me personally so I’ve never taken it with me on the trail. Here’s a photo of the inside of a typical page in the Cicerone West Highland Way map booklet.

The third West Highland Way map that I think is decent is the Harvey WHW map. Harveys are renowned for map making and are based in Scotland. The map is a little older and clearly shows the variant on stage 3 which is not shown on the other two maps. For this reason alone I like it as the easier variant (which was the traditional route until a couple of years ago) is now not even signposted which means many walkers do not even know there is an option to bypass the very technical (tricky) loch side trail which has now become the normal route.

I’ve compared all three of this maps below with links to purchase. Please note that these are affiliate links which means that if you buy something I make a small commission but it doesn’t cost you anything more. Think of it as a contribution to a cup of coffee (although I’d need quite a few sales to make the price of a coffee these days 🤨)

Note: none of the maps label the stage 8 easier variant to get to Fort William quicker in bad weather, although the road is on all the maps.

Which is the best West Highland Way map?

There are three main West Highland Way maps at this current time for the West Highland Way. Each has its own merits so I’ve listed the pros of each map below. Some maps are stronger on different elements such trail info such as elevation, extra info on each stage for example, different languages. All are main of lightweight, durable & waterproof material.

The Footprint and Harvey map are a similar size whilst the Vertebrate is approximately one third bigger.

COMPARING THE THREE MAIN WEST HIGHLAND WAY MAPS

Lets discuss each map in detail now.

West Highland Way Map – Vertebrae Publishing

In my opinion the Vertebrate Publishing West Highland Way map is the absolute best for planning your WHW adventure! It is an amazing resource, jam packed with information.

The selling feature of this map is the giant elevation chart which details the entire trail giving you all the necessary stats between timing points (ascent / descent / distance), it then gives you cumulative distance as you go along. Below these rows it then details an ideal itinerary for a walker, a trekker, a fastpacker and a trail runner breaking each timing point (note not per stage but each stage is broken down into timing points so you don’t need to necessarily stick to the traditional ‘stages’ of the WHW but can make up your own depending on accommodation of course).

Their timings are given using the Jones-Ross formula which are also used on their Tour du Mont Blanc trail map. You may know that I am a TMB expert living in Chamonix and I’ve actually interviewed Kingsley Jones on how they came up with this formula. The formula is very accurate and I’ve tested it many times for the walker and trekker speed, so I can say with confidence that this resource will definitely help you plan your West Highland Way itinerary.

This map also includes a huge accommodation list (with tel no and email), an essential kit list and a safety & rescue section as well as info on the terrain, ATM info, route markers etc.

The actual map is in strip panels at 1:40000. Accommodation is marked on the map & the route is divided up showing a red square each kilometre. Note the distances are only in kilometres not miles. It doesn’t have any text on the map panels giving extra information such as the Footprint map does. And it doesn’t have the stage 3 easier variant clearly marked like the Harvey map but it does show the forestry track that is the variant but just doesn’t label it as such.

The map also offers a free GPX file via a QR code on the map itself.

West Highland Way Map – Footprint

I also really like the Footprint West Highland Way map. It’s divided into 8 strip panels. The great thing about this map is that it actually provide route descriptions with clear directions on text boxes along the route every few kilometres. It also shows highlights like the Glengoyne Distillery (a must visit) which neither of the other maps do (see below).

The map has a red dot every indicating every mile along the route.

Annoyingly this map is hard to purchase in advance. It is available to buy all along the West Highland Way – in fact the map you will see the most as then trek the route. It’s definitely worth picking up a copy on the trail as one of its strong points is that it has good descriptions of the trail and directions in boxes at mile marker intersections along the map. I paid £10.95 on the trail for the map.

UK residents can buy it from the UK site I’ve linked to on the button above.

You can buy it on Amazon here but its the older version so you might want to wait until you get to the trail start and grab a copy there.

West Highland Way map – Harvey

The Harvey map is the only map to mark the route in both kilometres (in blue) and miles (in red). It’s also the only map to have information in English, French and German.

It’s also the only map to clearly show the stage 3 easier variant via the forest track – (see photo above) this may well be because this map is a older version that the Footprint and the Vertebrate Publishing maps and since then the ‘variant’ is now not signposted on the actual route. Whatever it’s nice to see the variant clearly marked so walkers know they can still take it. It avoids the very technical loch side route which some walkers, particular with knee issues or less mobility would probably prefer to avoid.

The Harvey map has less general information on it though compared to the other two which seems to pack in lots of information into a small area – this map, whilst it does have some info – it does use valuable space with the language translations meaning there is less info in it. Nevertheless the actual map is very detailed (more so than the Vertebrate) and you can buy it ahead of time online which you can’t with the Footprint map (unless you live in the UK)

Technical Specification

• Scale: 1:40,000
• Ratio: 2.5cm = 1km
• Flat size: 696 x 486mm
• Folded size: 116 x 243mm
• Weight: 35gms
• Double sided
• Format: strip map

Conclusion:

I would buy the Vertebrate Publishing map to help if you are planning your West Highland Way itinerary yourself or if you want to thoroughly research the trail even if you are booking a self guided package. If you have booked a self guided package and just want an on the ground map I would wait until you get there and buy the Footprint map available everywhere on the trail.

If you are a group I would get both the Vertebrate and the Footprint maps.

If you are have knee issues or some mobility issues and want to definitely take the stage 3 variation to skip the challenging loch side section then I would by the Harvey map.