Callander is a camping paradise: woodsy sites plus many others scattered around nearby forests or lochs.
The gateway to Scotland’s first national park, Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park, Callander is a popular stop on the way between the big Scottish cities and the Highlands. The national park, in fact, marks the Lowland-Highland divide in a blaze of lochs, gold-green hills, and craggy mountains. You can reach the great outdoors from your doorstep here, where superb walks start from town up to beauty spots like Bracklinn Falls. Campers are spoiled for choice with places to pitch: Within a short stroll of town, three well-appointed campgrounds hide out in their own respective patches of forest.
These local beauty spots form the skyline above Callander and both can be combined on a leisurely day of hiking. The rearing forest upland of Callander Crags and the plunging wooded ravine and cascades of Bracklinn Falls are gorgeous, green and offer amazing views of Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park. They can be accessed from town, or from Keltie Bridge Caravan Park, on comely trails.
This ridiculously postcard-perfect tour of Lochs Reòidhte, Drunkie and Achray is an easy introduction to the greater majesty of Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park rearing beyond. It’s a bendy 7-mile route open to vehicles April through October and for cyclists or hikers at any time, with captivating lake and forest scenery. Wild camping opportunities along the way are numerous; some areas require permits between March and September.
This, the UK’s fourth-largest national park, stretches around Callander in the loch-riven, forest-coasted divide between Lowland and Highland Scotland. The park includes the vast Queen Elizabeth Forest Park and Ben Lomond, the most southerly Munro peak (a Scottish summit over 915 metres). Good campsites can be found on the east side of Loch Lomond and on Loch Chon; wild camping often requires a permit between March and September.
Callander and its surroundings are close enough to the big Scottish cities to get very popular during school holidays, especially Easter and the July/August summer holidays, when campsites are more crowded. The best, brightest, driest weather is often in late spring (April to May) or autumn (September to October). Then again, if you like regional events as well as pretty countryside, then July and August are perfect.