Conic Hill

As a mere tourist with a disabled passenger I stopped and spoke to a local about the best place to park to see the loch without a long walk. I was unfortunately sent to the "overflow" car park not sure if this has now been rectified but I honestly did not notice a parking meter or signs and had seen signs at the council operated car park. It was beautiful and amazing place to visit however paid £100 for the pleasure as neither have the time or energy to dispute it.

Great walk up this hill for fabulous views over Loch Lomond. Quite steep in sections so worth taking sticks for stability as a lot of loose stones on the path. The summit that most people end up on is not actually the summit of Conic Hill - that’s a little further on and is 3 metres higher. Word of warning over car parks in Balmaha: the overflow car park is privately owned and much more expensive than the National Park one - £5 a day, as opposed to £3.25- and a £60 fine if you don’t pay the full rate as we bitterly discovered to our cost. The day we parked there and forked out £4, the car park was empty. How these people sleep at night I don’t know! So beware!

I agree it is quite a steep climb with lots of steps. Towards the top the path disappears and you need to scramble over rocks. We'll worth it for the views. As with other reviewers it made me realise how unfit I am. Regular stops were the order of the day. A piece of advice is be prepared. Despite being February people were climbing in shorts, without jackets and in ordinary shoes. It was really cold and extremely windy at the top. For goodness sake at least take a rucksack with a jacket, hat and gloves. The weather is unpredictable.

If you want a slightly longer walk than the standard one from the carpark and back, I suggest getting off the bus from Balloch at Milton of Buchanan and heading up the road inland. You'll quickly get nice views of the hill you will be climbing, followed by better and better views of the Loch. Once you reach the top of the hill with its beautiful views, you can then make the steep descent to the car park at Balmaha for the bus back.

Beautiful vistas await you as you climb this hill above Loch Lomond. You need to be steady on your feet and happy to climb as you take in the breathtaking views around you. The car park is no longer free £3 all day from 7th September 21. Why not take a walk afterwards along West Highland Way to see the Loch from the shores.

It's a steep climb up but is fairly short, we were up in just over an hour. Amazing views of the loch. We were there on a beautiful Sunday morning in August and it was very busy, seemed like half of Glasgow was up there. But we found a quieter way down over the grassy hills which was much nicer and got us away from the crowds.

Conic Hill is a delightful place for a walk. It gives you the most stunning views of over Loch Lomond. You don’t have to go all the way to the top to get fantastic views. It is fairly strenuous, but there were lots of young children and older people who seemed to be coping with the climb fine.

Love a walk up Conic hill, have been a few times now. It's got a big car park at the bottom with plenty of toilets. Once you start the walk it's a steep climb, tons of stairs, not much room to stop but once you're up them the walk really opens out. There's two or three large clearances where you can stop for a break and a sit down and get good photos if you want them, but after the stairs there's space to stop at the side anywhere.

The stairs are the struggle imo as there isn't much opportunity to stop - once you're past these you'll be fine! :) If you're particularly fit this won't even take an hour and a half to get up and down. It's not long. Will take much longer with kids. If it's bad weather I probably wouldn't come here, a lot of the surface is uneven, muddy and rocky so if the ground is wet it'd be really slippy.

Trainers are fine for walking this, there are always dogs around, many off of the lead too. It's not a big walk at all but the views are incredible. Would be great for a picnic, definitely a must do if you're in an area, and certainly a good place to start if you're wanting to get into hiking or hill walking.

The path to Conic Hill should be closed due to safety concerns. Most steps are wash out with deep grooves large enough to swallow a small child. I can’t believe that a responsible tourist organisation is not warning people of the dangers of climbing this mountain. Apart from the inclement weather there are immeasurable hazards. I climbed the hill whilst walking the West Highland Way. This is typical for Scotland which is a country devoid of any tourist knowledge who rest themselves on pictures which are photo shopped at best. Avoid at all costs !

Not the easy walk that a lot of people on here are saying! But definitely worth it. Took us an hour and 10 mins with plenty of stops for photos (and to use asthma pumps). Then about 40 mins back down. Very steep, lots of steps, quite slippery - a lot of people fell over in the mud. But a gorgeous walk and the views are incredible. Even if you don't go all the way up, there's a brilliant spot half way that gives amazing views