Loch Lomond and Trossachs Wild Camping Map: Permit Zones Explained
The one Scottish park where wild camping needs a permit in season — the four zones, the dates, the cost, and where the access right still applies free.
Loch Lomond and Trossachs Wild Camping Map: Permit Zones Explained
Loch Lomond and the Trossachs is the exception that catches people out. Everywhere else in Scotland, wild camping is a statutory right you can exercise without asking anyone. Here, for part of the year and in part of the park, you need a permit — and a great many visitors arrive not knowing that. This guide is based on desk research: the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, the Scottish Outdoor Access Code, Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park Authority guidance and Ordnance Survey mapping rather than first-hand testing. Below you will find how the byelaws work, exactly where and when they apply, and the large majority of the park where the ordinary access right is untouched.
Quick Reference
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Where do the byelaws apply? | Four Camping Management Zones — West Loch Lomond, East Loch Lomond, Trossachs West, North Loch Earn |
| When? | 1 March to 30 September each year |
| Cost | Around £4.50 per tent per night (2026 rate) |
| How much of the park is affected? | Less than 4% of its area |
| Outside the zones or outside the season? | Ordinary Scottish access right — no permit needed |
The Two Rules That Apply Here
Rule one: Scotland’s access right. The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 gives a statutory right of responsible access to most land and inland water in Scotland, explicitly including wild camping. The Scottish Outdoor Access Code defines “responsible” as lightweight, small-scale, short-duration camping — a small tent, a night or two, carried in on foot, away from buildings and roads. This is the default across the whole country.
Rule two: the local byelaws. The National Park Authority introduced Camping Management Byelaws in 2017 covering specific, defined stretches of lochshore. Inside those zones, during the season, camping requires either a permit or a place at a campsite. This does not repeal the access right elsewhere — it is a local restriction on a small, heavily pressured fraction of the park.
The byelaws exist because a handful of roadside lochshores were being wrecked: abandoned tents, felled trees, fire scars and human waste concentrated where people could park a car and walk ten metres. The zones deliberately target that ground.
The Four Camping Management Zones
The zones cover popular lochshore strips rather than whole regions:
- West Loch Lomond — the A82 side, the busiest road corridor in the park
- East Loch Lomond — the Balmaha to Rowardennan shore, along the West Highland Way
- Trossachs West — the Loch Chon and Loch Ard area
- North Loch Earn — the northern shore of Loch Earn
Together these amount to less than 4% of the National Park’s area. That figure is worth holding onto, because the popular impression is that “you need a permit to camp at Loch Lomond”, which is not accurate. You need a permit to camp on specific lochshore strips, in season.
Dates, Permits and Cost
The byelaws are in force from 1 March to 30 September every year. Outside those dates the zones revert to ordinary access rights.
Permits are booked in advance through the National Park Authority’s online booking system and cost around £4.50 per tent per night at the 2026 rate, up from £4.30. They are cheap by design — the point is management and accountability, not revenue. Permit places are limited and the popular ones go early for summer weekends, so book ahead rather than arriving and hoping.
Camping inside a zone without a permit during the season is an offence under the byelaws, not a civil trespass matter. In practice rangers patrol and the usual outcome is being moved on, but it is enforceable.
The byelaws were introduced in 2017 with a ten-year horizon, and the Park Authority is currently running a public consultation on their review, open until 21 September 2026. If you have a view on how they have worked, that is the route for it.
Where the Access Right Still Applies in Full
This is the part most guides skip, and it is the useful part. The overwhelming majority of the park is unaffected.
Ben Lomond and the high ground. Scotland’s most southerly Munro at around 974m. The summit approaches from Rowardennan are steep and busy, but the high corries and the ground north towards Comer are open, quiet and outside the zones. Camping high here needs no permit.
The Arrochar Alps. Ben Arthur (the Cobbler), Beinn Narnain, Beinn Ìme and Ben Vane sit above Loch Long and Loch Lomond’s western side. The corries — particularly around the Cobbler — are classic wild camp ground, and the walk-in filters out casual visitors.
Glen Falloch and the northern park. North of Ardlui the park opens into rougher, emptier country. Wild camping here is straightforward and unrestricted.
The Trossachs hills. Ben Venue, Ben A’an and the ground around Loch Katrine give good camping away from the Loch Chon and Loch Ard zone boundaries.
Anywhere else, off-season. From 1 October to 28 February the zones themselves are open under the ordinary access right. Winter camping on Loch Lomond’s shores is legal, free and — weather permitting — genuinely lovely.
Checking Whether You Are In a Zone
The zone boundaries are published as maps by the National Park Authority, and they follow the shoreline rather than round numbers of metres. The practical test is simple: if you can see a road and you are on a lochshore between March and September, assume you are in a zone and check. If you have walked uphill for an hour, you are almost certainly outside one.
The boundaries do not extend far inland. The zones are about roadside lochshore camping, which is precisely the behaviour that caused the damage.
Practical Notes
The West Highland Way. The Way runs along the east shore of Loch Lomond through a management zone. Walkers doing the route in season should either book permits, use the campsites at Balmaha, Sallochy and Rowardennan, or plan to be past the zone before stopping. This is the single most common way people fall foul of the byelaws.
Midges. Low, wooded, damp lochshore is ideal midge habitat, and the park is bad for them from roughly late May into September. Higher pitches with a breeze are markedly better.
Ticks. Bracken and long grass on the lochshores and lower slopes carry ticks and Lyme disease risk. Check properly and carry a remover.
Fires. Open fires are prohibited in the management zones and are a poor idea generally on peat or near woodland — peat can smoulder underground for weeks. Use a stove.
Water. Take from moving burns above habitation rather than from the lochs themselves near settlements, and filter or treat if in any doubt.
Responsibilities
Inside or outside a zone, the Code’s expectations are the same: small tent, one or two nights, everything carried out including food waste, toilet waste buried at least 30m from water or carried out, no fires on peat, and no large groups. The byelaws exist precisely because those norms broke down in a few accessible places. Meeting them everywhere else is what keeps the rest of the park permit-free.
FAQ
Do I need a permit to wild camp at Loch Lomond? Only inside one of the four Camping Management Zones, and only between 1 March and 30 September. Those zones cover specific lochshore strips amounting to under 4% of the National Park. Outside the zones, or outside those dates, the ordinary Scottish access right applies and no permit is required.
How much does a Loch Lomond camping permit cost? Around £4.50 per tent per night at the 2026 rate. Permits are booked in advance through the National Park Authority’s online booking system, and places on popular shores sell out for summer weekends, so book rather than turn up.
Does the permit system apply anywhere else in Scotland? No. The camping byelaws are specific to Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park. The Cairngorms, Skye, Torridon, Assynt and the rest of Scotland operate under the ordinary access right with no permit scheme. Assuming Scottish rules are uniform is the most common visitor mistake.
Can I sleep in a campervan in the management zones? The access right has never covered motorised camping — it applies to people arriving on foot, by bike or by boat. Campervans are governed by ordinary parking and traffic law, and the park has separate provision and restrictions for vehicles. A tent permit does not authorise overnight parking.
