Snowdonia, the Lake District or the Highlands: which one first?

If you are London-based and planning a first proper mountain weekend, you have three realistic options. People usually pick on instinct, or on whichever photo they saw most recently. There are better reasons to choose.

Snowdonia

Getting there

Three and a half to four and a half hours by train from Euston via Bangor or Llandudno Junction, then a bus or taxi inland. Driving is about four and a half hours on a good day and considerably worse on a Friday evening.

The terrain

Snowdonia is the most rocky and the most vertical of the three for the effort involved. The Glyderau and the Snowdon massif give you genuine mountain architecture, ridges, boulder fields, and scrambling at a walkable grade, within a short walk of a car park. Tryfan's North Ridge and Crib Goch are both world class and both accessible on a weekend.

The catch

It is busy, and in summer it is very busy. The Llanberis Path on a Saturday in August is a queue. It is also genuinely wet: the Welsh mountains catch weather off the Irish Sea and hold on to it.

Best for

A first taste of real mountain terrain, and anyone who thinks they might want to scramble. The ratio of drama to travel time is the best in the UK.

The Lake District

Getting there

Three to three and a half hours to Oxenholme or Penrith from Euston, then a connection. Driving is five to six hours and the M6 has opinions about your Friday.

The terrain

Rolling, grassy, endlessly connected. The Lakes reward long days that link four or five tops rather than a single summit and back. Ridgelines like the Coniston fells or the Fairfield horseshoe give you hours of high ground without much technical difficulty. The valleys are beautiful in a way Snowdonia is not.

The catch

Navigation is harder than it looks. The Lakes are full of broad, featureless plateaus that are genuinely confusing in cloud, and more people get lost there than the gentle-looking terrain suggests. It is also the most expensive of the three for accommodation.

Best for

Building hill fitness and navigation. Long days, forgiving ground, and a huge amount of route choice if the weather turns.

The Scottish Highlands

Getting there

This is the honest problem. Five to seven hours to Fort William or Aviemore by train, an overnight sleeper if you time it right, or a flight to Inverness plus a hire car. It is not a weekend from London unless you are prepared to spend most of it travelling.

The terrain

Bigger than the other two by a clear margin. Longer approaches, higher summits, far more remote ground, and a genuine sense of scale. Glencoe, Torridon and the Cairngorms are on a different level to anything in England or Wales. Wild camping is legal under the right to roam, which changes what is possible.

The catch

Distance, midges between June and August, and weather that is more severe and less predictable. Winter conditions arrive early and stay late, and a Scottish winter route is a mountaineering problem rather than a walking one.

Best for

A week rather than a weekend. If you have five days or more, Scotland is not really in competition with the other two.

The short version

• , First mountain weekend with no experience: the Peak District, honestly, before any of these three. It is two hours from London and the skills transfer everywhere.
• , First real mountain weekend: Snowdonia. Best terrain per hour of travel.
• , Building fitness and navigation over several trips: the Lake District.
• , A week, or your first expedition: the Highlands.
• , Winter skills: Scotland, and only Scotland. The others do not hold reliable winter conditions.

The thing that matters more than the region

Weather. A brilliant weekend in the Peak District beats a miserable one in Glencoe, every time, and the difference between the two is almost entirely whether you picked a sensible route for the conditions and had the kit for it.

People spend a lot of energy choosing between mountain ranges and very little learning to read a forecast, which is the wrong way round.

For the part that decides how your weekend goes, read: mountain weather, what to check and when to turn back