A popular tourist destination for many years, Queen Victoria described Tarbet as "a small town [with] splendid passes, richly wooded and the highest mountains rising behind". Little has changed and today's visitors can easily see what captivated those early travellers.
Tarbet, from the gaelic An Tairbeart meaning an isthmus, sits appropriately at one end of an isthmus that separates Loch Long and Loch Lomond by just two miles. In July 1263, King Hakon Hakonsson IV of Norway's Viking fleet linked up with the forces of King Magnus III of Man and King Dubhghall mac Rhuaidhri of the Hebrides to send a fleet of 60 longships up Loch Long to land at Arrochar. They dragged their longships the two miles across to Tarbet on Loch Lomond, from where they sailed south to ravage the countryside as far as Stirling.
Situated on the banks of the world famous Loch Lomond and dominated by views across to Ben Lomond, Tarbet offers the opportunity to catch a passenger ferry to explore the rest of the loch and to view the exceptional scenery from the water. An hotel and several bed and breakfast businesses cater for visitors to the area, as does the Tarbet Tea Room. Tarbet also has a Post Office and seasonal Tourist Information Centre.
The scenic West Highland Railway runs through the villages, with a station at Tarbet (Arrochar & Tarbet), from where trains carry passengers to and from destinations including London, Glasgow, Fort William, Mallaig and Oban.
Arrochar Primary School and nursery serve Arrochar, Tarbet, Succoth and the surrounding area, and are located (a little confusingly) in Tarbet, on the shores of Loch Lomond.
