What is the highest point in the British Isles?

The highest point in the British Isles is Ben Nevis, rising 1,345 metres above sea level in the Scottish Highlands.

Ben Nevis stands near Fort William at the western end of the Grampian Mountains. Although it is often described as Britain’s highest mountain, the broader geographic term “British Isles” includes Ireland and many surrounding islands; Ben Nevis remains the highest summit across the entire archipelago.

The mountain is the eroded remains of a huge Devonian volcano. Its northern face has cliffs about 700 metres high, while the popular Mountain Track climbs the gentler western slope from Glen Nevis. A summit observatory operated from 1883 to 1904, collecting valuable weather observations in notoriously severe conditions.

Common mix-ups include Snowdon, now officially called Yr Wyddfa, which is the highest mountain in Wales, and Scafell Pike, England’s highest. Ben Macdui is the second-highest summit in the British Isles. The summit height was remeasured by Ordnance Survey in 2016 as 1,344.527 metres, commonly rounded to 1,345 metres.