Fort William, United Kingdom

The town lies at the southern end of the Great Glen. Fort William lies near the head of Loch Linnhe, one of Scotland's longest sea lochs, beside the mouth of the rivers Nevis and Lochy. They join in the intertidal zone and briefly become one river before discharging to the sea. The town and its suburbs are surrounded by mountains. Its suburbs of Lochyside, Caol and Corpach are on the shore of Loch Eil. It is close to Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the British Isles, Glen Nevis, and the settlement of Achnaphubuil, which is on the opposite shore of the loch. The original railway station, which was at the south end of the town, was opened on 7 August 1894.

The town is centred on the High Street, which was pedestrianised in the 1990s. Off this, there are several squares: Monzie Square (named after the Cameron Campbells of Monzie, Perthshire, former landowners in the town); Station Square, where the long-since demolished railway station used to be; Gordon Square (named after the Gordons, who in the late 18th century owned land where the town now stands, when the town was named Gordonsburgh); and Cameron Square—formerly known as Town Hall Square. There is also Fraser Square, which is not so square-like, since it now opens out into Middle Street, but which still houses the Imperial Hotel.

The area is a tourism centre for hikers due to its proximity to Ben Nevis, and to drivers wanting to see a nearby railway bridge, the Glenfinnan Viaduct. The Glenfinnan Viaduct was used in the film Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and in three other films in the series, and is often called The Harry Potter Bridge. To address the automotive congestion, travellers by train are given discounts at local venues.

Just outside the town is a large aluminium plant once operated by Alcan and powered by the Lochaber hydroelectric scheme, in its day the biggest tunnelling project in the world. This was formerly served by the Lochaber Narrow Gauge Railway better known locally as the Puggy Line.

In November 2016, Sanjeev Gupta's Liberty Steel Group purchased the Lochaber aluminium plant from Rio Tinto.

On 3 April 2021, it came to light during Gupta's financial troubles involving Greensill Capital that the Jahama Highland Estates (formerly the "Alcan Estate") had been purchased in 2016 as part of the Rio Tinto deal for the Lochaber aluminium plant, because the furnace requires so much power that the smelter is located near a hydroelectric plant, which drains the basin of the 114,000-acre (46,000-hectare) Estate.

Lochaber High School is the local high school and serves a large catchment area which includes the surrounding villages.

West Highland College is part of the University of the Highlands and Islands. It hosts the School of Adventure Studies (SOAS) offering both further education courses and higher education honours degrees.