10 Amazing Places to visit in Argyll
This guide features nine favourite places in Argyll, NOT in Loch Lomond & The Trossachs. If you want to learn more about the Argyll areas in the National Park, click here.
That may seem like a strange article for a website about Loch Lomond. However, many of these gems are not far from the National Park and could easily combine with a visit to Loch Lomond. It's also an excuse to write about and share photographs of some exceptional places in Argyll and the islands.
So here, in no particular order, are 9 of my favourites in Argyll; how many have you visited? How many would you like to see? Please leave your comments and recommendations in the box at the bottom. Of course, there are many more excellent places in Argyll, but these are my favourites. I hope you like them.
1. Helensburgh
Helensburgh is an ideal base to explore the National Park very close to Loch Lomond itself. The pretty seafront looks out over the Firth of the Clyde. Here you will find many places to stay and an increasing number of good restaurants, such as Cattle & Creel, which features in the video below.
Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Hill House is now back open. The historic house is covered in a protective steel frame structure with a chainmail mesh designed to protect it from the rain and allow the damaged walls to dry.
At Ardmore Point, a few miles from the town centre, you can take a short walk on the peninsula to see seals and birds.
2. Clyde Sea Lochs
The Clyde Sea Lochs Trail starts just outside of Glasgow at Dumbarton Castle, including Helensburgh, Arrochar, Rhu and Kilcreggan. The trail is 65 miles long and can be driven or cycled, guided by the brown road signs. Look out for the information panels along the route to learn more about the local history, wildlife and nature.
3. Gigha
If you are on the Kintyre Peninsula, especially in good weather, you must visit Gigha. This small island is three miles off the mainland, connected by a frequent CalMac ferry service from Tayinloan. The local community bought the island with help from grants and aid in 2002.
Explore Gigha
You can hire bikes (and kayaks) at a hut just as you get off the ferry. Cycling is ideal because the island is less than 6 miles long. On the road that runs across the island, you turn left to head towards Achamore Gardens, where you will get good views over the neighbouring islands of Islay and Jura. A right turn takes you past the island’s shop, The Ardminish Stores, towards the end of the island, where you will see a sign for the Twin Beaches. You can see the sandy beach and turquoise sea that awaits you in the photographs below, and above the satellite, the picture shows the location of the beaches.
Gigha Restaurant
I can't recommend Boat House on Gigha restaurant highly enough. It's within easy walking distance of where the ferry arrives, so you could easily visit the island just for lunch. The restaurant provides seating both inside and outside; book in advance. There are also camping pitches available on the site, and you are welcome to use their toilets even if you are not a customer.
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4. Staffa
If you don't mind travelling across open seas in a medium-sized boat, you will love the Staff day trip from Oban with Staffa Tours.
Different options are available, but a typical itinerary is as follows: 1. Ferry from Oban to Mull - 2. Coach trip across Mull - 3. Boat trip from Mull to Staffa - 4. Boat trip from Staff to Iona - 5. The ferry trip from Iona to Mull - 6. Coach across Mull - 7. Ferry back to Oban.
You'll visit three islands on the trip - Mull, Iona and Staffa, with the highlight being Staffa, where you can see Fingal's Cave. If you pick the right time of year, you will also get the opportunity to get up close to the large puffin colony that return to the island each year.
Puffins on Staffa
Mooring at Staffa is wholly dependent on the sea being calm enough. When you arrive, you'll fully understand why rough seas would prevent you from landing! With the trips, you get limited time on the island, so I recommend seeing Fingal's Cave first. The puffins wait for the island's visitors to get themselves at the top of the cliffs before they present themselves; by the time you come out of the caves, they will hopefully be on the cliffs.
You can get some outstanding photographs of these beautiful birds, who are brave and happy to get reasonably close to you.
“One of the most extraordinary places I ever beheld. It exceeded, in my mind, every description I had heard of it... composed entirely of basaltic pillars as high as the roof of a cathedral, and running deep into the rock, eternally swept by a deep and swelling sea, and paved, as it were, with ruddy marble, baffles all description.”
5. Iona
As mentioned above, the island of Iona features in the day trip from Oban to Staffa. Iona is known as ‘The cradle of Christianity’ for Scotland, with an abbey founded by St. Columba in AD 563. You get a good view of the abbey as you approach by boat, which Historic Scotland now manages. The island has also got a few interesting shops and some good beaches. It is also worth visiting when on Mull, as just a short ferry journey away.
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6. Skipness
At the small village of Skipness, you get views across to the isle of Arran. Calmac run a crossing from nearby Claonaig to Lochranza on the northern end of Arran. Skipness Castle dates to the thirteenth century, now managed by Historic Scotland. There is a large beach, with good views across to Arran.
7. Portavadie
You won't find many better swimming pools in Scotland than the one at Portavadie Marina, a hotel and spa. Relax in the warm outdoor infinity pool and take in the magnificent view. The long and winding single track B800 is one option to get to Portavadie, this road from just south of Strachur is very scenic if you're not in a huge rush to get there.
A bus link from Portavadie to Dunoon meets Calmac's Tarbert to Portavadie ferry sailings (check seasonal timetables before arriving). The marina is the start of the Loch Lomond & Cowal Way, a long-distance walk that ends at Invergulas on the banks of Loch Lomond.
Like many of the places mentioned in this article, you often need to check a map to work out where exactly you are and what you can see across the water!
8. Crinan Canal
In 1821 plans were drawn up to propose a canal between Loch Long and Loch Lomond at Arrochar. If that had happened, it would have significantly changed the history of Loch Lomond. Meanwhile, the Crinan Canal opened for commercial traffic to travel between Glasgow and the Scottish Highlands. The Crinan Canal is ideal for cycling along its towpath. There are bike hire facilities at Lochgilphead.
9. Tarbert
Tarbert Castle dates to 1325. By 1760 it had fallen into disrepair. So stones were taken from it to build the new harbour and village. You can climb up to the castle ruins, where you will get a good view of the harbour and out across Loch Fyne.
Tarbert is the ideal place to base yourself when exploring the Kintyre Peninsula and nearby islands. There are some excellent restaurants, gift shops and galleries around the pretty harbour.
10. Port Ban
I really like and thoroughly recommend Port Ban holiday park and campsite where beautiful sunsets can be enjoyed over the Paps of Jura.
Thanks for reading
Words and photography by Paul Saunders. Visit Paul’s Marketing and Photography websites for details of his services in Scotland.
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