Eigg, Rum et al

Although I've been to many of the islands off the west coast of Scotland, I've not been to the Small Isles - have always been put off by the difficulties of getting there. They don't seem geared up to tourism in the way elsewhere is. I've always been of the impression they are all about dropping out in wild scenery with the wildlife... In your situation,youy probably won't be missing much by not going there. Try Harris and Lewis instead or perhaps Shetland?

The Small Isles are about relaxing and hiking. However, it is possible to visit Canna (part of the same group) from Elgol on Skye on a day trip with either Bella Jane or Misty Isle boat trips. It's a wonderful trip which depending on the time of year guarantees a stop at the puffin colony on the high cliffs of Canna, before landing and giving you an hour or so ashore - time to visit the cafe, small community shop (with no staff so you just leave the money in a tin or pay by card), and a wander to the small church. The boat then heads for Rum where you don't land, but see a ship wreck plus a beautiful bay, where the Royal Yacht Britannia used to moor up so that the Queen could go ashore and have a picnic on the beach (which is usually empty apart from the local red deer). I've done the trip many times and never tire of it.

Thanks for the responses. I'll look into the Canna idea. Been to Harris/Lewis. I'm (unbelievably) running out of places I want to visit. My "2028" trip includes the Small Isles, Westray, Papa Westray and maybe Fair Isle?. My "2026" trip includes Arran, Kintyre, Rothsay, Uist, Barra, Mull and the Borders, while our 2024 trip includes Islay, Unst, Yell, NC500, the coastal half of the NE250, and the East Coast. Isle of May keeps rearing it's head but the weather dependency, tide dependence, and my wife's aptitude for seasickness keeps knocking it off the bucket list. We'll be in Anstruther this year and we'll scope it out.

When I overlay the google maps of our trips, there's very little bare space :-) Maybe in my old age I'll come to enjoy just sitting in nature, but since that is what I do the other 49 weeks of the year, I doubt it. The odd years are for Ireland.

On Rhum (or Rum) Kinloch Castle and it's almost unique Orchestrion is the big attraction. I have very conflicting info on if the Castle is still open, let alone on whether you can still sleep and eat in the Castle- or whether it is just the non castle options to stay in.
The Castle has never been able to be maintained properly- and is essentially falling down with little point to spending the millions of pounds needed.
Otherwise it's basically two walks- one down the island, notably for the Red Deer, the other to the Mausoleum. The walk to and from the Mausoleum is a full day hike.
I've done each of the Isles as day trips- one a day working round the timetables.

The problem with the small isles is that the population of each is tiny (Eigg is the largest with about 100) so they can never support a robust tourist infrastructure. The ferry therefore can only take a small number of tourists to each to stay, and it's priority has to be to support the islander's needs. It's far better now there are piers on each island, rather than landing by flit boat as used to be the case and I've been around long enough to experience the flit boats. For tourist infrastructure Muck is the best in my opinion, with a real hotel there.

Eigg deserves to be supported now it is owned by the Islanders, not an absentee laird.

By visiting and spending money there you are literally helping to keep the island populated and able to support itself.
And Canna is owned by the National Trust.

The stores, tearoom and craft shop at Eigg Pier in particular fully deserves support. For a small island it is very well stocked, and all profits go to supporting the islanders, expanding it's population and tourism.

Even just doing a non landing day trip is literally helping to keep the ferry service going to the very good ('rubbish' is in the eye of the beholder) timetable which it has, in far preference to the tourist boats from other ports. The island ferry is a unique little vessel, purpose built for the link, a big ship in miniature. If the ferry wasn't there, or ran a day a week or something the viability of each island could easily tip over the edge.

Those who do get there, like me, enjoy each island. As tourists, for once, we are directly helping support the local economy.

Don't forget Cumbrae or Bute!

Very well said! I've been wanting to stay on Eigg for a good wee while now, but the self catering places (most if not all islander owned) are incredibly popular. I have my eye on a particular one but (great news for the owners) it's booked up many months in advance. Indeed last time I looked I'd have to be planning 2 years ahead, which I just can't manage to do. A day trip from Mallaig would be a good alternative though.

As for Rum, as far as I know the proposed sale of the castle fell through due to objections from a local group and it's now closed and empty.

I would like to visit all of them, but the ferry timetable is only suited for someone like Astrid to solve. In the summer schedule, there just isn't anyway to arrange a visit without spending a week of back and forth to Mallaig or waiting for the next inter-island opportunity. I've found several bugs with the recent summer schedules which CalMac promises to look into - maybe a revised schedule will have a solution. You don't want to see my three-dimensional spreadsheet :-)

This in no way pertains to your actual question but I see you are headed to Unst this year. I can recommend the Northernmost tea room (haha) in the UK, Victoria's Vintage Tea Rooms. Tucked up behind it is the Unst Boat Museum which is small but quite interesting. On the way there you'll pass the Viking Unst Project with a re-creation of a Viking Long House and Viking ship. You can go in the house and onto the boat. On the way outbound you'll pass Bobby's Bus Shelter, the northernmost bus shelter in the UK as well as what I think are the northernmost gas pumps in the UK, hahaha. (Yes, there is a theme!)

There are some random standing stones (Clivocast) if you are interested as well as the Muness Castle.

My group did not really stop on Yell...just shot thru to the ferry across to Unst.

Thanks Pam. I had everything but Clivocast already on our itinerary, and we're driving by it on our way to Muness anyway :-)

Excellent! I see on googlemaps the stone is marked as "closed", which is a bit of a laugh. It is literally in a field and you climb over a stile to get to it.

The Small Isles are a superb destination for those who love wildly scenic walking and empty beaches.But you need decent weather to enjoy them to the full.In sunny weather, the islands feel like a slice of paradise.
I've visited all except Muck several times.
Eigg is most easily visited as a day trip from Arisaig..a local operator runs a daily boat service giving plenty time on the island.Good cafe there and a buzzy feel at the little pier.
Canna can be visited on a Saturday as a day trip using Calmac (unless the timetable has changed).I spent an idyllic day there walking out to the cliffs and having a picnic lunch at a stunning white sand beach.The sail out to Canna(and the other islands)is superb for scenery and worth it for the sail alone in many respects.
Canna has a good café too in season , a little shop operating with an honesty box, and of course lovely Canna House and gardens, the woodlands there carpeted in bluebells in May.The House belonged to John Lorne Campbell, a renowned Gaelic scholar and folklorist.
There are standing stones on the island too.

If going to Unst and Yell why not tack on Fetlar- very easy to do. And what about Bressay (and Noss) , Whalsay and (on a Friday) the Skerrries. I sure hope that the north Mainland is not being omitted on the drive to Yell and Unst. So much of Shetland is apparently being missed here. Fair Isle would make far more sense added on to the Shetland trip than Orkney.

And on Orkney I can only wonder why just Westray and Papa Westray are being visited (apart from the obvious of the shortest flight). There are other of the Northern Isles- notably unique North Ronaldsay to visit. But also Shapinsay, the Eastern Isles (Rousay, Egilsay and Wyre) and the Southern Isles. On the mainland I really hope Stromness is being visited- also The Earls Palace at Birsay and the Brough of Birsay.

I could say the same for the Western Isles of Scotland- some really notable omissions there.

I assume you are aware of the Scottish Islands passport. That should be an important tool to anyone with a real interest in sustainable tourism to any of the Scottish islands.

Plenty more of Scotland's islands to keep anyone going.

We've spent lots of time on Shetland mainland (my wife has ancestors buried all over) and the choice of Westray and Papa over all the other possible islands comes down to "So many islands and so little time"
syndrome. Several of the islands require you to return to the mainland to make the ferry connection. Similar to the puzzle of visiting the Small Islands in one efficient loop, these extra long ferry trips are distressing to my seasick prone wife. I had planned Out Skerries for this coming May but decided the weather related risk of cancellation was too high for such a short visit with such long sails. I thought two days on Unst would test my resolve for "slow tourism", so we might come back eventually and do Out Skerries along with Fair Isle. I was looking at St. Kilda and ruled it out for the same reason of long trips with short stays ashore. The proliferation of internet lodging reservations and ferry reservations make last minute substitutions really problematic. We're jealous of EU/UK residents that bop around the islands with a low investment in travel, house sitters, airport parking, etc.

BTW, I managed to extract a five day trip to Rum, Canna, and Eigg from the convoluted ferry schedule without returns to Mallaig. Don't ask why I'm skipping Muck since I have no good reason except time. We plan to visit Mull, Melrose, Dunfries, Troon (or Ayr), and Uist/Barra on the same trip, so something has to give.

To complete my answer, we're heading to Noss in May and have already visited Bressay but would like to poke around the wife's ruined house a bit (she's a Bolt)

We missed Stromness when last on Orkney, but saw all the Neolithics along with both Earl's Palaces. We flew in, so we didn't get to St. Margarets Hope and the surrounds.

I've settled on an itinerary that gives us four days in the Small Isles. Given the days of the week, I'm either doing 2xMuck + 2xEigg or 3xEigg+1xMuck. There are no options for Canna or Rum that don't add a night in Mallaig, so we'll stick with the two choices. Opinions on the two alternatives welcome.