Going on RS Best of Scotland 13 day tour in June, including a day trip to Isle of Iona (sleeping in Oban). Tour ends in Edinburgh. First trip to Scotland.
Afterwards we may rent a car and go to Arran, or back to Mull and Iona for 2 or 3 nights.
Been told Skye is too touristy and crowded.
Would love suggestions. Not sure what sights are in Arran.
Hi, joanielb,
First of all, don't believe everything that they say about Skye being touristy and crowded! Yes, Portree can be packed in midsummer, and some of the more well known sites can be busy, but there are many out of the way places where you may be the only ones around. You can pretty much say that for most of Scotland, except for Edinburgh in August, which is chock-a-block with people.
As far as Arran goes, there is plenty to see, especially if you have a car. A lot depends on how physically active you are. First of all, there's Brodick Castle and Gardens. The gardens should look really good in June. There is Goatfell, if you fancy some hillwalking, and also some good hikes along the east coast. On the west side of Arran, there are the Machrie Moor stone circles, and the King's Caves, where legend says that Robert the Bruce was hiding when he had the apocryphal interaction with the spider. There is also Lochranza Castle at the top end of Arran. It was open last time we were there (it's a ruined castle), but there may be fencing around it now. Perhaps someone who has been there recently can let us know. Lochranza itself is a charming little village.
Also on the west (actually southwest) side of Arran is the Neolithic burial site at the Torrylinn chambered cairn. You can park at the Kilmory Hall to hike there. After you visit the cairn, you can walk on to Kilmory Beach, which is best visited at low tide, then back to the main road via a farm track. There is a footpath parallel to the main road, which will take you back to the Kilmory Hall car park. It's about two miles round trip, and a very pleasant low level walk.
If you want to avoid doubling back through Troon/Ardrossan, you can take the ferry from Lochranza to Claonaig on the Kintyre Peninsula, and make your way back from there. That would provide an opportunity to head on to Islay, or over to Oban for a return visit to Mull.
Best wishes, and safe travels!
Mike (Auchterless)
I strongly endorse everything Mike has said above, and will just add that if you like whiskey, Lochranza also has a distillery in a beautiful scenic location where you can sit outside and have a dram. Arran is a wonderful place that I don't think gets as many foreign tourists as some of the other islands, tho locals certainly know about it so you need to ensure you book the ferry from Ardrossan well in advance!
Iona is beautiful but it's very small and you will see nearly all of it on a day trip, so I would personally prioritise Arran, tho Mull is also very nice.
Half the ferries this year from the mainland to Arran will be running from Troon as opposed to Ardrossan.
At the moment CalMac are not sure of what vessel they will have to allocate to Ardrossan, so the greater capacity will be from the port of Troon. If going by car Troon is actually the closer port to Glasgow (in terms of travelling time, as opposed to distance).
CalMac are taking bookings from Ardrossan but the very latest announcement 6 days ago from CalMac appears to suggest uncertainty on re-opening the currently closed Ardrossan for the summer, or whether both vessels will run from Troon. That was a distinct surprise so watch for news.
Arran doesn't feature much on tourist itineraries and people don't realise just how good it is and how much you can do and see there. It is often described as 'Scotland in miniature'. There are two articles you might find interesting
https://www.visitarran.com/blog/things-to-do-on-arran-scotland-in-miniature
The Undiscovered Scotland website is also a useful source of information. Look at the map here and click on the links for Arran which take you to text pages with lots of information and pictures.
Arran is also a lot quicker and easier to get to than either Mull or Skye - it is much under-rated!
Mardee's trip report here might help. Both islands were visited on the trip.
Arran is less known internationally, but is better known domestically. In large part because it hovers around the far extreme of the Glasgow commuter belt.
Thanks, MC-Glasgow!
Hi, Joanieb, that's a tough one to answer. I loved both Arran and Mull, and it's really hard to choose between the two. Arran has the advantage of being a bit smaller so you can easily see more of the island without driving too terribly far. As wasleys said, it's known as "Scotland in Miniature" so there are beaches, mountains, lakes, ruins, a castle and much much more. I loved driving up the coast to Lochranza, seeing the ruins up there, and the small coast villages along the way. And then visiting the southern coast with an ancient cairn and lovely beaches. Arran also has two distilleries that you can tour and Brodick Castle is lovely.
As far as Mull, I loved staying in Tobermory, which is a charming harbor town. It was so lovely to walk out of my B&B in the morning and see the harbor right there in from of me. I could walk up to get some chocolate, a pastry, breakfast—there were a number of shops and cafes that sit right along there. And you have the advantage of being able to take a day trip to Iona, which I did and loved. You can also take a boat tour to Staffa and/or Lunga, or drive to Calgary Beach. And of course there's Duart Castle, which is worth a visit.
Really, you couldn't go wrong with either of them. As wasleys said, Arran is a bit easier to get to. Just drive to Ardrossan and get the ferry to Arran, which lets you off in the main town of Brodick. To get to Mull, you take the ferry from Oban, but it will drop you off in Craignure and then you drive about 50+ minutes to get to Tobermory. But it's not that much more difficult, and I just love the ferries!
Hi Mardee
No problem at all! It was a well written, highly entertaining trip report that deserves to be shared. It is always nice to read something where a visitor has written something about your home and it is well written.
Though I do like the genre of 'did not do the research' where someone has written something and all they've done is replace 'North Carolina' with 'Scotland' and vice versa.
I much prefer Mull to Skye as an island even before Skye really got found, but for Arran I have the local's curse. It will always be there, so I push going there off for another year when thinking of a trip!
From this morning's Glasgow Herald:
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/24870864.auchrannie-resort-arran-hopes-around-ferry-arrival/
Mike (Auchterless)
Reference the above article there must be a fair few Journalists in Scotland whose jobs are now at risk now the Glen Sannox is in service, and they have so many less articles to write about perceived or actual ferry issues.
If the resort above is short of winter footfall then perhaps they need to go back to business school. Any revenue is better than none.
In the last couple of weeks I have had several very enticing offers from hotels on the Island with extremely good rates for the winter season, to drive trade in what is a quiet season, totally irrespective of how good the ferry operation is. I am looking at the website for the resort and their winter prices are astonishingly high and far out of kilter with some of the offers I have been getting- in hotels which are frankly of a similar calibre.
If I had not been laid up (now into the third week) the offers I have been getting would have been almost impossible to resist.
But half the problem is the totally wrong perception that you need to have a car to visit and make the best of the island- then finding that car bookings on the ferry are hard to obtain.
Whatever the comments on the article above car bookings should be much easier to obtain this year as there are expected to be two big ships this year (whichever vessel the second ship turns out to be). And foot passenger trips should finally be very easy to obtain.
The Auchrannie resort is just over one mile from the ferry terminal at the back of Brodick- so either a 20 minute walk, a brief taxi ride (or 8 minute walk from the closest bus stop to the resort), or the resort's complimentary shuttle.
MC-Glasgow, that's interesting that you have not been there. It seems like Arran would make a nice 3-day weekend vacation for Glaswegians.
Mardee.
Yup, it is a common weekend destination for a lot of people here. Easy to get to comparatively by car/train/bus and ferry. You see a fair few cars with stickers on the back in the shape of the island, similar to Nurburgring ones.
I've been once, but only a day trip as I had a free ticket on my rail season ticket due to a ScotRail offer at the time, so only got really as far as a walk around Brodick.
Keep meaning to go back. But its always there.....