Discover The Outer Hebrides

Rick's guidebooks are heavily curated. While I agree that the Outer Hebrides are worth a visit, I believe he feels that other parts of Scotland are more relevant for his style and chooses to concentrate on them.

There are guidebooks about this area. Bradt Travel Guides has some very good ones that focus specifically in that area and I would highly recommend them. You can also find information on their website, as they have some very interesting articles about the remote locales. https://www.bradtguides.com/?s=hebrides

Hi, suewink40,

Bravo! I have always been disappointed by the dearth of material on the Outer Hebrides in guidebooks about Scotland. The one exception is the Rough Guide series, which includes the Outer Hebrides. In my mind, the "long island" part of Scotland (Butt of Lewis to Vatersay) is one of the most beautiful parts of Scotland. The beaches of South Harris are a match for beaches anywhere in the world, and they are unspoiled and generally devoid of visitors.

I'm right there with you, suewink. So come on Rick Steves, Lonely Planet, Fodor, Frommer, etc. Let's hear more about the Outer Hebrides, and don't forget St Kilda, which rarely gets more than a paragraph.

Mike (Auchterless)

Are you sure you want the special places become the next Cinque Terre, full of swarms of tourists?

I dont take every word as gospel, but I've been reading and watching for many years. IMO Ricks books are meant to be a guide for first-time-to-a-country American tourists with two weeks to work with. Supposedly, once you've been to a country and seen the big destinations, you will have the interest and experience to come back and find those other harder-to-visit places on your own. It takes a whole lot of resources to support and keep a guidebook current, and to expand it without a demand first is a business decision. They have to have someone visit and check out each mentioned business or attractions' status on a regular basis, for example. An encyclopedic listing of every place in the country worth seeing would be like a AAA tour guide.

The one exception is the Rough Guide series, which includes the Outer Hebrides.

Mike, have you ever checked out the Bradt guides? They really are wonderful and there is an entire guidebook devoted just to the Outer Hebrides (in paperback and e-book formats). https://www.bradtguides.com/product/outer-hebrides-2/

Well, the fact that the Outer Hebrides held a good chunk of the time spent on Rick's Monday Night Travels back in Feb. (Scotland's Islands), was what got me interested in the first place. That's why I was disappointed he doesn't currently add a page or two about it and hoped he would in future editions.

The Outer Hebrides are wonderful but do take a bit more planning than the average tourist itinerary. One of the advantages in not being flagged up in guide books like RS is that they will remain undiscovered by many.

The 1949 film 'Whisky Galore' was filmed on Barra. It is a wonderful tongue in the cheek take on island life. (Many of the Islanders featured as extras in the film.) If you've not seen it, it is well worth searching out a copy.BUT don't be tempted by the 2016 remake which is a travesty!

I will look for it this side of the pond. Thanks for the heads up.

Hopefully this is not geo-protected but this is the 1949 movie of Whisky Galore- https://archive.org/details/whisky-galore

Your link works here in NY, isn31c--thank you!

In June I took a small van group tour of the Outer Hebrides, including Eriskay (the site of the Constitution's shipwreck; there is now a pub named after it on the island) and Barra. The tour was wonderful, and I recommend it. I chose this tour because I could not work out the logistics of traveling solo via bus/ferry. I would revisit all these islands.

Very helpful people who run the Barra Beach Hotel guided me step by step using taxis and ferries to make those connections as well as all the way up to Lochmaddy where another ferry took me to Uig...another taxi and bus and finally a train and I was safely on land in Inverness. It's possible.

Two years ago (2022 June) we visited The Outer Hebrides, planned (as far as I remember) by https://www.visitouterhebrides.co.uk/information/product-catch-all/hebridean-hopscotch-holidays-p529041.

They booked accommodation and ferries from Oban and to Ullapool and advised on busses.

We started planning in 2019 for a 2021 trip, but had to postpone due to Covid-19. We had tried to go there without pre-booking on to previous visits to Scotland, but could not find accommodation on a short notice.

The Bradt guide is excellent and the resource we generally use for the Outer Hebrides (which I can see from my house, but which take considerable planning to explore). One issue that those on a tight schedule with transport connections back to their home base need to consider, is that the ferries are frequently subject to disruption, caused by both weather and mechnical/technical issues. We have often had to dash from port to port to catch alternative ferries, e.g. Lochmaddy to Uig cancelled so down to Lochboisdale and then across to Mallaig and drive round to get back to Skye; or Lochmaddy/Uig cancelled so off to Berneray to Harris to Stornaway to get to Ullapool and then drive back down to Skye on one memorable occasion. So you might think you have a perfectly planned itinerary, e.g. from Oban to Barra, then Eriskay, up the Uists and on to Harris and then from Stornaway across to Ullapool before driving to Inverness for your flight home, to discover that plan go up in smoke due to ferry problems. None of this should put you off exploring one of the most incredible landscapes, but allow some slack in your schedule and be prepared for some travel challenges.

Accommodation needs to be booked well in advance and be prepared for somewhat basic hotels and B&Bs. However, there are some amazing holiday cottages, most of which require a one week minimum stay. So it's a part of the world that operates to a slower pace and rewards those who take the time to take a breath.

My original title for this posting didn't get a single response in the two weeks it was out there. So, imagine that just changing the title has been bringing a deluge of amazing responses. Goes to show you.

Skyegirl, that sounds wonderful. One of these days!!!

There's another thread about whether an RS recommendation/inclusion in a guide book is the "kiss of death" for that location. The webmaster chimed in noting:

I've worked for Rick for 17 years, and I'm aware that we actively avoid recommending some places because of concerns that it wouldn't be able to handle the crowds (or that increased popularity would destroy the appeal making the recommendation pointless).
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/rick-steves-kiss-of-death

I suggest that the webmaster's comments apply to the Outer Hebrides and in particular Barra. As far as I know there are only 2 hotels on Barra and a handful of guest cottages. There is no way Barra could sustain the kind of tourism that Skye, for example, experiences.

O wow. I can understand the threat of the "Kiss of Death" for these remote places if they were widely publicized. That would be awful. Sobering thoughts.

I believe that the more difficult a place is to get to, the less likely it is to be overridden with tourists due to a mention in RS (or other) guidebooks. Mostly those are places that people seek out due to their own research, not necessarily because they saw it mentioned in a guidebook. At least I hope that's the case. If I ever get back to Europe the Outer Hebrides (along with the Shetlands and Orkneys) are definitely on my list - and have been since I first started planning a trip there in 2016, which never happened. It could still happen.

The tourism potential of the Outer Hebrides is naturally constrained by the limited flight and ferry capacity.

In 2025 (possibly) or 2026 it will be interesting to see what happens when ferry capacity from Uig (Skye) is doubled with the coming of the two new ferries, replacing one existing ferry. That will break the so called Uig triangle as Lochmaddy and Tarbet will each have their own dedicated ferry

We went to the outer Hebrides in June 2023. James Macletchie was our tour guide. ( he had him on our 2019 RS Scotland tour). Landing on Barra beach was amazing . Flying in a twin otter plane.

Shetland we went in 2010 and 2022.
Added:: edited ….And Orkney in 2022

If you get an opportunity to go I would go for it. Amazing place

But I a slightly prejudice since my ancestors came from both places.

Kim

I went to the Outer Hebrides in 2023. It takes independent planning but the draw is the beauty of the place and remoteness so being there is not difficult, just allow for driving time. It also requires a plan B and maybe a plan C. A huge storm came in and delayed my plans for 3 days. That meant changes to ferry times and locations, and accommodation changes both waiting to depart and on the islands. It was absolutely worth it. I was determined to get there and it was magical. I hope you get to go.

Be sure to download the CalMac app on your phone. They will send you notices of any changes but make new plans fast, people swarm to a new reservation if any changes are made.

I also went to Orkney in 2018. I'm going back again this year to more islands in Scotland!

On the subject of St Kilda here is a new video from Ruth Aisling about visiting the island group- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uar6xdpRxpc

There is obviously a postscript video to come next week as she gets stuck there when the weather closes in.

Note the requirement that you bring several days of food with you, for exactly that eventuality.

We spent 3 nights in Stornoway in 2022, seeing all the sights on Harris and Lewis. Unfortunately, Covid was a major influence on island life, so we missed some of the atmosphere.

Next trip includes Barra, Uist, and St. Kilda (or Mingulay) if the weather cooperates. Uist has a series of "virtual Neolithic sites" where you point your phone at a spot and an app fills in the historical site details with a visual overlay. Then there's the Loganair beach landing on Barra if you prefer.

A major obstacle for visiting the Outer Hebrides is the tradeoff between long lumpy ferry journeys from already remote spots or the high prices on Loganair. We're at the stage of life where time is king, so we just track Loganair prices and try to get the best deal. Plus my wife hates being seasick. On the Harris/Lewis trip, we also flew to Shetland and Orkney, so the airfare was about the same as our long-haul flight.