Hello,
My adult daughter and I will be in Scotland in May. We plan to drive down to Campbeltown because it is the clan home of my late husband. Other than the lighthouse on the Mull of Kintyre, we aren't sure what other things there are to do. Does anyone have any experience/suggestions? (Unfortunately, Rick does not mention Campbeltown in his books. :( )
Hopefully, you'll have better weather than I experienced when I visited the Mull of Kintyre; it really was "mist rolling in from the sea" as Macca said.
These might give you ideas
https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/campbeltown/campbeltown/index.html
https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/campbeltown/kintyre/index.html
If you get the tides right there is Davaar Island to visit- https://sobt.co.uk/walk-island-davaar/
There is the Kintyre 66 to drive (the local answer to the NC500, with almost none of the traffic)- https://kintyre66.co.uk/
Also visit the garden Isle of Gigha by CalMac ferry- https://visitgigha.co.uk/
https://assets.calmac.co.uk/media/z4mneehx/stt-08-tayinloan-gigha-101225.pdf
There are several distilleries in town to visit, and also an independent movie theatre for an evening (a great survivor)
I very rarely say this, but you can visit Glasgow for the day by air with Loganair from Campbeltown Airport (a former US military base, with the longest runway in Scotland)- a wonderfully scenic flight- hence the suggestion.
It is also possible to visit the Giant's 'Causeway in Northern Ireland using the Kintyre Express ferry to Ballycastle- https://kintyreexpress.com/tickets/
If you want to go walking, then in conjunction with the K66 there is also the Kintyre Way- https://www.wildaboutargyll.co.uk/arts-activity-tour-listings/the-kintyre-way/
There are 3 ways to drive there- round the top (road all the way), across the Isle of Arran (land at Brodick, leave from Lochranza), or ferry to either Dunoon (Cowal) or Rothesay (Isle of Bute), drive to Portavadie (from Bute including another very short ferry at Colintraive) for the ferry to Tarbert (Loch Fyne).
Campbeltown is very nice! That drive down to the Mull of Kintyre is beautiful but very windy, and you may have to pull off the road if someone is coming the other way. In Campbeltown itself there's the Springbank distillery and a small memorial garden to Linda McCartney.
If you wanted to spend the night, we really enjoyed our stay here: https://www.craigard-house.co.uk/
