Islands in Scotland

[Sport_Turismo_GTS]

A few years ago we spent 7-10 days travelling around the Outer Hebrides, utilising CalMan ferries and staying in Guest houses along the way.

We’d like to go back and are planning a trip for 2026 - potentially including some of the West Coast islands (e.g. Isla, Jura, Arran, Bute) and the Inner Hebrides (e.g. Colonsay, Gigha).
Not sure if anyone has done a similar trip and can advise on an itinerary or places to stay / visit?

So far, I’m thinking of something like this:

Day 1: fly into Glasgow to collect a hire car
Travel to Bute and stay overnight

Day 2:
Travel to Kintyre and stay in Campbeltown

Day 3:
Travel to Gigha and stay overnight

Day 4:
Travel to Arran and stay overnight

Day 5/6
Travel to Islay and stay overnight
Visit Jura
Play golf

Day 7:
Travel to Colonsay and stay overnight

Day 8:
Return to Glasgow to fly home

Any advice gratefully received!

[hidetheelephants]

Travelling to Kintyre, then Arran, then Islay seems a bit back and forth; maybe use Arran and Bute as bookends? I like ferries as much as the next man, but your itinerary does mean you'll be intimately familiar with Calmac catering, maybe drop one or two islands and spend a day extra on the others? Islay has more distilleries than you can shake stick at, some have very good visitor attractions/tours. Brodick castle on Arran is a good visit, has great formal gardens.

[Sport_Turismo_GTS]

hidetheelephants said:

Travelling to Kintyre, then Arran, then Islay seems a bit back and forth; maybe use Arran and Bute as bookends? I like ferries as much as the next man, but your itinerary does mean you'll be intimately familiar with Calmac catering, maybe drop one or two islands and spend a day extra on the others? Islay has more distilleries than you can shake stick at, some have very good visitor attractions/tours. Brodick castle on Arran is a good visit, has great formal gardens.

Thanks - I was just basing this on the ferry routes / timings. If guess we could do Arran, Kintyre, Isla/Jura, Colonsay.

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[w1bbles]

Playing golf on Jura is - I think - very expensive. Playing golf on Gigha is cheap and while a bit rough, very scenic.

[w1bbles]

Golf on Colonsay is also rough, cheap and scenic.

[w1bbles]

Sorry about the multiple replies. If it was me I’d skip
Bute and Arran and focus on Jura and Colonsay. I’d speak to Venture West RIBs and get them to take you to both Islands with a tour to Staffa and the Treshnish Isles. That is, if you want some exclusivity and life long memories. I sail a lot round there and prefer wildness over twee villages. See if you can get to Loch Tarbert Jura. So many magical places accessible by small boat that 99.9% of other UK residents will never even have heard of.

[thepawbroon]

That's a lot of travelling and ferry crossings and not much actually "seeing".

Background - I grew up on Mull and still have strong links there. In recent years the ferries have been a disaster, with lots of cancellations.

Building an itinerary where you are relying on a ferry almost every day, and associated accommodation bookings (most islands are very busy) might put a lot of pressure on you.

Perhaps consider fewer islands and longer on each, at least 2 nights stop on each.

[Sport_Turismo_GTS]

Thanks for all the comments so far - the last trip we did was in 2014 and the ferries were perfect but happy to take advice if things are different now.