Oban The Gateway To The Isles
Tour Argyll and Spend Time By The Sea
If you’re planning to do a semi thorough tour of the Highlands, a visit to the county of Argyle should be on your list for several reasons.
An Itinerary
We chose to rent a car and drive from Edinburgh to Oban and make a few roadsides stops along the way, but we didn’t anticipate the slowness of the roads in comparison with the more direct interstate system that we have in the United States. Knowing what I know now, here is what I would suggest as a better alternative:
Pick up your rental car in Edinburgh first thing in the morning
Stop at Helix Park and check out the Kelpies
Stop in Stirling and tour Stirling Castle (which closes in the late afternoon)
Drive through The Trossachs National Park and catch a glimpse of Loch Lomond
Then call it quits for the day and hunker down in a nice little B&B for the night
Continue the journey the next morning and make your first stop at Inveraray Castle and take a tour of the home still occupied by the Duke and Duchess of Argyll
Complete the remaining distance to Oban during the daylight and in time for dinner (things close early there).
Plan to use Oban as a base for island hopping, and be sure to book your island ferry tours WELL in advance of your arrival. The only island we were able to book standby tickets for was the Isle of Mull, but we waited until the day before we wanted to go, to attempt booking the tickets. I recommend that you look into visiting:
Mull
Iona
Staffa
Where To Stay
There is no shortage of B&B’s or other small hotels here, but you’ll not find much in the way of larger chains. However, the Oban Bay Hotel is part of a small, local chain of hotels, and is ideally located on the water’s edge. Dripping with Victorian charm, the hotel common areas had been recently renovated to a very comfortable and charming standard, while other areas of the hotel were still closed (as of the time that we stayed in May of 2019) for renovation. That said, while we were very excited that they offered a small number of family-style rooms that were a lifesaver on our budget, the room was very basic, the carpet was threadbare, and the water in the shower was either ice cold or melt your face off hot. I would suspect that room renovation was probably on the “to-do” list for them and if so, would stay here again.
What To Do in Oban
As mentioned previously, there’s not a whole lot to do here, and most of the shops were very touristy. However the town is not without charm, and we never did take advantage of two of its main attractions. The most famous being McCaig’s Tower, an unfinished project resembling a Roman Colosseum. The second attraction, which we didn’t even realize was there until we were about to leave, was Dunollie Castle, which is a castle ruin overlooking the water and is open to the public.
We did, however, pay a visit to the Oban Distillery, which is both interesting and relatively unique among the plethora of distilleries in Scotland.
The Show Must Go On
Our time in Oban marked the half-way point of our time in Scotland, so there’s lots more to come as we continue our journey north, up the west coast of the Scottish Highlands.
