Highlands and Islands Archives | Out About Scotland

Brodick – Isle of Arran: Complete Visitor Guide

Brodick is the main village on the Isle of Arran, located on the west coast of Scotland.

Brodick lies halfway along the eastern side of the island where it overlooks Brodick Bay and Goatfell mountain.

It is the arrival point for most visitors due to the ferry port but is popular in its own right thanks to its beaches, surrounding forests, castle and quality restaurants.

Arran Forest Walks: Complete Visitor Guide

The forests of Arran offer some of the best mountain biking routes of any of the west-coast islands and any cycle ride is almost guaranteed to include sightings of Arran’s famed red squirrels. The most popular wooded areas are; Brodick Castle, Dyemill, Glenrickard, King’s Cave, North Sannox and South End.

Lochranza – Isle of Arran: Complete Visitor Guide

The village of Lochranza on the Isle of Arran is located in an exceptionally picturesque area on the north of the island.

Although it is mostly visited for the small ferry terminal that connects the island to Claonaig on the mainland, Lochranza is also worth visiting for its tourist attractions.

The village lies at the foot of dramatic mountains that encircle it to the south while a small scenic bay opens up to the Firth of Clyde and the Campbeltown peninsula to the north.

Goatfell Mountain – Arran: Complete Visitor Guide

Goatfell is an 874-metre mountain on the Isle of Arran on Scotland’s west coast. The mountain (designated a Corbett) is one of four on the island and is located three miles west of Brodick Castle.

Although Goatfell is the highest point on the Isle of Arran the walk to the summit is quite easy with a robust staircase of boulders towards the top and a well-laid path through moorland and forest at the bottom.

Ben Ledi – Stirlingshire: Complete Visitor Guide

Ben Ledi is an 879-metre high mountain in the lower Scottish Highlands. It can be found 5 miles north-west of the popular country village of Callander in the Trossachs National Park.

The Trossachs are famous not just for their mountain ranges but also for their lochs which include the mighty Loch Lomond – one of the most scenic bodies of water in the United Kingdom.

Muir of Dinnet – Aberdeenshire: Complete Visitor Guide

The Muir of Dinnet is a national nature reserve located on the eastern border of the Cairngorms national park in the Scottish Highlands.

The reserve features a wealth of different habitats including heath, woodland and wetland, but it’s perhaps best known for ‘the vat’, a natural gorge formed by glaciers over 10,000 years ago.

Islay Whisky Distillery Tours – The Ultimate Guide

There are so many things I like about Scotland it’s an almost impossible task to say which is my favourite, but I think if I was pushed I’d put the dramatic mountains of the Cairngorms and the stunning forests of Perthshire at a joint number one, closely followed by the single malt whisky’s.

The Isle of Jura: Complete Visitor Guide

Just like the Isle of Eigg, the Isle of Jura is often considered to be one of the wildest and hardest-to-reach places on the west coast of Scotland – even though it’s only 60 miles from Glasgow as the crow flies.

Glen Etive – Inverness: Complete Visitor Guide

What if I told you there’s a 12-mile stretch of road where you can see those mountains, rivers and forests in a single relatively small area, where gob-smackingly beautiful vistas open up around every corner on a secluded, frequently tourist-free single-track road?

Finlaggan – Isle of Islay: Complete Visitor Guide

I was lucky enough to spend a full week on Islay recently and after exhausting all the distillery options in the first 48 hours, I started to explore some of the lesser-known attractions tucked away in the slightly more remote areas. One of which is Finlaggan, the former stronghold of the Lord of the Isles.

Faraid Head – Sutherland: Complete Visitor Guide

While Scotland’s west coast islands usually take first prize for the number of amazing beaches you’ll find (hello Isle of Tiree) you shouldn’t be too quick to discount Scotland’s mainland either, especially in the far north where it’s relatively tourist-free compared to the rest of the country.

Castle Sinclair Girnigoe – Caithness: Complete Visitor Guide

This castle (actually castles – more on that later) stands on one of the most dramatic viewpoints in Scotland (in my humble opinion) with a wild and windswept coastline that instantly brings to mind a scene from Game of Thrones rather than a tourist attraction thanks to its near-impenetrable cliff-face setting.