About Argyll Walking Holidays - Images
We offer 8 different walking / hiking holidays. Most of them go to West Scotland, from Galloway to the Small Isles and we have holidays to most of the islands of the Inner Hebrides.
Isles of Mull, iona, Ulva and Staffa walking holiday
Ben More, Isle of Mull
Mull is one of the largest of the Hebridean islands but is bitten into by so many sea lochs that the sight and sound of salt water is never far away. With high cliffs, sandy and rocky bays, caves and arches there is always something to draw you on around the next corner. We have a very good chance of seeing otters and eagles at some point during our week here as Mull is one of the best places in Scotland for both.
The week includes walks on the isles of Ulva, Staffa and Iona.
Islay, Jura & Colonsay hiking vacation
Loch Gruinard on the Isle of Islay
This is your chance to explore three very different islands, each with something special to offer. Islay, once home to the MacDonald Lord of the Isles, is famous for its malt whiskies and a rich birdlife. Its landscapes are rich and diverse. Jura, nearly as large, is much more rugged. Red deer outnumber people here many times over. Colonsay is perhaps the most peaceful and remote of all the Inner Hebrides, with a peaceful and welcoming atmosphere.
We’ll stay on Islay, the largest island of the three, where four of our walks are located, and make day excursions to Jura and to Colonsay.
Best of Argyll guided walking hiking holiday
Walking in Glencoe
You will get selection of excellent walks across mainland and island Argyll from a base in Oban. In mountainous north Argyll we visit Coir Gabhail (the 'corrie of booty', also known as the 'Lost Valley'), where the Glen Coe MacDonalds used to hide stolen cattle. Southwards we explore Loch Awe-side and Kilmartin Glen, heartland of the first Gaelic-speaking Scots, with a unique concentration of prehistoric remains, such as cairns, a stone circle and rock carvings. We will also hike on the islands of Lismore and Kerrera before ending our week with a dramatic walk around Jura's north shore.
In & around Loch Lomond National Park walking holiday
Hiking along the shores of Loch Fyne
We will stay at the west-edge of Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park. We will walk in and just outside the National Park in an area where the walker can still get well off the beaten track amongst the lovely scenery of the Cowal peninsula.
Each walk has its own highlights and special character. We walk through parkland, woods and rugged hills overlooking one of the many lochs in this area. On other days we traverse little-visited glens, past high waterfalls and lonely hill lochans and climb one of Cowal’s more spectacular mountains.
In & around Loch Lomond National Park walking holiday
Walk up Ben Lomond
Isle of Arran, Kintyre & Isle of Gigha walking hiking holiday in Scotland
A two-base holiday starting on the Isle of Arran and finishing on the Kintyre peninsula, with a day-walk on the Isle of Gigha.
The Isle of Arran is often described as 'Scotland in miniature'. The northern part of the island is very much mini-Highlands with spectacular granite peaks, corries and wooded glens. In contrast the south of the island has sweeping moorlands and wide sandy beaches. We will explore both during our hikes.
Kintyre - from the Gaelic ‘ceann tire, ‘land’s end’ - is steeped in ancient history as it is a fertile land much fought-over throughout the ages.
Gigha - Norse: gja-ey ’cleft island’ or ‘God's island’ or 'good island’ - has beautiful bays, lochs and gently sloping hillsides as well as a variety of wild and birdlife. The island is community-owned since 2002.
Galloway & Argyll Walking Tour
Galloway: Loch Trool
This tour takes you to two very distinct parts of Scotland with different landscapes and historical links. This is your chance to get to know two Scotlands in just one week.
We start the holiday in Galloway, in southern Scotland. Galloway has rounded and serene hills and moorland. The woods are tall, the rivers long and big. Galloway Forest Park is Britain's largest and covers an area of almost 800 square kilometres. Galloway also has a spectacular coast along the Solway Firth with cliffs and sandy beeches. We will explore both and we will also look into the history of the area. We will visit a Stone Age chambered cairn and Robert the Bruce began his campaign to free Scotland from English rule in Galloway. His first victory over the English was by the shores of Loch Trool in 1307.
The second half of the holiday will be spend in Argyll in the southwest Highlands. Argyll has a long, broken, islanded coast next to rugged and rocky hills. Its deep glens are threaded by short, clear, rapid rivers, and scattered with many lochs, both large and small.
The very name 'Argyll' (translated from the Gaelic as 'Heartland of the Gael' ) tells of a cultural tradition. Although Gaelic is spoken now only in pockets of Argyll, the names of places, hills and glens - even of people - continue to express a continuing sense of difference.
Galloway & Argyll walking Tour
Loch Lomond, walking a section of the West Highland Way
South-west Highlands & Islands walking tour of Scotland
This tour explores Mid-Argyll, the heartland of ancient Scotland, and the jewels of the Inner Hebrides, Islay and Colonsay. The holiday combines an attractive, well-thought-out walking programme with an equally attractive programme of visits to places of interest.
We will stay the first three nights in Inveraray, the ‘capital’ of the Campbell Clan. We will walk on the grounds of Inveraray castle and visit an old farming township that is a museum nowadays. The next day we go even further back in time by visiting the prehistoric and early historic monuments around Kilmartin. You will see chambered burial cairns, a stone circle, standing stones, cup and ring markings on the rocks and Dunadd, the capital hill fort of the Scots.
Islay is one of the largest of the Hebridean islands. High cliffs, sandy and rocky bays, caves and arches give great variety to these coasts. In addition to glorious land and seascapes, a wealth of wildlife, the island has fascinating and distinctive history. We will see some of the dramatic evidence of this history on our walks.
Islay is famous for its malt whiskies and we will visit one of the seven distilleries.
Cowal Way self-guided walking holiday in Scotland
Section 2 near Tighnabruaich
The Cowal Way is a long distance footpath running the length of the Cowal Peninsula. It starts in the southwest at Portavadie beside Loch Fyne and finishes in the northeast at at Inveruglas on the shores of Loch Lomond. It is 57 miles/92 km long, climbing 5670 ft/1730 m on the way.
Cowal is part of Argyll, in the south-west of the Scottish Highlands. Paradoxically, at one and the same time it's very accessible yet very little known. Despite its barriers of sea and hill, this is especially surprising because there is so much to recommend it's beauty, great peace and wildness, together with a long and fascinating history.
The way follows existing rights of way and public roads, most of which are very quiet, or cross Forestry Commission land, which includes a good deal of open hill.
We offer the first six sections of the Cowal Way as a 8-day self-guided walking holiday (6 days walking). Fit walkers will certainly be able to cover it in 4 days.
Cowal Way, self-guided hiking vacation in Scotland
Section 6, between Loch Goil and the Arrochar Alps
