The Argyll Coastal Route: Cowal, Kintyre, Oban & the Isles, Stage by Stage

The Argyll Coastal Route is a way of stringing together the best of Scotland’s south-west coast: a ragged, ferry-linked loop of sea lochs, peninsulas and islands that starts barely 40 minutes from Glasgow and feels like another country. It is a route we keep adding to as we drive it — every stop below links to a page from our own travels, written up in the order you would meet them. Stages that we have not yet written are named as such rather than padded out.

Stage 1 — Cowal

A short ferry hop from Gourock puts you in Cowal, the gateway peninsula, and the first act of the trip.

• Dunoon & Cowal — the ferry gateway and a quiet, older, wilder Scotland, barely 40 minutes from Glasgow
• Puck’s Glen — a short, mossy, waterfall-filled gorge walk in Argyll Forest Park
• Tighnabruaich & the Kyles of Bute — the quiet western edge of Cowal, with the viewpoint over the narrow sea channel to Bute
• Loch Riddon — the quiet sea-loch off the Kyles of Bute

Stage 2 — Bute

The Isle of Bute — Rothesay and Mount Stuart — is on the route but not yet written up; we will add it here when we have our own pages.

Stage 3 — Loch Fyne & Inveraray

• Inveraray — the black-and-white Georgian town on Loch Fyne, with the fairytale castle of the Dukes of Argyll
• Loch Fyne — Scotland’s longest sea loch, some 40 miles of it — oysters, kippers and castles
• The Dukes of Argyll — MacCailein Mòr, the chiefs of Clan Campbell
• Clan Campbell — the Lords of Argyll

Stage 4 — Mid-Argyll: Crinan & Kilmartin

• The Crinan Canal — a nine-mile ribbon of water from Ardrishaig to the tiny basin at Crinan, cut to save the long haul round Kintyre
• Kilmartin Glen — hundreds of prehistoric monuments within a few miles, from Bronze Age burial cairns to standing stones
• Kilmartin Church — the glen’s old kirk and its carved stones

Stage 5 — Kintyre

The long finger of Kintyre is the heart of the route and where we have most to say: about 140 miles from Glasgow, and well worth the drive.

• Tarbert — the working fishing harbour at the neck of Kintyre, with a royal castle ruin on the hill
• Skipness — a medieval castle, an old chapel and a seafood cabin on the east shore, facing Arran
• The Kintyre Way — the 100-mile waymarked walk the whole length of the peninsula
• A pebble beach on the Kintyre Way — our favourite wild camp on the east coast
• Glenbarr Abbey — the Gothic house that was never an abbey, seat of Clan Macalister
• Campbeltown — the “Wee Toon” at the end of Kintyre, and once the whisky capital of the world
• Springbank — the distillery that does the whole process on one site
• Glen Scotia — a surviving jewel of Campbeltown’s whisky heyday
• Davaar Island — the tidal island and its secret cave painting, reached at low tide
• Machrihanish — a huge Atlantic beach on the far west coast, with wild camping
• Southend & Dunaverty — the wild end of Kintyre
• Keil & Southend — where tradition says St Columba first set foot in Scotland

Whisky first? Our Kintyre & Arran Whisky Trail lays out all five distilleries across Campbeltown and Arran as a route.

Stage 6 — Oban & the Isles

• Oban — the “Gateway to the Isles”, ferry port for Mull, Barra, Coll and Tiree, and the self-styled seafood capital of Scotland
• The Islay & Jura Whisky Trail — the whisky islands and the ferry that links them

Mull, Iona and Colonsay are on the wish-list but not yet written up.

Stage 7 — Loch Awe & home via Loch Lomond

• Kilchurn Castle — the great Campbell ruin at the head of Loch Awe, with Ben Cruachan behind
• Loch Awe & St Conan’s Kirk — Scotland’s longest freshwater loch and its strangest, hand-built church
• Loch Lomond — Britain’s biggest loch — scenery, walks and a free lochside overnight
• Balloch — the gateway to Loch Lomond from Glasgow — country park and paddle steamer
• Balmaha — Loch Lomond’s quiet east shore, forest walks and a van-friendly overnight

Getting in & around

• In: ferry across the Clyde to Dunoon, or drive in over Loch Lomond. Glasgow to Oban is about two and a half hours by road.
• Around: this is CalMac country — read our guide to the ferry situation before you commit, and book vehicle ferries ahead in summer.

Know before you go

• 🦟 Midges: it is the west coast — in summer they come with the territory. Repellent, head-nets, breezy pitches.
• 🛣️ Single-track roads: lots of them, especially on the peninsulas — passing-place etiquette matters.
• ⛸️ Wild camping & motorhomes: superb quiet shoreline spots — go responsibly.

More Argyll

• The whole region: Argyll & the Isles.
• The Lochs of Scotland and Castles of Scotland — the longer lists these stops come from.
• Scotch whisky — the full guide.