Holiday Cottages In Argyll and Bute

Argyll and Bute has over 500 self-catering cottages on selfcatering.co.uk, scattered along a deeply cut west-coast shoreline of sea lochs, sounds and islands. Bases run from the ferry town of Oban to the Cowal villages, the Isle of Bute and the Slate Isles. More than 370 of those cottages take dogs and over 80 have a hot tub.

Best areas and towns in Argyll and Bute

Argyll and Bute is a long, fragmented coastline rather than a single place, so the cottages spread across several distinct areas. The busiest base is Oban, the resort and ferry port that calls itself the gateway to the isles, with boats out to Mull, Coll, Tiree and beyond. Around it, Taynuilt sits inland at the entrance to the Pass of Brander, while Connel and Port Appin look out over the water to the north.

Much of the rest clusters on the Cowal peninsula and the Isle of Bute, an easy run from Glasgow by ferry.

• Dunoon: the main town on Cowal, a Victorian resort on the Firth of Clyde reached by ferry from Gourock
• The Holy Loch villages of Benmore, Blairmore and Hunters Quay, strung along the shore just north of Dunoon
• Tighnabruaich and Kames: sailing villages on the Kyles of Bute, the narrow strait that wraps around the island
• Clachan of Glendaruel: a quiet glen settlement inland from the Kyles
• Rothesay: the handsome seaside capital of the Isle of Bute, with its moated medieval castle and Victorian seafront

To the north and west the settlements thin out. Arrochar stands at the head of Loch Long on the edge of the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, Kilmartin overlooks a glen famous for its prehistoric carvings and cairns, and Cullipool is a former slate village on the little island of Luing. Coirantee rounds out the more remote rural choices.

The Argyll coast, sea lochs and islands

This is a coast of inlets rather than long sandy bays. Sea lochs reach far inland, from Loch Long and the Holy Loch in the south to Loch Etive and Loch Linnhe in the north, and the Kyles of Bute thread between the mainland and the island in one of the prettiest passages on the west coast. Oban faces the Firth of Lorn, with the long low Isle of Lismore and the hills of Morvern across the water, and is the main jumping-off point for the Hebrides. The southern part of the council area takes in the Isle of Bute, reached in minutes from Wemyss Bay, while the Slate Islands of Seil, Easdale and Luing sit just off the coast near Oban, their old quarries now flooded by the sea. Much of the shoreline is quiet and rocky, good for kayaking, wildlife-watching and slow days by the water rather than bucket-and-spade beaches.

Things to do in Argyll and Bute

Castles are the great draw. Inveraray Castle, the fairy-tale seat of the Dukes of Argyll, stands on Loch Fyne beside the planned town of Inveraray, where the old county jail is now a museum. Near Dalmally, the ruined Kilchurn Castle sits on a spit in Loch Awe, and the extraordinary St Conan's Kirk overlooks the same loch. Above Oban, the Colosseum-like folly of McCaig's Tower crowns the town. On the islands, Mount Stuart on Bute is a jaw-dropping Victorian Gothic mansion set in vast gardens, and Duart Castle guards the Sound of Mull from its clifftop on the Isle of Mull. Gardeners head for Benmore Botanic Garden in Cowal, with its avenue of giant redwoods, while The Hill House at Helensburgh is Charles Rennie Mackintosh's domestic masterpiece. Add boat trips to the isles, the prehistoric carvings of Kilmartin Glen and the seafood of Loch Fyne, and there is plenty to fill a week.

When to visit Argyll and Bute

Late spring and early summer are the sweet spot, with long daylight, the rhododendrons in full colour at Benmore and the worst of the midges still to come. July and August are warmest and busiest, and the best time for island ferries and boat trips, though the midges are out in force on still evenings, so a breeze by the coast is welcome. Autumn turns the glens gold and quietens the ferries, and is good value for a cottage week. Winter is dark and often wet, but the islands and sea lochs have a stark beauty, and this is prime time for stargazing away from city lights. Ferry timetables thin out off-season, so check sailings before you book an island base.

Dog-friendly and hot-tub cottages in Argyll and Bute

More than 300 of the cottages in Argyll and Bute take dogs, and more than 80 have a hot tub. Browse the dog-friendly cottages or those with a hot tub to narrow your search.

Getting to Argyll and Bute

The area sits on Scotland's west coast, north and west of Glasgow. By road the main route is the A82 along Loch Lomond, branching onto the A83 for Inveraray and Kintyre or the A85 for Oban, around three hours from Glasgow to Oban. Trains run from Glasgow Queen Street to Oban, Helensburgh and Arrochar and Tarbet on the scenic West Highland Line. Cowal and Bute are quickest reached by Caledonian MacBrayne ferry, from Gourock to Dunoon and from Wemyss Bay to Rothesay, both an easy train ride from Glasgow. The nearest major airport is Glasgow.

Useful links

• Argyll and Bute Council
• Explore Argyll
• Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park
• Wild About Argyll

Argyll and Bute is a council area on the west coast of Scotland, one of the largest in the country by area yet among the most thinly populated. It stretches from the edge of Loch Lomond in the east to the open Atlantic in the west, taking in the long peninsula of Kintyre, the Cowal peninsula, the district of Lorn around Oban, and a scatter of inhabited islands that includes Bute, Mull, Islay, Jura, Tiree and Coll.

This is a land shaped by water. The sea reaches far inland through a maze of sea lochs, sounds and kyles, and the coastline is reckoned to be longer than that of France. Inland the ground rises quickly into rugged hills, threaded by glens and dotted with freshwater lochs such as Loch Awe and Loch Fyne, the latter a sea loch famous for its oysters and kippers. The eastern fringe of the area lies within the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park.

The administrative centre is Lochgilphead, though Oban and Helensburgh are larger and better known to visitors. Argyll was a heartland of the ancient kingdom of Dalriada, the cradle of Gaelic Scotland, and its name means the coast of the Gaels. Prehistoric cairns and carved stones crowd Kilmartin Glen, medieval castles guard the sea routes, and the Clyde estuary towns grew as Victorian holiday resorts within easy reach of Glasgow. Today the economy leans on tourism, fishing, forestry and whisky, with renowned distilleries on Islay and beyond.