Island Hopping In Scotland: Tiree, Islay, Treshnish, and More!
Did you know that Scotland has around 790 islands? One has been compared to Hawaii, another is famous for its whisky, another is the perfect place to take photos of puffins.
And we talk about all of them on the LIVE Without Borders podcast.
One of my favorite previous guests is back to take us on a Scottish island hopping adventure.
I’m joined by Kathi Kamleitner, whom you heard on the Glasgow episode. She blogs all about Scotland at watchmesee.com and hosts the podcast Wild for Scotland.
On LIVE Without Borders, she shares the perfect island hopping itinerary. If you like whiskey, castle, art, animals, beaches, you’re going to love this. Something for everyone in this episode!
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Kathi tasting Ardbeg whiskey on the Isle of Islay. An Austrian native, Kathi has called Scotland home for eight years. She blogs all about Scotland at watchmesee.com and hosts the podcast Wild for Scotland. All photos here courtesy of Kathi.
How to spend a week island hopping in Scotland
Kathi outlined a great itinerary for us to follow below. Listen to my podcast episode with her for all the specific details. Or contact her for a custom itinerary for your vacation.
“The first thing you want to do is look at the Calmac website. Calmac is one of the big ferry operators and the operator of most of the ferries on the West Coast of Scotland. They have so-called hopscotch tickets, which include combination tickets for a few fairies on one ticket.
“By looking at the options that they have, you start seeing which islands are well connected with each other and how you can plan a trip hopping from one island to the next, without necessarily going back and forth to the same harbor.
“Starting by going to the Isle of Islay, from there visiting Jura, and then hopping over to the Isle of Colonsay. You can then continue to Oban, which is on the mainland and one of the big ferry ports that connects a lot of islands.
“And from there, you can hop over to the Isle of Mull to do the day trip to Staffa and the Treshnish Isles, or you can continue, go out to the outer Hebrides, as well as Tiree and Coll.
“So there's lots and lots of options where you can actually get a lot of islands in, in a relatively short time.”
Islay Dunyvaig Castle.
Islay Laphroaig malting floor. They put you to work at this whiskey distillery!
Puffins on the Treshnish Isles.