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Honeymoon suggestion Scotland islands?

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  • 23-01-2017 3:47pm
    #1
    Unz88
    Registered Users Posts: 56 ✭✭


    Hi,
    I'm looking into a mini-moon in Scotland (probably 5 days) and was quite interested in visiting the islands. Have done the big cities before. Jura and Islay sound appealing because we're whisky fans, however not sure if there is much else to do here? The other suggestion I came across was Skye, sounds vast and would need to spend the full 5 days here to see the island, but there is only one distillery (Talisker) and not sure if much activity at night outside the main town (Portree). Ideally would like to stay near a village that has a pub or two for the evenings


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    #2
    bob mcbob
    Registered Users Posts: 971 ✭✭✭bob mcbob


    I was in Islay in October for 4 days and enjoyed it. Stayed in Port Ellen which was quite big (for the islands anyway) - the other big town is Bowmore. I was surprised at how many French, Germans, Dutch, Americans, etc were there in Oct - as it is not the easiest to get to.
    Port Ellen had a hotel which had really good food and a bar - there is another pub in town which was ok. From Port Ellen, there is a path to the 3 closest distilleries (Laphroig, Lagavullin & Ardbeg) this will take a day. I would also recommend the Bruichladdich distillery. Went to Caol Ila as well but this just had a shop. There is also a big wildfowl reserve at the top of the Island.

    If you are driving would suggest stopping off somewhere on the way, the ferry terminal (Kennacraig) is not that easy to get to. We stayed in Tarbert a nice fishing village on Loch Fyne. Other options would be Inverary or Cambletown (another whisky distillery)


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    #3
    Unz88
    Registered Users Posts: 56 ✭✭Unz88


    Cheers thanks very much for that reply. Is there much to do on the island other than distilleries?!


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    #4
    bob mcbob
    Registered Users Posts: 971 ✭✭✭bob mcbob


    There is a bit of touristy stuff as well - a traditional tartan weaving company, arts and crafts places, a microbrewery and a walled garden place that I saw.

    I prefer getting out into the countryside and seeing the wildlife when out on the western isles but the weather was bad when we were there - it was only good the last day and catching the ferry limited us a bit but went up to Loch Gruinart.

    If I was going back again, I would spend more time on Jura. I would like to hike one of the Paps (hills) and I would definitely take a boat out to Corryvreckan - for the sealife as well as the whirlpool.

    Have a look the visitscotland website for Islay and Jura.


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    #5
    NoCrackHaving
    Registered Users Posts: 535 ✭✭✭NoCrackHaving


    There aren't as many distilleries on the islands as you'd think, there's actually a lot more on the mainland, particularly around Speyside.

    I highly recommend Skye though, honestly out of this world sort of scenery. Portree is also a great little town with some great bars and is a decent base for seeing he rest of the island. It's also the only one you can access via road and not take the ferry. Also there may be only one distillery but there's 3-4 breweries!


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