Islay/Jura/Mull in May

[stevep]

Hi All,

I've got a week off in May so hoping to visit Islay... sadly it's the start of the month so I'll miss the festival.
Hoping to also visit Jura, and Mull... although worried about not enough time by the time you take in to account the 9.5 hour drive to get to Kennacraig (and then home again), and then the various ferry journeys to and from places.

Any tips appreciated... Although I don't want to go really cheap, I am on a bit of a budget where possible...

One question that's in my mind at the moment... My wife doesn't drink whisky, and is fairly uninterested other than supporting me. When visiting distilleries (I'll only manage a couple of tours I suspect!), what's the average price... and what about for those who are driving and don't want to taste anything? I don't want my wife to have to sit in the car park or whatever, but conversely don't really want to pay a lot for her to join me, if that doesn’t sound too rude (considering she's not that interested and doesn't want to drink anything).

I've yet to really start planning, but I was thinking a couple of days on Islay (PC Hotel maybe if I can afford - want to visit Bruichladdich), then over to Jura, maybe one night there... then back and over to Oban for a night then over to Mull for a night or even just a day trip.

Am I trying to cram too much in, or anyone with experience think that's all do-able?

I have ME/CFS so not looking to do too much in the way of waking around (sadly), so being car based is fine to see the views etc.

Cheers,

Steve

[Mr Tattie Heid]

Yes, you are trying to cram in too much! I'd suggest sticking to Islay and Jura. Mull is larger than you think. Points of interest few far between, unless you're just planning to spend a night in Tobermory, which, to be honest, I don't think is all that worthwhile. Iona is well worthwhile, but it's a long way to get there, and you'd definitely want to spend at least one night.

The PC Hotel is fairly expensive, but it's a great place to eat and drink. There are several nice B&B's around the area. Met the owner of one right in Port Charlotte last time I was there, looked pretty decent...I think they have a web presence now, if I can find it, I'll post it. Others are a couple of miles from the village. I stayed at the Anchorage in Bruichladdich last time, which was fine. There's also quite a lot of self-catering units in Port Charlotte.

Do not stay at the Loch Indaal Hotel.

If you tour Bruichladdich, bring your wife along--it's a fun tour. If you tour Bowmore, she can perhaps stroll around the village while you are there. I suppose she could do the same in Port Ellen if you do one of the Kildalton distilleries, but there's less of interest there. Go have lunch at Ardbeg, at least, and go see the Kildalton Cross. Kilchoman is another good place for lunch. At both those places, you can at least soak up some distillery atmosphere.

Visit Finlaggan--atmospheric and historic--and the village of Portnahaven. See if you can find the pub. Jura is fun to go to just for the trip. How far out the road past the distillery you want to go is up to you...you'll see deer and not much else.

Islay is a place to relax and enjoy the rhythm of island life. Try not to rush around too much. In three or four days, you'll just start to feel you're getting the hang of it.

[DavidUK]

I'd also agree thhat maybe you might be thinking of cramming too much in a short space of time. Maybe save Mull and Oban(both worth visiting by the way) for another time. Islay is great and Isle of Jura is a truly amazing place.

For excellent value for money B&B I'd recommend The Oystercatcher in Port Ellen. Distillery tours are usually just a few quid and as above I'd recommend Bruichladdich for your wife if that's the only one she'd do. She could have a nice lunch in the Ardbeg or Kilchoman cafes while you did the tours there. Bunnahabhain is worth a visit if only for the amazing view.I believe most, if not all of the distilleries offer more 'in-depth' tours which include a tutored tasting of several expressions. Obviously these are more expensive but I'd say it would be a good experience to do one if at all possible.

The Jura Hotel is a good place to stay albeit a little pricey. It also serves as the restaurant and pub. The bar meals are first class and you can always pop in for a coffee. They are also welcoming and helpful to non-residents.There are a couple of B&B's on Jura and I'd definately recommend Sealladh Na Mara in Knockrome.Much better value for money than the Jura Hotel. To be honest the Jura distillery tour is pretty poor but it is free!! Whilst on Jura be sure to take the drive as far north as you can go.

[Peat Sampras]

Much has been said. I have done Islay, Jura and some other Islands (Seil, Arran plus Campbeltown on top ) in a week so you should be able to cram Mull in as well, but as has been said, you will not have the time to enjoy the Island spirit as much as if you take some time. If you want to do it all, I'd suggest you start in Oban, go over to Mull first and then take the ferry down from Oban to Islay on a Wednesday (Oban - Islay ferry only runs on Wednesdays)... I have not been to Mull though but my brother has and was really impressed with Iona and especially Staffa.

Jura Hotel is less expensive if you take a cheap room with window on the distillery rather than to the sea. Food is alright and the bar is nice as well. I have not done the tour of Jura distillery. Time permitting, take a drive up the road, it's a great drive and you might see deer, seals and other beasts. Plus the scenery is nice. If you are going up to Inverlussa, you could have tea at the beach. Unfortunately, Jura House gardens appear to be closed until further notice.

On Islay, you can drive to most of the interesting places such as the beaches of Machir Bay or Loch Gruinard, the nice towns of Portnahaven, Port Charlotte, Bruichladdich, Port Ellen, Bowmore. Also all distilleries are accessible unless Caol Ila which was closed last summer but perhaps open again when you go. All are worth to visit and your wife could just wait outside when you take a tour as most settings are spectacular. Give her binoculars and she can watch seals down by Laphroaig with a complimentary tea or stroll to Dunyvaig castle while you are at Lagavulin. Most distilleries have picnic tables outside and if it is not pouring cats and dogs, it's pleasant to sit there and watch the sea. If you go to Kilchoman, she could even do a tour on a poney while you dram. Other stuff has been mentioned, make sure to check http://www.islayinfo.com/ (has also a subsite re Jura). On Islay there are loads of B&Bs in every town and also more remote, you will surely find something fitting your budget. We were well received and catered for in Port Ellen: http://islay.co.uk/askernish/ but there are tons of others as well.

I am sure you will have a great time and envy you

[MacDeffe]

Great advices so far

I combined Mull and Skye once with a calmac hopscotch ticket which was pretty handy so maybe save that for the next trip. Plenty of things to do on Islay and Jura, and if you get extra time I would include Campbelltown which is close to Kennacraig, and shouldn't take long to visit

Steffen

[stevep]

Hi All,

Thanks ever so much for such full and thought out responses. I know there's some similar threads in the forum, but I really appreciate your time and ideas, you've all pretty much hit all my thoughts in one go! - Steffen, I was thinking of seeing if I could fit in Campbeltown too, as it's only 40 mins away from the ferry, we'll see!

Also thanks to everyone for the various B&B recommendations, that's great.

What would you recommend for Jura... get up early and make a good day trip out of it, or be more relaxed and make an overnight stop? i.e. is there enough to keep us amused, or would a day really do it happily enough? (I suppose the benefit of a day trip is we can go on whatever day's got nice weather, tea on the beach sounds ideal!).

It's a pain that I've only got a week to cram it all in, I've been to Scotland twice before and been lucky enough to have two weeks which makes things much more enjoyable.

Another question... and I'm being lazy here because I'm sure the info's on Google... but is there many distilleries open on a Sunday on Islay in May? If I could get a few in on the Sunday to Tuesday, then I could maybe do Peat Sampras' idea of going from Islay to Oban on the Wednesday ferry and then on to Mull from there. Also, humm... the Monday will be a bank holiday, so maybe that'll cause things to be closed?

Cheers,

Steve

[Malt-Teaser]

Hi All,

.........

It's a pain that I've only got a week to cram it all in,

....

Cheers,

Steve

Steve, I disagree with you here as you have a week to enjoy Scotland. It seems to be your choice to try and do too much, "cramming it in" as you say.
Scotland is about slowing it down somewhat, especially compared to your stated location.
A week is just about right to see Islay and Jura.
Malty

[stevep]

Thanks Malty... You are of course correct.
I just get too excited to do as much as possible with what little time I have I guess!

Cheers,

Steve

[DavidUK]

Hi All,

Thanks ever so much for such full and thought out responses. I know there's some similar threads in the forum, but I really appreciate your time and ideas, you've all pretty much hit all my thoughts in one go! - Steffen, I was thinking of seeing if I could fit in Campbeltown too, as it's only 40 mins away from the ferry, we'll see!

Also thanks to everyone for the various B&B recommendations, that's great.

What would you recommend for Jura... get up early and make a good day trip out of it, or be more relaxed and make an overnight stop? i.e. is there enough to keep us amused, or would a day really do it happily enough? (I suppose the benefit of a day trip is we can go on whatever day's got nice weather, tea on the beach sounds ideal!).

Yes, a side trip to Cambeltown would be far more time efficient than trying to fit in Oban and Mull. In my opinion you should maybe do these on another holiday.If you do venture down to Campbeltown don't forget to pop into the very friendly Glen Scotia. They have no visitor centre as such,(see seperate thread in this section)

You could certainly 'do' Jura in a day providing you left early enough. For someone more physically able I'd recommend climbing a Pap or walking to Corryvreckan from the 'road end', which would probably be better suited to an overnight stay.

[Peat Sampras]

Campbeltown is well worth a visit. If you come into Kennacraig with the evening ferry you could drive down to Campbeltown and stay the night. I can recommend http://www.craigard-house.co.uk/ . The good people at Craigard house will be happy to organise a visit of Glen Scotia for you on the next day. Springbank distillery and the Cadenhead's shop are the other whisky attractions. If you're a nutter you can also check out sites of long gone distilleries, driving round town old warehouse spotting. I bought an old map in a bookstore, every second building used to be a distillery or warehouse back in the day...

You could also drive up from Campbeltown to Claonaig on the B842 (a GWR) (or go there directly upon arrival at Kennacraig) and take a ride over to Arran, check out the island and continue from Brodick with the ferry to Ardrossan.

But I am probably cramming too much in (I have this tendency plus I like driving, especially in Scotland)

Edit: If you are only driving around and visiting the distillery, a daytrip to Jura will be sufficient, as there is only one road, and one distillery

Edit: Just make sure that you plan the ferries properly, especially if you want to take several during your stay. Go to the Calmac site and do a "trial booking", i.e. enter all data except for the credit card data. This way you find out the easiest way which ferries are available on which dates!

[MacDeffe]

You need to figure out how many distilleries your wife will let you into. In case it's only a couple you don't really need that many days on Islay

Nothing must to do in Campbelltown but distilleries. If you wan't to do things other than distilleries there are lot of other places to take into consideration, all dependant on what you like to do

Steffen

[stevep]

Hello everyone!
Sorry, been ages since I update this thread.

So, we went... And I managed to cram in pretty much everything I wanted to! We left Somerset on Thursday evening, and were in Oban by Friday afternoon. Saturday we visited Mull, Staffa and Iona (sadly not Tobermory, will have to wait for another time). Sunday spent in Oban... and then off to Islay/Jura on Monday and left on Friday when we headed home via Liverpool.

Managed to fit in all Islay distilleries, plus Jura (disappointing, read the blog), Oban, Auchentoshan (no tour there tho)... but sadly (like I said just now) not Tobermory, or SpringBank... need to leave something to go back for!

We had mixed feelings about the holiday... we're very active people (even with my health issues), so glad we crammed it all in, it's not like I'll be able to get back any time soon. On the other hand, another day on Islay would have been nice to check out more of the beaches etc... saying that, we found most of the island closed at 4pm, so if the weather was bad then it's a little limited, and it wasn't the best weather for us most of the time... we missed the sun by a week, doh.

Anyone on Instagram? If so, all my whisky related holiday snaps are up on there... @steveprentice

Also, I've blogged most of the trip, which includes links to the Instagram pictures if you're not on that particular medium.

Link to the blog is... http://swb.steveprentice.net/ - Hopefully I'll do more and more with it, revewing things I've enjoyed etc... much like everyone else does thesedays I guess, so I'm not offended if you don't bother to look, but would be pleased if you do.

I hope anyone going for the festival soon has a great time... in a way I was sad to miss it, but on the other hand I had quite a few tours where I was the only person, so I could be as geeky and indulgent as I wanted without crowds of people in the way.

Cheers for now!

Steve

[Mr Tattie Heid]

Tobermory (the village) is picturesque, but that's about all there is to say for it. The best thing about the distillery tour is that you're having your sample a half hour after you start. The most interesting part of the distillery is the part that isn't part of the distillery any more, the former warehouses across the street that are now flats.

I've never been able to get to Staffa--I think you got the better part of the deal there.

[stevep]

Thanks mate, that makes me feel quite a bit better, doesn't sound like it would have been time well spent by the sounds of it! It defo looks like I had the better time in Staffa then, had an hour there (not long enough) and it's just totally amazing. Obviously helped that it was sunny and not too windy, but still amazing.

Oban distillery was slightly pants, more for standard tourists than geeks... Sounds a bit like Tobermory, very little actually still there, most stuff shipped in and out with just the stills doing their stuff.

Steve

[DavidUK]

Having been twice to Islay and Jura I read your account with interest. Brings back some lovely memories. Islay is great although I love Jura even more. Next time you're there you must really drive north as far as you can go. It's an amazing island.

I agree 100% about the poor Jura tour. I done it twice and both times were dreadful. The staff just aren't interested. This is a shame as Jura produces some excellent whisky.

[stevep]

Hi David,

Thanks so much for your reply... it's great to hear it's not just me that's had a poor time at the distillery on Jura. My blog was toned down somewhat from my first write up, we were really fuming at the time. I should probably say this as a PM, but what the hell... I eventually got my moan right to the head of global PR for Whyte and Mackay who talked to Willie the manager at the distillery and I got an apology, a little something, and the promise that training would be provided for the staff. Which although it didn't improve my poor trip, did go a long way to my hope that things would improve there for others.

However.... I suspect that there's a particular member of staff there who just isn't going to change, and things won't really get better until she's replaced. Hey ho. I heard stories back on Islay of whole minibuses of people going over and being so offended by her that they turned around and came back again without doing the tour etc... seems a real shame.

Rant over.

(Have you left a review on TripAdvisor? I was asked to, and did so, and was surprised that Rob (the PR guy) picked it up before I even knew it had been approved! - Might be worth it, the more people complain the more things might change).

As for the island itself... unfortunately it was windy and wet... I'm pretty sure we'd have had a different opinion if we'd been able to stroll around the beaches etc. We did get around half way up the island, but had to turn around when we saw the time and decided to get the next ferry back so I could get to Bruichladdich in good time. Bit of a shame... if the sun had been out I was hoping to maybe go and find the bay where you get tea and cake on the beach, that sounds amazing!

Cheers!

Steve

[Mr Tattie Heid]

That is a shame about the tour. Going to Jura is such fun in itself, but it really is out of the way. I often say that one of the magical things about Islay is that no one is ever just passing through--everyone visiting has made some effort specifically to be there. Jura is even more so, and W&M really ought to put some thought into making a visit a really rewarding experience. I was fortunate to visit when Mickey Heads was still manager--he was very entertaining, and I recall having some nice drams.