Starting in Stirling, a car-free long weekend in the west of Scotland that includes the only commercial flight in the world that lands on a beach, a ferry ride to Oban, the seafood capital of Scotland and a wee train home.
Day 1 – Stirling to Barra
🚌 6.57am Megabus service M8 Stirling to Glasgow Buchanan Bus Station – arrives approx 7.45am (approx £7pp advance booking essential)
🚌 8am Glasgow Buchanan Bus Station – service 500 to Glasgow airport usually leaves from stance 46, takes around 20 mins. £11pp – booking not usually required but option to pre-book.
✈️ 10.15 Loganair flight LM451 to Barra (check the timetable as flights are dependent on tides! )
The plane is a wee tiny twin otter propeller plane, there are no cabin crew and standing up is impossible. The pilot did the safety demonstration whilst stooped over at the front of the plane and then hopped into the front seat to start the engines. I loved the whole experience – landing on the beach and tumbling out on to the white sand.
Prices start from £90 for a basic ‘Fly’ fare one way which includes 15kg hold luggage and 6kg hand luggage plus a personal item. We paid £175pp and booked around a month before.
On arrival at Barra airport, the wee local minibus waits outside the terminal. We paid £2.20 pp for single tickets to Castlebay note – this bus is cash only. Journey took around 20 mins.
Barra Overnight – Craigard hotel – Castlebay
A great wee hotel, really good service and very friendly helpful staff. We arrived early and enjoyed a few beers in the beer garden overlooking the bay until our room was ready. Because we booked this relatively last minute we could only get one night as the hotel was otherwise fully booked. We paid £170 for a double room – room 4 which had a seaview, comfy bed and was quiet.
There are only 3 restaurants in Castlebay so make sure you book dinner in advance. Thankfully the helpful guy at Craigard Hotel managed to squeeze us in for dinner despite the restaurant being fully booked.
The public bar is a great spot in the evening for live folk music and chatting to the friendly locals.
Day 2 Barra to Oban
🚢 6.55am Cal-Mac ferry Castlebay to Oban arrives 11.40am.
We were asvised to check the ferry times because of breakdowns and tides and, according to the manager at the Craigard, they sometimes change at the last minute, marooning people on Barra for an extra day. There is only one sailing per day to Oban. The ferry is a 5 min walk downhill from the Craigard hotel. Foot passenger tickets were £19.05pp.
Although we sadly missed breakfast in the hotel, the legendary Cal-Mac all day breakfast made up for it.
Keep your eyes peeled on the boat and you might just spot some sealife… on our crossing we saw a dorsal fin which may have been a dolphin, shark or porpoise….??
Another reason to carry cash – on our crossing, Starlink had an outage meaning the card payment machines were off line and the restaurant was cash-only.
We spent 2 nights in Oban, great for seafood, water sports and boat trips and a good live music scene at the weekends.
Oh and if seafood isn’t your thing, Taste of China is a great wee restaurant, the waitress was a good laugh, we had a scrummy peking duck, lemon chicken and bamboo shoots and water chestnuts. They do dine-in until 10pm.
P.s. no hotel recommendation here as the hotel we stayed in in Oban left a LOT to be desired unless brick hard beds, foost and peeling wallpaper is your thing!
Day 4 Oban – Glasgow – Stirling
🚂 12.11 Scotrail service to Glasgow. I cannot stress this enough – pre-book your tickets online and make sure you book a seat reservation! Thank god we did – we showed up at Oban train station about 30 mins before the train was due to depart and there was a huge queue of people standing in the pishing rain waiting to be let on to the platform. We did the very British thing of joining a queue with no idea what it was for but it turned out that seat reservation passengers could board straight away.
The train was a tiny 2 carriages rammed with lots of people standing until the train arrived in Glasgow Queen Street station at 15.26. Oh and pack snacks and drinks because this train has no on board catering.
🚂 The final leg was an easy hop catching the 15.45 train back to Stirling arriving in at 16.26.
The Exploring Cat. Weird museums, unfrequented, underwhelming places, the road less travelled. 