Argyll might just be one of our favourite areas to explore in Scotland, and it makes for a fantastic road trip. One part of Argyll has eluded us for some time though: the faraway peninsula of Kintyre. Well, that recently changed and we finally made it there to see what it’s got to offer.
I have a habit of coming up with blog post titles or even starting to write blog posts before we’ve visited, only to find out it doesn’t work out the way I hoped.
As we left our hotel to drive the Kintyre 66 plus some more, the heavens truly opened and scuppered our plans. Getting our kicks on Kintyre 66 turned into getting free on the Kintyre 33. Like most of Scotland’s famed “road trip routes” these days, the Kintyre 66 is born from the same marketing angle as the North Coast 500 (see also: the North East 250 and the South West 300).
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Just as we were undeterred by the rain, I’ve kept the title.
In all honesty, the Kintyre 66 doesn’t even cover some of the best stops on Kintyre, so it wouldn’t have made sense naming the post after the Kintyre 66 when one of our main stops was the Mull Of Kintyre which is completely off the route. It also officially doesn’t even include Tarbert, which is undoubtedly a highlight of this part of Scotland and the starting point of Kintyre.
From Tarbert to Campbeltown, there are two roads: the main A83 road to Campbeltown via the west coast, and a smaller coastal road snaking its way down the other side, and the loop of these two roads which starts just south of Tarbert is what makes the Kintyre 66. Because our way south was such a washout, and with quite a lot of driving overall on our trip, we decided to just take the main A83 road both ways so we could make stops on the way back, so we only did half the route. But we also had plenty of detours.
By the time we got to Campbeltown, we planned to stop in a café for a hot drink. Campbeltown isn’t huge, but it’s much more of a “proper” town than I expected, with a very chaotic Tesco and a lovely promenade. Unfortunately we didn’t have the chance to enjoy the prom as it was absolutely hammering down, and in fact we got so soaked just popping from the car park into Tesco for some drinks that we didn’t want to walk around looking for a dog-friendly café either.
It truly felt like the day was going to be a bust. But we trusted the weather forecast and decided we’d head to the Mull Of Kintyre in time for it to allegedly stop raining at lunchtime.
This was very much a gamble that paid off, for once! By the time we got there, the rain was easing off and there was only one other car there.
Mull Of Kintyre
Smiles in the sunshine and tears in the rain
Still take me back to where my memories remain
Flickering embers grow higher and higher
As they carry me back to the Mull of Kintyre
What I will start off with is that the road to the Mull Of Kintyre is a bit rough. It feels like you’re driving to the edge of the world! We did wonder why 7 miles was projected to take 23 minutes, and for some of the journey we were driving in first gear (which is virtually impossible in our car; it’s the sort of car where you pull away and need to change into 2nd within 0.6 seconds).
However, the sense of wilderness is unparalleled. We passed herds of deer, and each time we reached another crest to find there were still miles to go, it felt like we were the furthest from civilisation we’d been. It didn’t even feel that remote on Lewis & Harris! Also bear in mind that despite being relatively close to Glasgow as the crow flies, this is a full four hour drive from there. It’s quicker to drive to Inverness! It’s a bit nuts too when you consider driving the full length of mainland Scotland takes six hours.
So you can kind of forgive the road for not being great.
The other thing to note is that when you finally arrive at the end of the road, you’re still ages away from the lighthouse. Not only that, but it’s a steep downhill walk – which means the only way back to the car is a steep uphill walk! In all honesty, it wasn’t worth the effort for us, so we didn’t do the walk and opted for some photos from the top. Which is fine!
Anyway, my favourite part of this spot is that you can see Northern Ireland right there!
(From here it’s a 5 hour 10 minute drive to the ferry from Scotland to Belfast.)
Even despite the bad weather, we could still see it, so we got really lucky. It even cleared up right before our eyes.
Oh, and then we turned around and spotted some deer on the hillside eyeing us up.
Even though we didn’t do the walk, it is worth the drive, so I’m glad we went, although it’s definitely a one and done place for us.
Read more: Four Islands, One Epic Weekend On The Isle Of Mull
Keil Caves
Keil is about the most southerly point you can get to on the peninsula.
There are a couple of notable stops here. Firstly, the caves themselves are pretty cool for a quick stop. What was odd here was that we went into the caves in dry weather, and came out about two minutes later into torrential rain! It was like we had gone back in time to the morning!
We stupidly decided it wasn’t that bad, and instead of taking refuge in the cave for longer, we took the steps up to St Columba’s footprints and the holy well. We were so focused on battling through the rain that we completely forgot to find the footprints! But in all honesty, the origins of the footprints feel like somewhat of a myth. The legend is that one of the footprints is St Columba himself, but this seems unlikely. There was a fortress here around the same time so it’s more likely to have had some association with that. A second footprint was then carved in the 1800’s.
This is the first place in Scotland that St Columba landed in 563 following his exile from Ireland. He ended up on the exceptionally pretty island of Iona where he set up Scotland’s first abbey. It was here that Christianity in Scotland started, but the journey really began in Keil, an unassuming hamlet on the windswept southern coast of Kintyre.
This was also the site of yet another massacre of McDonald’s by the notorious Campbells. You might be familiar with the Glencoe Massacre which led to the deaths of the entire McDonald clan settled there at the hands of the Campbells who were enjoying their hospitality. It’s one of the darkest stories of betrayal in Scotland’s history, and casts a shadow on one of Scotland’s most beautiful places.
So it was sad to see that there’s a similar story here, where the McDonalds were brutally stabbed and thrown off cliffs to their deaths.
If you put the history to one side, there’s a lovely beach here, which unfortunately we didn’t get to enjoy because of the weather. We ended up eating sandwiches in the car, which is something I have now done far too often in Scotland!!
And besides, we were on our way to more beaches and caves…
A walk out to Davaar Island and the cave painting of Jesus
With the weather looking patchy again, I didn’t know if we’d have to give up on our final plan of the day.
We headed back up to Campbeltown, around twenty minutes away, where we planned to walk out to an island to find a painting of Jesus in a cave. Just a standard Saturday afternoon activity!
Thankfully the rain did stop, and we pulled into the layby to wait for the sea to part, revealing a shingle causeway all the way out to the island. It felt a little like a Moses effect, just adding to the religious theme.
As Davaar is a tidal island, you have to plan carefully around low tide – it’s generally possible to cross the causeway 3 hours either side of low tide, so it’s recommended to go as early as possible within this timeframe. We were lucky that low tide was just before 6pm, meaning the causeway would appear around 3pm, which was perfect timing.
We pulled in at about 2.40pm with nothing but sea between us and the island. At 2.52pm, exactly 3 hours before low tide, the causeway appeared as if by magic!
It took us 23 minutes to reach the island, and about the same again to reach the cave. It’s not an easy trek round to the cave. I was surprised that it’s a nice grass path for about half of it, but after that it’s all rocks. As an islander I was fine, but Ash struggled a bit with his giant feet and it was completely new terrain for Bonnie to navigate with her small paws. There were two people who had set off in front of us, a lad in his 20’s with his mum, and the mum and given up about half way across the rocks. I’m sure I’m making it sound worse than it is, but it’s definitely a place to watch your footing amongst the loose and slippery rocks.
On the way, you pass several other caves, which are really cool. It’s been a long time since I’ve explored any caves, and I loved these ones. Photos don’t do them justice!
AND we even got some blue skies!
And some amazing geology too – these cliffs look like someone has just thrown some sticks of rock into the ground. Like Zeus throwing some lightning rods or something.
Anyway, we finally reached the Jesus cave. It’s well marked on Google Maps so if you’re not sure if you’ve missed it, just check on there and it’ll keep you right.
The painting is way bigger than I thought it would be! I thought it would be this tiny painting tucked into a corner, but it’s a whole wall. Really cool!
It originates from 1887 when a fisherman discovered it in the cave and thought it was a miracle – until a local artist owned up to it. The painting is regularly restored (presumably not by that woman) and apparently it was vandalised and painted over with Che Guevara’s face a while back. Now it’s been restored as close to the original as possible.
By the time we got back to the causeway, the tide had stretched back even more, revealing a haven for oystercatchers. It was also SO windy – Bonnie was as windswept as me!
Anyway, this was an awesome discovery. I hadn’t even heard of this place until the week before we went and I just happened to read about it online. Needless to say, it went straight on the list, and it was the highlight of the day.
Read more about another tidal island: 7 Coastal Walks In Orkney You Need To Take
Back up the A83 of Kintyre
From here, we could have driven up the other side of the Kintyre 66, which affords lovely views across to Arran along a narrow coastal road. However despite the weather taking a better turn, visibility in that direction seemed to be shocking. I think the clouds must have got caught on the mountains of Arran.
So we missed a couple of spots, like Kildonan Dun and Saddell Bay, but it did mean we were able to make stops on the A83.
Our main stop was Westport Beach. In the wind, it was fairly baltic, but it also made for some brilliant waves and it’s really popular with surfers. As we’d just spent a couple of hours in the wind, we didn’t stop for long, but it’s somewhere I could easily while away half a day.
This whole coastline is wonderful. I can’t say I was expecting much, but the sections with huge rocky outcrops are beautiful.
And then there are the absolute dream cottages. We spotted them on the way down and made a mental note to stop on the way back once we’d decided to come back this way.
How gorgeous are they?!? They look like something out of middle England, not a windswept coast of a remote Scottish peninsula.
We also eyed up the island of Gigha, a community-owned island just a ten minute ferry ride from Tayinloan. This is definitely one to check out next time, and maybe we’ll also get to the other side of the Kintyre 66 to see what we missed out on.
A morning in Tarbert
The following morning, we headed into Tarbert, the other main town on Kintyre. This has much more of a village feel, but there are plenty of businesses along the pretty waterfront. It’s a gorgeous little town and really worth a wander.
Last time we were here, we ate in the Ca’Dora Café which serves excellent food – and we happened to sit next to a map of South Ronaldsay, the island I grew up on! How weird is that? In fact, we were tempted to stop here for dinner, but after a long day on the road, we settled for a cosy dinner in the bar of our hotel.
Ever since then, we’ve been keen to go back to Tarbert to see it in daylight. Technically you could fit this into the previous day’s itinerary, especially if it’s not raining…
The main thing we did was the short walk up to Tarbert Castle, which is free to visit. I hadn’t read anything about it, I just knew it was there, and I thought it would make for some nice photos above the town.
I was right, but it was much more than that – we really enjoyed our visit. There isn’t a lot left of the castle but it’s such a scenic location and great for a wee walk. We also bumped into some American visitors who we’d been chatting to in the hotel bar the night before.
I was also hoping for some reflection shots of the harbour, but a breeze put an end to that. I did get a couple of nice shots though, especially of this skiff boat.
Needless to say, this is a highly underrated area of Scotland. It’s a place to be enjoyed slowly – as you can see, it’s a lot to do in one day when we missed half of it! It’s also a brilliant base for getting to the whisky islands of Islay and Jura.
It also feels very remote, which means it’s unlikely we’ll get that far again any time soon. So you really want to make the most of it when it’s not an area you can just pop across to.
That said, we stayed in an amazing castle hotel which we love, so there’s always an excuse to head over that way. But the thing is, even once you’re there, it’s still an hour and a half to the bottom of the peninsula.
A beautiful stay in Stonefield Castle
It’s not often we treat ourselves to somewhere as nice as this, but Stonefield Castle is my favourite hotel to stay in Scotland as a nice treat! In fact, it’s probably my favourite place to stay in Scotland full stop.
It’s not as expensive as you’d think, either – they run winter deals which we’ve now done twice, with stays around £100 per night. Not bad for staying in a castle!
It’s also dog-friendly, which meant Bonnie had her first hotel stay in style. There were quite a few dogs staying, so she made lots of friends and we had to rein her in a bit! The staff and other guests loved her and she got a sausage for breakfast plus a big welcome biscuit in our room. It costs £25 per dog per stay, so staying for two nights made this a lot more reasonable.
In fact, it was Bonnie’s birthday the day we arrived! I mean you only turn one once, right? Oh, and it was Ash’s birthday too, which was the main reason for our visit.
The hotel is beautiful and is set in some lovely grounds, which was perfect for Bonnie’s morning walks before breakfast. They even own an “island” which you can walk around.
It’s also only a couple of miles from Tarbert, which as you can maybe tell above, is my favourite place in Kintyre.
Book a stay at Stonefield Castle here!
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You can also read about our first stay in Stonefield Castle! We stayed in a turret!
Overall, Argyll continues to push itself to be my favourite area of Scotland. We made several stops on the way home, including our usual pit stop in lovely Inveraray (which I must write about properly soon!) and the phenomenal Rest and Be Thankful viewpoint.
We also took a detour down from there to Lochgoilhead, an area we had never been to before. And I’ll tell you what… I think we’ve got a new contender for a favourite place! We’re already planning to spend a few days there, so more on that another time.
For now, I hope you’ve enjoyed following our journey through Argyll’s most remote corner, the Kintyre peninsula.
Read more about Scotland below:
⭐ Landscapes & History On Lewis & Harris: A Five Day Itinerary
⭐ Spending A Perfect Weekend On Skye
⭐ Glasgow: Scotland’s “Second City” That Shouldn’t Be Missed
⭐ Four Islands, One Epic Weekend On The Isle Of Mull
⭐ A Camping Guide To The North Coast 500 In Scotland
⭐ Exploring The Cute Coastal Towns Of Fife, Scotland
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The weather doesnt tempt me, but I’d stay in the castle hotel! Maggie
Haha I know, you can never predict the weather here! I’m just glad it cleared up for walking out to that island, and it was lovely the next day for wandering around Tarbert. I’ve got some stunning photos of the way home which I’ll have to share at some point.
Loved reading this! Even with the wild weather, it sounds like such a memorable trip. I had no idea Kintyre had so much to offer beyond the “Kintyre 66” — Davaar Island especially looks incredible. Totally get the feeling of eating sandwiches in the car while getting battered by rain too — classic Scotland! Thanks for sharing all the little hidden gems, definitely adding this to my list for the next trip.
Haha, I’ve been forced to sit in the car too many times now!! Thanks for reading. 🙂
Haha, it’s practically a rite of passage for exploring Scotland, right? 😄 Still, those soggy sandwich moments somehow make the sunny ones even better. Really appreciate you sharing these off-the-beaten-path spots—can’t wait to see them in person someday!
The Husband played me Paul McCartney’s Mull of Kintyre a few years ago and that’s when this area went on the list, though I didn’t know much about it. Thanks for the tour. I agree with Maggie about the weather, but it seems like that’s what you sign up for when you commit to a Scotland road trip!
Yes, that’s how most people have heard of it, I would reckon! I believe he still owns a farm there too, which was used as a recording studio? There’s also a memorial garden for Linda McCartney in Campbeltown, although we didn’t get to check it out because of the rain sadly. And yes, you can never plan around the weather, unfortunately!
I’m so glad I’m not the only person who sometimes starts writing blog posts before a trip (and, similarly, they often end up not working).
Looks like you made the best of this trip, despite the weather!
Hahaha, I get titles in my head and then try to plan around a theme, and then everything goes wrong! Thanks, it was a great trip in the end but I’m glad the rain stopped or it might not have been…!
Gigha rings a vague bell. I’ve a feeling it might’ve been featured on Island Crossings (a programme which has only fuelled my interest in visiting more of Scotland’s islands!). Kintyre has eluded us – I knew it was awkward to get to, but hadn’t realised it takes longer to get there than to reach Inverness!! The walk out to the caves on that island looks neat 😊