Welcome to HOLIDAY West Highland - Discover the West Highlands

Oban - Gateway to the highlands

Author Holiday West Highland

ALTHOUGH famous as a holiday resort, with visitors returning year aft er year, the West Highlands’ main town of Oban is also an important ferry port and the major retail and administration point for surrounding communities. It offers everything for the holidaymaker, with its shops, its ‘bonnie bay’, plenty of entertainment and activities and stunning views. One of the first things to greet you will be the plaintive cries of the seagulls which float in the air above the bay. Queen Victoria loved Oban (Gaelic for ‘little bay’), deeming it ‘one of the finest towns we have seen’ and since the early 19th century the town has proved a popular holiday destination for Glasgow’s Merchant City folk keen to take in the fresh sea air and recharge their batteries.

They came by steamship in those days and a fine sight these vessels must have been steaming into the bay. Today it is easy to reach Oban by car, coach and train, making it a popular visitor destination, but it also serves an important role as the main town for its extensive hinterland, with its court, police station, auction mart and regional council headquarters. It also has a fishing fleet and important port facilities for such things as lighthouses, coastguard operations and fisheries.

If you don’t wish to do anything energetic - though there is still plenty for those who do - Oban can off er you a really relaxing time. Our hotels, guest houses, camping and caravan sites and hostel in and round the town offer all kinds of accommodation and facilities from the luxurious to the basic – whatever you are looking for Oban can supply it. Because we have few of the chain stores found in most big towns and cities, the shops in Oban make for a more exciting purchasing experience because they are different and unusual. There is so much choice as well - an old-fashioned sweetie shop, delicatessen, a distillery, bookshops, a wealth of clothes shops and shoe shops, beauty parlours, souvenir and craft shops, galleries, outdoor activity retail outlets, and plenty of others which stock Highland memorabilia for you to take home. All are within a short walking distance of each other.

Self-catering holidaymakers will love Oban as they can buy fresh local produce in our butcher and baker shops. We also have a choice of supermarkets, hardware stores, chemists and so on, so you’ll never be short if you need to stock up.

One of the most enjoyable things about Oban is the chance to sit and savour your surroundings. An ideal location is the bay area where you can sit and watch the Caledonian MacBrayne ferries with their striking red, black and white livery swishing in and out of the heading for the islands of Mull, Coll, Tiree, Lismore and Islay and further west to the romantic Outer Hebridean islands of Barra and South Uist, or heading into port. Not for nothing is Oban known as the ‘Gateway to the Isles’. You’ll also see small sailing
boats and bigger charter vessels moored against the harbour walls while seafarers stock up at the town’s shops. Don’t be surprised if you see a tall ship gliding gracefully into Oban Bay or even a Nato or British warship moored there. Oban serves all kinds of ships and serves them well. Bigger cruise liners call in as well to give their passengers a chance to experience the delights of
the town.

A choice of eating establishments in Oban makes choosing a meal very easy. There is everything from fast food outlets, bars and
cafes to top-notch award-winning restaurants and hotels serving fresh locally-sourced produce including seafood for which the West Highlands are famous. Our selection of eateries includes Indian and Chinese, and many off er spectacular views across Oban
Bay along with their breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks and afternoon teas. Sometimes it’s hard to keep children amused when
it’s raining and if the skies should happen to open during your stay there are plenty of places to keep them entertained.

Night-time strolls in Oban can be full of romance and memory. Once you’’ve had dinner and you want to walk it off you could stroll up to McCaig’s Tower overlooking the town and bay and offering magnificent views out to sea and glorious sunsets. The tower is a folly and was originally destined to be a museum to house statues of the family of wealthy banker John Stewart McCaig. However, his sister contested his will and the tower was never finished.

Another good walk is up the town’s Pulpit Hill which again offers outstanding sea views. Also, a brisk stroll along Esplanade to Oban’’s lovely war memorial is another popular evening excursion, offering views over to the island of Kerrera which shelters the town from the Atlantic weather. Oban is in a bowl so if you are walking uphill you are heading away from the town centre and if you are walking downhill you will eventually come to the water’s edge. Oban and its surrounding area offer plenty of entertainment throughout the year including several Highland Games where you can see competitions for Highland dancing and music played on
the bagpipes, fiddle, Celtic harp and other instruments, as well as athletics and the ancient Celtic game of shinty - similar to
Irish hurling. Each August the town stages The Argyllshire Gathering which offers the best in these events. The Highlands
and Islands Music and Dance Festival also takes place here in May at various venues including the Corran Halls on the edge of
town. Corran Halls is the main concert venue for the town with plenty of shows, exhibitions, concerts and other events occurring throughout the year. In addition, the town’s pubs and bars have live music at night especially in summer, so holidaymakers can enjoy a true flavour of Highland song, music and food. The Oban Times, the town’s weekly newspaper, has a ‘what’s on’ list of events each week.

For children and adults Oban offers a cinema showing all the latest films, a leisure centre with a splash pool and a full-size swimming pool with flume, a climbing wall, a gym. Add to this an outdoor play park, soft play area, tennis courts and
a five-a-side astro-turf park as well as badminton courts and squash courts and you’’ve have more than enough to work off your surplus energy. And aft er all that exercise you can enjoy a relaxing sauna as well. The town’s War and Peace Museum is also
a popular attraction.

It has a huge display of nostalgic heirlooms and a dedicated and highly knowledgeable army of volunteers. Outdoor activities are there for the taking - climbing, walking, cycling, boating, diving, canoeing, horse riding, fishing, sailing, skiing and much more.
Then there’s the wildlife and plenty of it - deer, sea eagles, otters, seals, dolphins, whales and more.

Oban has one of the oldest distilleries in Scotland and you can have a guided tour with a wee dram at the end which will really put a spring in your step. Near to Oban are lots of attractions where visitors can enjoy a day out or just a morning or aft ernoon. Children will love the national seal rescue sanctuary and the rare animal breeds park.

In addition, there are historic castles with dark dungeons, a power station inside a mountain and lots of intriguing mysteries and legends whose trails you can follow. A pleasant excursion is a visit to Ardchattan Priory Gardens. The priory itself is Scotland’s second oldest inhabited house and the seat of the last Gaelic-speaking Scott ish parliament in 1308. Older still is Dunollie Castle, at the entrance to Oban Bay, with records showing it was captured as early as AD498 by the marauding Irish Loarn brothers from whom comes the name Lorn, still used today for the area surrounding Oban.

The castle guards the northern approach to Oban Bay. From their principle seats of Dunstaffnage and Dunollie castles, the Macdougalls, lords of Lorn and chiefs of the clan, exerted a major influence in Argyll as well as in the islands to the west. Their power ended early in the 14th century when the clan chose the losing side in the struggle for the Scottish throne. Today, the name is known mainly for the MacDougall Collection, a vast array of artefacts of social history amassed by Miss Hope Mac-Dougall, daughter, sister and aunt to three successive chiefs of the clan. The vast collection include peat spades, a herring girl’s kist, early vacuum cleaners, butter moulds and churns, the contents of a cobbler’s shop, hand-loom weaving and textiles, an early post office and an unrivalled range of tools for working the land.

This unique collection is accompanied by clear documentation as to the origin and owner of each item and the collector’s own research and brings the history of the area alive. There are plenty of hostelries round Oban set in tranquil glens or by the sides of lochs selling the area’s finest of ales and whiskies as well as high quality meals using local produce. All in all, Oban and its surrounding area have everything the visitor could want and more. There is so much to see and do that their attractions will call you back time after time as if by magic.