Argyll & Bute Sightseeing & Activities Guide

recommended places to visit and things to do in Argyll & Bute


  • film/tv location
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  • historic house
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  • garden
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  • seasonal opening
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  • café
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  • virtual tours
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  • shop
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  • antiques
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  • architecture
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  • art
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  • film
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  • furniture
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  • history
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  • nature
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  • walking
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  • wildlife

visually stunning castle with fairy tale turrets with an impressive armoury hall and has been used in the TV series 'Downton Abbey'

Kilmartin Museum

Kilmartin Village

  • museum
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  • family-friendly
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  • open year round
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  • café
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  • shop
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  • archeology
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  • art
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  • geology
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  • history

a fascinating interpretative centre giving context for the ancient monuments in the surrounding area, with artefacts recovered from various sites

  • distillery
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  • open year round
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  • café
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  • guided tours
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  • shop

One of the few distilleries that distils, matures and bottles all its whisky site - one of Scotland's finest malts -

  • nature
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  • walking
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  • wildlife

in a spectacular setting, shielded to the north by mature woodlands and protected from the Atlantic winds by the elevated castle, this garden is full of magnificent species, including hybrid rhododendrons and rare and unusual shrubs and plants

  • distillery
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  • all-weather attraction
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  • open year round
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  • pre-booking advised
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  • shop

an infectiously fun place, producing a mind boggling range of whiskies with always something new on the go. Gin is also produced here

  • distillery
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  • all-weather attraction
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  • open year round
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  • pre-booking advised
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  • shop
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  • visitor centre

in a wonderful location with great views across to Jura with a more lightly peated malt than other distilleries

  • battlefield
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  • film/tv location
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  • natural landscape
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  • family-friendly
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  • seasonal opening
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  • National Trust
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  • café
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  • guided tours
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  • virtual tours
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  • shop
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  • visitor centre
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  • cycling
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  • film
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  • geology
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  • history
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  • TV
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  • walking
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  • wildlife

a place of history, wildlife, adventure and myth. Site of the famous Clan MacDonald Massacre in 1692 and used extensively in film and TV productions

  • something different!
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  • family-friendly
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  • free admission
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  • open year round
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  • limited opening
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  • visitor centre
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  • nature
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  • wildlife

with interactive displays and videos on whale and dolphin biology and ecology - a great place for kids to learn about sea mammals

  • museum
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  • something different!
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  • family-friendly
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  • open year round
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  • shop
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  • history
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  • social history

an entertaining interactive attraction, where visitors can sit in on a 19th Century trial, try out a cell and discover the harsh tortures that were meted out to prisoners

  • distillery
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  • all-weather attraction
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  • open year round
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  • pre-booking advised
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  • shop
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  • visitor centre
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  • food & drink
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  • whisky

Famous peaty whisky with specialised tours which include seeing the water source, a picnic and trying plenty of drams

Mount Stewart

Isle of Bute

  • historic house
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  • garden
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  • seasonal opening
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  • café
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  • shop
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  • visitor centre
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  • antiques
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  • architecture
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  • art
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  • furniture
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  • history
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  • nature
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  • walking
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  • wildlife

a magnificent 19th century stately home, first to have a telephone, underfloor heating and an indoor, heated pool

Mull Museum

Isle of Mull

  • museum
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  • family-friendly
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  • all-weather attraction
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  • seasonal opening
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  • antiques
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  • history
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  • local history

telling the history of the island with exhibits on crofting and on the 'Tobermory Galleon', a ship from the Spanish Armada that sunk in 1588

  • distillery
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  • open year round
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  • pre-booking advised
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  • virtual tours
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  • shop
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  • food & drink
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  • whisky

founded in 1794 and still producing, with a small, interesting exhibition in the foyer with regular and specialist guided tours

  • distillery
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  • all-weather attraction
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  • open year round
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  • café
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  • guided tours
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  • shop
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  • visitor centre

a brand new distillery with smart Visitor Centre with a range of different tasting tours

  • fortress
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  • ruin
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  • family-friendly
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  • seasonal opening
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  • Historic Scotland
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  • architecture
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  • history

stronghold of the MacDougalls, built before 1240 on a huge rock above the Firth of Lorn, then captured by Robert the Bruce in 1308. Children's quiz available

Iona Abbey

Isle of Iona

  • museum
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  • place of worship
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  • seasonal opening
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  • Historic Scotland
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  • architecture
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  • art
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  • history
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  • religion

heavily reconstructed, but with a spectacular Romanesque nave and beautiful cloister. A new museum displays fabulous carved crosses and gives much background information

  • landmark
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  • open year round
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  • history
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  • nature
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  • walking
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  • wildlife

the creation of philanthropic John Stuart McCaig in 1890 to provide work for unemployed stonemasons with splendid views from the top

  • family-friendly
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  • all-weather attraction
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  • seasonal opening
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  • café
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  • shop
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  • visitor centre
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  • nature
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  • photography
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  • walking
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  • surfing

the Living Building is designed to attract local wildlife where the visitor might see hedgehogs, pine martens or owls. There is excellent recorded footage if no beasties in site

  • garden
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  • family-friendly
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  • seasonal opening
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  • external view only
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  • National Trust
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  • nature
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  • walking
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  • wildlife

take a relaxing stroll among the spectacular rhododendrons, azaleas and magnolias, where vibrant colours and delicate fragrances tantalise the senses

  • museum
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  • family-friendly
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  • seasonal opening
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  • shop
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  • antiques
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  • furniture
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  • history
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  • local history

the collection covers all ages from the Mesolithic (c.8000BC) to the 1950s, with particularly good artefacts from the Victorian and Edwardian era

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