Argyll & Bute Accommodation

Lochgilphead's Tourist Information Office

The town centre at Lochgilphead has a range of hotels, shops and cafes

Lochgilphead Argyll and Bute Tourist Information Kilmartin Glen

Lochgilphead is the administrative centre of Argyll and Bute. It is situated at the head of Loch Gilp which cuts inland from the huge Loch Fyne. Its origins are as a planned 18th century town and forms something of a centre albeit small in this part of Argyll.

There is plenty to explore around the town such as the historic sites in Kilmartin Glen - the most important in mainland Scotland, Moine Mhor National Nature Reserve and the Argyll countryside.

Lochgilphead Tourist Information

Lochgilphead is set around the high street which leads up from the loch side where there is seating to take in the views and a large area of greenspace. The seasonal Tourist Office is on Lochnell Street on the main road in from the north that carries on down to the Kintyre Peninsula. Tourist Information Centre, Lochnell Street, Lochgilphead, PA31 8JL. Tel: 01546 602344.

There is a good range of accommodation in the town including hotels, bed and breakfast, self catering and caravan parks. Smaller settlements around the town like Kilmartin, Kilmichael and Ardrishaig also offer a range of accommodation.

Lochgilphead has a range of facilities that you may need to call upon during your stay such as bank, supermarket, a range of independent shops cafes and pubs.

Crinan Canal

To the west of the town is the nine mile long Crinan Canal that links Loch Fyne with Loch Crinan on the west coast. It was opened in 1801 and cut out the long journey down through the Kintyre Peninsula. It has a total of fifteen locks with a flight of them at Cairnbaan. Thomas Telford finished it off after John Rennie's original engineering started to show up some faults.

A regular traffic of pleasure craft use the canal today and the towpath provides a pleasant, easy picturesque walk. You can also do the waymarked Crinan Forest Walk from Crinan Harbour that takes you through Forestry Commission plantations. Check the "Walks in Argyll & Bute" link right.

Gemini Cruises offer boat trips from Crinan harbour or you can pick up trips from various places along the canal. They also offer cruises around the Isles of Jura, Colonsay and Islay and excursions on Loch Craignish. Check their website for more information and rates.

Gemini Cruises. Mobile: 07776 082256 or 07736 520099. Email: info@gemini-crinan.co.uk

Kilmartin Glen

North of Lochgilphead from the A816 is Kilmartin Glen, the most important prehistoric site on the Scottish mainland with a huge amount of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments. There are 350 ancient monuments within a six mile radius of the village of Kilmartin, Argyll; 150 of them are prehistoric!

Kilmartin House Museum in Kilmartin has a range of entertaining interpretive displays and audio-visuals to help you get to grips with this incredible area. It explores different theories on the monuments and lives of the people that made them. Check their website for a mass of information, link right. The Museum also has the Glebe Cairn Cafe on site, open to non museum visitors, which also opens for evening meals during the summer season. There is also a Museum Shop where you can buy books, music, arts and crafts as well as discovery packs and fun projects for the kids. Money from here helps support the museum. The Museum is open from 1 March to 31 October, 10 am-5.30pm. It is also usually open from Nov-Dec on reduced hours. Kilmartin House Museum, Kilmartin, Argyll PA31 8RQ. Tel: 01546 510 278. Fax: 01546 510 330. Email: (General enquires): museum@kilmartin.org.

Some of the ancient sites you'll find are the Linear Cemetery south of Kilmartin village which is where a number of cairns aligned for more than two miles were built 5,000 years ago. These are believed to have been successive burials of a ruling family or chieftans.

The two Temple Wood stone circles are thought to originate from Neolithic to the Bronze Age times and are visible from Mid-Cairn. There is also a series of examples of the impressive cup and ring marked rock art which is a particular theme of the finds in the Klmartin Glen area.

Kilmartin and Carnasserie Castles and Kilmartin Church

Kilmartin is a pretty village worth a stop for a coffee break, or to visit some of the sights concentrated here .

Overlooking the Kilmartin Glen is the 16th century Kilmartin Castle that was the property of the Campbells and is where many of them were buried. The castle is thought to originate from 1580 and has been restored to a private home and is not open to the public.

Carnosserie Castle is open to the public and dates from the late 16th century. It is two miles north of Kilmartin and was built by John Carswell who first translated the first book ever to be printed in Gaelic. Historic Scotland now manage the castle and although there are no intact floors you can climb the towers. Admission is free.

Moine Mhor National Nature Reserve

Just north west of Lochgilphead is Moine Mhor National Nature Reserve. This is important for its bog habitats that started to form around the same time the Neolithic people's were building their burial cairns.

Much work in recent times has been aimed at restoring the bog as tree planting, peat cutting and drainage have all had a negative effect on the bog's specialist plant and animal life. Restored areas now have a range of plants including cross-leaved heath, the fragrant bog myrtle, and sphagnum mosses and bog asphodel in the wetter areas.

Moine Mhor - The Great Moss, is the only bog in Britain left where you can track the natural succession in habitats from saltmarsh on the coast through to freshwater peat bog and on to woodland and hillside vegetation.

Ten species of dragonfly also depend on the bog as does the nationally rare large heath butterfly and the Scotch argus butterfly whose caterpillars feed on bog plants. Hen harriers roost and hunt here and you'll also spot whinchats, stonchats, pipits and curlews. There are waymarked paths across the site and car parks two miles south of Kilmartin and 6 miles north of Lochgilphead.

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