North Ayrshire Tourist Information

Beautiful Largs

Delightful Largs on the North Ayrshire coast is by far the prettiest and tourist attraction rich seaside resort on the Ayrshire coast. Excellent as a Scotland family holiday base, with seaside, prom, arcades, funfairs, festivals and the popular Vikingar leisure complex , Largs has a history as a family seaside resort. Families have been scooting down the Clyde to Largs from Glasgow for decades. Largs is still a popular weekend retreat with Glaswegians. The Waverley Paddle Steamer from Glasgow stops here docking at Largs Pier.

Largs and neighbouring Millport on the off shore Islane of Cumbrae hold a choice of festivals annually including the Viking and Jazz Festivals in Largs and the Country and Western extravaganza at Millport (see websites right). You can hop on a boat from Largs for daytrips to historic Victorian seaside resort Millport on Cumbrae Island and a visit to Kelburn Castle and Country Centre guarantees a fun packed family day out.

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Kilmarnock, The Cumnock & Doon Valleys

Along the lines of Glasgow, many of Scotland's industrial centres are seeing a renaissance both in contemporary arts and through exhibitions which dig deep into a social and industrial past.

Kilmarnock (Killie) and East Ayrshire's industrial heritage in coal, textiles and cotton, lace (at Newmilns and Darvel) and shawl making and weaving are slowly coming to the fore in museums such as the superb Doon Valley Museum. The area was also famous for its hats, producing the distinctive Tam o'Shanter bonnets at Stewartons from the 16th century and note the weavers cottages in Fenwick - the Fenwick Weavers Association was one of the first co-operatives to be set up in 1761.

Cutting edge contemporary art is blended well with exhibitions on the industrial and social history of Kilmarnock and the Doon & Irvine Valleys at both the Dick and Baird Institutes. A couple of castles and country parks are well worth a visit in the area, including Dean Castle and Dundonald.

Checkout the superb choice of knuckle rides too at Loudoun Castle Family Theme Park, and if time pay a visit to Cumnock, where Keir Hardie (Scottish Trade Unionist, first Labour Party MP and founder of the Independent Labour Party) served as secretary to the Ayrshire Miners Association and worked as a journalist on the Cumnock News.

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Saltcoats & Irvine Scottish Maritime Museum

Historic Saltcoats and Irvine sits firmly within Scottish Maritime History. Shipbuilding was a major industry on this stretch of the North Ayrshire coast with Irvine Harbour being one of Glasgow's main trading points. For a comprehensive history of shipbuilding and maritime history in the area head to the Scottish Maritime Museum's Irvine site on Harbourside.

Pushing inland from Saltcoats near Kilwinning, a visit to the Museum of Ayrshire Country Life and Costume is highly recommended. The site was originally Dalgarven Mill, powered by the waters of the Garnock. Around the museum there's also some splendid Riverside Walks and trails on the menu.

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Ardrossan & Ardrossan Ferry to Arran

Ardrossan is the main port for ferries to Brodick on the Isle of Arran. Caledonian MacBrayne run a regular ferry service between Ardrossan and Brodick (around 9 ferries depart daily and the journey takes around 55 minutes).

Ardrossan's history sits firmly within the context of shipbuilding history along the North Ayrshire coast, stretching down to Irvine. Shipbuilding here in Ardrossan once ranked up there with Glasgow, and during wartime Ardrossan was an important port. Read more on Ardrossan's town trail via the 'Three Towners' weblink right.

As well as the end of shipbuilding along the North Ayrshire coast, Ardrossan has been hit hard by companies like Shell pulling out. Regular ferry services used to run to Ireland from here, but suffered badly during the troubles (there was a bomb scare on one of the passenger ships). Plans are currently afoot to develop the harbour area, which will hopefully include visitor centres exploring the rich shipbuilding history of the area, on a par with the Scottish Maritime Museum in Irvine.

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