Footage: "Hollow By The Bay" by North Sea Air (CC BY)

Where whisky adventures
begin

Islay, planned by people who've driven every one of these roads.

Plan your trip

, staying for , and I'd like to see .

Curated routes

Classic journeys

6 nights · all 10 distilleries
The Islay Grand Tour
Bunnahabhain, Ardnahoe, Bowmore, Kilchoman, Bruichladdich, Lagavulin, Laphroaig, Ardbeg, Port Ellen

Where to stay

Areas
Area
Port Charlotte

Port Charlotte was built in 1828 as a planned village for a distillery that opened the following year and fell silent almost a century ago — its old warehouses are now a nature centre and a youth hostel instead.

Area
Port Ellen

Islay's biggest village, and the start of the road that has Laphroaig, Lagavulin and Ardbeg on it — not a postcard stop, a working one.

Area
Bowmore

Bowmore is Islay's capital in every sense but name — its shops, its school, its hospital, and its oldest distillery, all on the harbour where the whole village runs downhill to meet it.

Featured hotels
Hotel
Port Charlotte Hotel

Nine of the ten rooms look straight out over Loch Indaal, and the bar downstairs pours more Islay and Jura whisky than most places twice its size.

Hotel
Ardbeg House

Twelve rooms each built around one of Ardbeg's own stories, a complimentary distillery tour, a nightly Whisky Hour, and a restaurant built on what Islay itself produces.

Hotel
The Machrie

Golf on your doorstep by day, a firepit and the whole Atlantic sky by night — The Machrie doesn't try to be anywhere else.

Hotel
Bridgend Hotel

A 150-year-old coaching inn in Islay's most central village.

Complete your trip

Before you go

From the Journal

View all →
Planning Tips · 8 min read
Getting to Islay – What You Really Need to Know

Planning a trip to Islay? Here's what you really need to know about ferries, flights, weather, taxis and travelling to Scotland's famous whisky island — without the surprises.

Planning Tips · 4 min read
It May Be Summer, But Pack a Jumper for Islay

Heading to Islay this summer? Don't be fooled by the calendar. Here's why a jumper belongs in every suitcase, even in July — and how the island's Atlantic climate shapes every visit.

Planning Tips · 5 min read
Bru-ich-what? A Traveller's Ear for Islay's Distillery Names

Islay's distillery names look impossible until you know their Gaelic roots. A quick, honest guide to saying them right — and the stories behind each one.