Inner Hebrides
The Inner Hebrides are part of Scotland, a series of islands to the west of the Scottish Highlands.
Islands
Northern
The northern Inner Hebrides are made up of:
- Skye and its surrounding smaller islands, including Raasay
- The four Small Isles of Canna, Eigg, Muck and Rum
Southern
The southern Inner Hebrides are made up of:
- Mull and its surrounding smaller islands including Iona
- Islay
- Lismore
- Jura
- Tiree
- Coll
- Colonsay
- Gigha
- Slate Islands
- Treshnish Islands
Towns and villages
Other destinations
Understand
Talk
Get in
.jpg)
Road
The northern Inner Hebrides of Skye and the Small Isles are reached by two roads that branch off the A82 Inverness to Fort William road. The A87 is the further north, and travels to Kyle of Lochalsh and the now toll-free bridge to Skye.
Further south, the A830 "Road to the Isles" travels from Fort William to Mallaig where Calmac ferries sail to Armadale on Skye and the four Small Isles
Further south again, the A85 connects the A82 with Oban, the terminal for Calmac ferries to Mull.
The southernmost entry point to the Inner Hebrides is the A83, which serves Kennacraig, the Calmac ferry terminal for Islay. The Isle of Jura can be reached by local ferry from Port Askaig on Islay.
Rail
Kyle of Lochalsh, Mallaig and Oban are accessible by scheduled ScotRail passenger trains. Approximately three trains a day connect Mallaig to Fort William (for sleeper trains to London six nights a week) with at least one continuing on to Glasgow Queen Street. A similar number of trains connect Kyle of Lochalsh with Inverness for connections to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and London. Several daily trains operate between Oban and Glasgow, normally coupling to and from Fort William and Mallaig trains at Crianlarich.
Bus
Scottish Citylink connect Glasgow, Edinburgh and Inverness with Fort William, Oban, Kennacraig, Kyle of Lochalsh and various points on Skye. Additional local buses serve the larger islands; for more information contact Traveline Scotland.
Yacht
The Inner Hebrides are a popular destination for sailers, with many sheltered ports and inlets offering beautiful and tranquil achorage.
Get around
With the possible exception of Skye (which is easily reached by the Skye bridge), the Inner Hebrides are undoubtedly most easily explored on foot and by public transport, since ferry charges for cars are high and few islands are large enough to justify bringing a vehicle.
In addition to the buses and trains detailed in the 'Get In' section above, a number of local buses serve the larger islands. Very few buses run on Sundays, and most operate a schedule around school times and days. It is highly advisable to check travel times in advance. Traveline Scotland can provide point to point multi-modal transport advice, although some may find bus timetables from island websites more useful.
See
Itineraries
Do
Eat
Drink
Stay safe
People are very friendly in this part of Britain, and crime is to all intents and purposes non-existent in many rural parts. Many of the Hebridean islands are remote and sparsely populated, however, and the weather can change very rapidly; it is therefore important to be well prepared before venturing onto the hills or moors.
Go next
There are several other groups of Scottish Islands, which have some similarities and some differences from the Inner Hebrides.
- Outer Hebrides, the main islands are: Barra (which has a weekly ferry from Tiree, South Uist, Benbecula, North Uist, Harris, Lewis.
- Orkney Islands an archipelago of some 70 islands off the North of Scotland.
- Shetland Islands, some 100 islands (15 inhabited) to the North of the Orkney Islands.
- The islands in the Clyde, principally Isle of Arran and Isle of Bute