Portbahn Islay
Explore the Isle of Islay
We love Islay and we love sharing its best bits with people.
We came here in 2014 and Portbahn was our home for several years before we moved across to neighbouring Jura to set up Bothan Jura Retreat there. We are lucky enough to have great friends on both islands and know all the things we love to do and share with our guests.
Islay and Jura are very different and both have so much more to do and explore than most people realise and that most people miss. Even just a day trip to Jura from Islay will give you a completely different slice of Hebridean island life. It really is worth getting off the beaten track and away from the distillery main drag into wild Islay at its best.
Islay lies in the southern Hebrides, islands synonymous with remoteness and shrouded in myth and romance. It's 25 by 15 miles, roughly horseshoe-shaped, with around 3000 people living here. It is actually two distinct, geologically different landmasses separated by a fault line running through Loch Gruinart right down the middle of Loch Indaal.
It's not all whisky distilleries - though ten of them on one small island of 3,000 people is a pretty good ratio. Islay is equally well known for its wildlife, in particular its birdwatching. Every winter, over 30,000 barnacle geese migrate from the Arctic and settle across Loch Gruinart, home of the RSPB bird sanctuary. It's a huge draw and a wonderful spectacle - less enthusiastically greeted by the farmers whose barley they eat. Golden eagles and white-tailed sea eagles are regular sights in the skies year-round, and seals are a daily sighting from our properties on Loch Indaal and can nearly always be spotted on the rocks down at Portnahaven harbour.
The island's history runs astonishingly deep. As the former seat of the Lords of the Isles, the whole western seaboard of Scotland was governed from Finlaggan by Clan Donald - and the impressive ruins can still be reached across a causeway into the loch. It's a site of huge Scottish historic importance.
For amateur archaeologists, some of the earliest Scottish mesolithic remains have been found here. Professor Steven Mithen has made Islay a personal passion project, returning year after year to explore new digs. His book "To the Islands" explores the prehistoric hunter-gatherers of the Hebrides, and "Land of the Ilich" traces Islay's roots from the earliest settlers through the clearances to modern day. Both are excellent, written with heart and local love and knowledge, and are well worth reading before you come, or, even better, enjoyed while you're here, sitting with a local Islay dram by a roaring fire.
If you really want to go back to the beginning, there are stromatolite fossils in the rocks at Bunnahabhain - and the west coast Rhinns are comprised of ancient gneiss rock, approximately 1.8 billion years old. The Port Askaig Tillite is a world-famous Precambrian glacial deposit, and universities send geology field trips to the island regularly. The islaygeology.org group runs guided tours and publishes excellent guidebooks if you want to explore further.
For families, Islay is a very special place, a safe haven that is like winding the clock back fifty years - safe beaches with rock pools to roam about, wildlife on the doorstep, playgrounds at Port Charlotte, Bowmore and Port Ellen, and the swimming pool in Bowmore for those rainy days (yes, we do have the odd one!). We've raised our own children on both Islay and Jura and the family guide is written from our experience of what we've found works with little (and bigger) people in tow.
And yes, of course, there's whisky. Ten distilleries producing some of the most respected single malts in the world - Bruichladdich, Ardbeg, Laphroaig, Bowmore to name a few - all on one small remote island off Scotland's west coast. We've actually seen people cry when they arrive here, they are so moved. We've even seen people take soil home as a memento. Scotch single malt is almost a religion and, alongside Speyside, Islay is perhaps its main centre of pilgrimage.
Our three holiday houses sit just outside Bruichladdich village, a five-minute walk from its innovative distillery in one direction, with Portbahn Beach another five minutes in the other along the coastal path towards Port Charlotte.
We've tried to put these guides together from the things we like to do best, the places we go with our children and dogs, and the places our guests tell us they've enjoyed the most. We're always updating and adding to them. Places change, new things come, old things go - and we really want you to have as memorable a holiday as possible, so we'll help with anything we can.
10 distilleries · 130 miles of coastline · 30,000+ barnacle geese · 8,000 years of history
Explore
A local family's guide to things to do on Islay
Beaches
Beaches of Islay
Islay's coastline runs to over 130 miles, with beaches ranging from sheltered coves perfect for rock pooling to dramatic Atlantic shores backed by golden dunes. Most are uncrowded even at peak season. Here's our guide to the best.
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Dogs
Dog-Friendly Islay
Islay is one of Scotland's most dog-friendly destinations — no seasonal beach restrictions, dogs welcome in most pubs and cafés, and quiet roads made for off-lead walking. We've had dogs on the island since we moved here and know it well with them. Here's our guide.
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Family
Family Holidays on Islay
Islay is a make-your-own-fun destination for families — no theme parks, but endless space, safe beaches, wildlife, and a pace of life that children thrive in. We raised our own children here and know what works at every age.
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Food & Drink
Food & Drink on Islay
Islay's food scene is built around what the island produces: fresh seafood from local fishermen, lamb and venison from the hills, and whisky from ten distilleries. Dining out isn't cheap, but quality is high. Here's where we send our guests.
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Heritage
Islay Archaeology & History
Islay has been continuously inhabited for more than 8,000 years. The island's surviving heritage runs from Precambrian fossilised microbial structures at Bunnahabhain — among the oldest macroscopic fossils in Britain at 1.2 billion years — through Bronze Age cairns and Iron Age duns, the Kildalton Cross of the 8th century (widely considered the finest surviving Early Christian carved ringed cross in Scotland), the medieval seat of the Lordship of the Isles at Finlaggan, the contested castles and clan battles of the 16th and 17th centuries, and the World War One memorials on the Oa peninsula and at Kilchoman. For its size, the island carries an unusual density of historically significant sites. Most are free to visit and open year-round.
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Villages
Islay Villages
Islay has six villages of distinct character within 45 minutes' drive of each other, spread across the island's two coasts and the southern tip of the Rhinns peninsula. The Portbahn Islay properties sit in Bruichladdich on the eastern shore of the Rhinns, with Port Charlotte 5 minutes to the south, Bowmore — Islay's main town — 15 minutes east across Loch Indaal, and Portnahaven and Port Wemyss a 20-minute drive further south at the tip of the peninsula. Port Askaig on the north coast, 25 minutes from Bruichladdich, is the gateway to Jura. Port Ellen on the south coast, 45 minutes away, is where the CalMac ferry arrives from Kennacraig and where the south coast distillery cluster begins.
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Whisky
Islay's Whisky Distilleries
Islay has ten working whisky distilleries — more per square mile than anywhere on earth. You're a 5-minute walk from one of the world's most innovative, Bruichladdich, and the rest are within easy reach. Here's everything you need to plan your distillery days.
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Geology
The Geology of Islay
Islay sits on some of the most geologically varied ground in Britain. The island is actually two distinct landmasses, separated by a fault - the Loch Gruinart Fault, running through Loch Gruinart in the north and continuing down through Loch Indaal - with radically different rocks on either side. To the west, the Rhinns peninsula is underlain by ancient Rhinns Complex gneiss approximately 1.8 billion years old: some of the oldest exposed rock in the British Isles, formed long before complex life existed on Earth. To the east, younger Dalradian sedimentary and metamorphic rocks tell a later story - one that includes glacial deposits, ancient seas, and some of the earliest evidence of life in Britain. For visitors, the geology is accessible in a way that geology rarely is. The Port Askaig Tillite - a world-famous Precambrian glacial deposit recording 17 separate ice advances - is exposed in the road cutting right next to the Port Askaig ferry terminal. You pass it getting off the boat to Jura. Stromatolites, fossil microbial structures around 650 million years old, can be found on the beach below Bunnahabhain Distillery. Three of the most significant geological sites in Scotland are within an afternoon's reach of each other, and most are free to visit. Our three properties in Bruichladdich sit on the Rhinns peninsula - which means you're already standing on the 1.8 billion year old Rhinns Complex rock the moment you step outside. Bunnahabhain Distillery, where the stromatolites are found on the foreshore, is about 30 minutes' drive north. Port Askaig, where the Tillite is exposed at the roadside beside the ferry terminal, is around 25 minutes east via Bridgend. Both sites are easily combined in a half-day loop from the houses. The islaygeology.org group runs guided geology walks through the summer and publishes an authoritative guidebook. For anyone wanting to go deeper than roadside observation, their walks are the best way to do it.
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Jura
Visiting Jura from Islay
The Isle of Jura is Islay's closest neighbour - 5 minutes by ferry from Port Askaig across the Sound of Islay - and a genuinely different island in character. Where Islay has a gentle lowland feel, Jura is Highland: raw, wild, and still. Jura has approximately 250 people and more than 6,000 red deer, a single road running 28 miles from the ferry slip at Feolin to the houses at Barnhill near the north tip, one pub, one whisky distillery, and one gin distillery at the end of the road. We moved to Jura in 2017 - we now live here year-round - and run Bothan Jura Retreat, four units with hot tubs and saunas at the foot of the Paps of Jura. Our three Islay properties - Portbahn House, Shorefield Eco House, and Curlew Cottage - are all about 30 minutes' drive from Port Askaig, which makes them a natural base for a Jura day trip or a launching point for a multi-island stay.
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Walking
Walking on Islay
Islay is an island of genuine variety for walkers, from tarmac coastal paths suitable for all abilities to exposed clifftop circuits and moorland routes that require proper kit and preparation. The three Portbahn Islay properties sit on the Loch Indaal shoreline between Bruichladdich and Port Charlotte, and the coastal cycle path that connects those two villages runs directly past the front door. Beyond the coastal path, Islay's other best walks are all within 20–40 minutes' drive, and none require specialist experience or equipment.
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Wildlife
Wildlife & Nature on Islay
Islay supports some of Scotland's most spectacular wildlife. Over 30,000 barnacle geese arrive each winter from Greenland, golden eagles and sea eagles soar year-round, and seals are a daily sighting from our properties. This is a wildlife destination of the first order.
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