Loch Creran - 4 Things to Know Before Visiting

A privately owned flat tidal island at the entrance to Loch Creran on the west coast of Scotland. The island is run as a hotel with wooded grounds. It is one of the iconic location for a holiday making and also Eriska is now owned by Creation Gem, a family-owned business from Hong Kong.

Castle Stalker is a four storey medieval tower house standing on a small rocky tidal islet known as Rock of the Cormorants. The Castle is believed to have its origins in a small residential fort built in 1320 and used by the MacDougalls who were the Lords of Lorn. Successive generations of the Stewart family have restored and protected this truly unique Scottish castle.

Dunstaffnage Castle is one of the oldest stone castles in Scotland, stands on a huge cliff in northern Scotland overlooking the Firth of Lorn and the entrance to Loch Etive. In Scottish, a firth is a long estuary, similar to a fjord, and a loch is a mostly landlocked bay. It consists of a massive 13th-century curtain wall, with round towers, and an altered 16th-century gatehouse. Ranges of buildings within the walls contained a hall and kitchen.

Beinn Sgulaird is a Scottish mountain located between Glen Creran and Glen Etive in the southern highlands. It has a height of 937 m and is classed as a Munro. The mountain takes the form of a long ridge which runs from southwest to northeast, three kilometres of which lie above 800 m. Hillwalkers commonly traverse the ridge from north to south, as this gives the best views of the Hebrides to the west, in particular the Isle of Mull.

Loch Etive is a 30 km sea loch in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It reaches the sea at Connel, 5 km north of Oban. It measures 31.6 km long and from 1.2 km to 1.6 km wide. Its depth varies greatly, up to a maximum of 150 m. The narrow mouth of the loch results in its most unusual feature, the Falls of Lora. Part of the north bank has been designated a Special Area of Conservation in particular due to old sessile oak woods.

This is a rural beach that offers wonderful coastal views and gloriously soft sands. Walk along the coast of Ganavan Bay, admiring the views of the islands of Mull and Lismore. Swim in the waters off the coast carefully. The coastal and quiet road from Oban to Ganavan Sands is widely used by the local community for walks, running and cycling.