In this guest post Rachel Cotterill gives us the lowdown on planning an island hopping trip around the The Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland,

“When you think of an island-hopping adventure, I’d wager that for most people, what springs to mind is more likely to be the Carribean or Greece than Scotland. But whether you’re more interested in hiking up mountains or relaxing on white sand beaches, avid bird-watching or just spending some time in a very different culture, there’s something for everyone in the Hebrides.

Uist, The Hebrides

I’ve just got back from a two week Hebridean holiday, and thought that Europe A La Carte’s readers may be interested in the logistics of planning a trip to some of Europe’s wildest islands, where all the shops close on Sundays (Lewis & Harris) or Catholic shrines are common along the roadside (the Uists & Benbecula).

There are a few small airports on the islands, so you can choose to fly from Glasgow or Inverness, but for flexibility (or if you want to take a car) you’ll struggle to beat the ferry services, which are operated by Caledonian Macbrayne (CalMac for short) and run several times a day on most routes.

CalMac have a monopoly on the ferries, but amazingly this doesn’t translate to poor value. Indeed, we planned our trip based on last year’s charges, expecting to pay a little more in reality – and found that most fares this year had actually gone down due to subsidies designed to promote tourism! So there’s probably no better time to visit than this summer.

Booking ferry tickets is easy – you can walk into any of the ferry terminals, or book in advance by phone or online. “Island Hopscotch” tickets cover popular route combinations and can mean some hefty savings – for example, we used two Hopscotch tickets (route 6, for Mull, and route 11, for Skye, the Uists, Harris & Lewis), a pedestrian return to Iona, and one Saver return with the car (to get down to Barra), which took us everywhere we wanted to go and still cost significantly less than the price of a Rover ticket (which allows unlimited journies within a seven- or fourteen-day period, and may be worth the extra if you don’t like planning ahead).

You don’t need to commit to specific times when booking tickets, but for many routes, a reservation is strongly recommended if you’re travelling with a vehicle. We were slightly before the main summer rush, and found that we could always get the reservation we wanted by calling a day in advance.

CalMac ferry

The islands aren’t really equipped to deal with tourism yet; tourist sites don’t feel crowded (with the exception, in our experience, of the Abbey on Iona) but many guesthouses were full. We took a tent (Scottish laws allow for wild camping in most areas), but if you’re hoping to find bed-and-breakfast accommodation, it would be worth calling ahead to reserve a room. Alternatively, it’s worth being aware that a small (up to 5m) motorcaravan costs the same price as a car on the ferries, and there are quite a few campsites dotted around.

So if you’re interested in going somewhere a little bit different this year, I hope you can see that it’s easier than you might have thought to reach the Outer Hebrides or other Scottish islands. (Note that the information I’ve given doesn’t cover the Orkneys and Shetlands, where I haven’t yet been, and where CalMac don’t run the ferries – so if you know something about getting there, I’d be interested to hear it!)”