Oban in Argyll and Bute is a resort town with a population which swells to three times its size during the high season and offers great access to the Hebrides and Highlands
A Scottish coastal town doesn’t just have a pretty face, but is also a mecca of fish and chips.
Oban in Argyll and Bute is a resort town with a population which swells to three times its size during the high season, when people from far and wide stop by for a whole host of different holiday reasons.
I was in Oban as part of a trip to the Hebrides, first to visit the stunning island of Lismore – one of few places left in the UK that has ancient rainforest and one which is renowned for the varied richness of its flora – and secondly to the Isle of Coll, last year’s host of Detour Disco.
While on Coll a guide couple who run Tartan Tours took us around the island and, in between pointing out the quirks of the landscape, explained how the majority of their job involved showing American pensioners around Oban and the surrounding area.
The coastal town is a hub for those eager to discover their Scottish routes, such is its proximity to ancient forts Tefour Broch and Castle Coeffin. The countryside surrounding the town was once the lands of Clan MacDougall, who conquered much of the Hebrides.
Oban’s reputation is made clear in its nickname, ‘the gateway to the Highlands’, and by the number of Americans I saw walking the streets and inspecting tins of tartan biscuits in the numerous gift shops. Unlike other well-known and well-trodden parts of the tourist trail such as stops on the North Coast 500 and the likes of Pitlochry, the density of Highland Coo fridge magnets and kilt shops is at a tolerable level in Oban.
In other words, it has a buzz that comes with being a visited destination but also the feeling that it is well lived and worked in place during the off-season.
During my time in the town I ate in the Olive Garden restaurant, which is a pleasant Italian eatery sat on the docks, and at the Taj Mahal curry house that provided us with breathtakingly large portions after a long, much delayed train ride all the way from London.
If you are in Oban, then you’d be doing yourself a disservice by not visiting one of the chippies. The high quality of its deep-fried emporiums and the freshness of the seafood which can be found within them has earned Oban a spot on Tripadvisor’s list of the best eight fish and chip shops in the UK.
“In most British coastal settlements, you’re never more than a spud’s throw from a fish and chip shop, but Oban —which takes its name from the Gaelic word for “little bay”—is so blessed by the spoils of the surrounding waters that it earned the nickname ‘the seafood capital of Scotland’,” the travel review website writes.
“The area’s bracingly chilly inlets teem with langoustines, lobsters, oysters, scallops, and mussels, which can be enjoyed in restaurants like the Michelin-recommended Etive and the tartan-carpeted dining room at The Manor House Hotel Oban, which occupies the 1780 Georgian estate of the 5th Duke of Argyll. Also dating back to the 18th century: The Oban Distillery, one of the smallest in Scotland, celebrated for its Highland-style single-malt whiskey.”
While there is much to do in the town – including stopping for a pint on the dockside, 234-year-old Oban Inn – its strength as a destination is found in the easy access it offers both to the Highlands and to the Hebrides. Many passenger and car ferries leave from the docks each day, heading to many of the islands to the top of the chain.
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