Scotland West Coast late October - where will be open?

[jenthehen]

We love the West Coast Highlands and have had fantastic holidays around Gairloch but want to explore somewhere new. We've also been up to Lochinver and further north but late October when we're able to go we found the majority of places were shut ie restaurants, cafes and places to visit. We'd love to find somewhere on the coast, beautiful beaches and wildlife but with the opportunity for the odd place to eat out or visit. Can anyone suggest anywhere? We usually look for a lovey self catering cottage (with wifi as we have teenagers).

[jenthehen]

Any suggestions...

[LtGreggs]

Try Oban / Glencoe / Fort William area - busier, so I guess tourist stuff will be open later in season.

Am surprised Gairloch closed up by October - but then again, I've only ever been in summer holidays so maybe that's why...

Campsite folk at Durness this summer told us they were busy March through October

[Stroller15]

I'm also surprised that places will be shut by mid- October already? I did a few seasons on Iona and even us only shut end of Oct. Oban should be open.

[jenthehen]

I think the Scottish half term is the week before England so most places tend to shut down. Gairloch wasn’t so quiet it was Lochinver, Ullapool and further north where we struggled to find cafes etc open.

[hereandnowtoday]

Bigger towns will be 'open' but more rurally everything winds down after the Scottish half term (middle 2 weeks of October). Calmac ferries also change to winter timetable on 22nd October which heralds the end of the season.

[jenthehen]

Thanks hereandnow that's worth knowing about the ferries. I think we'll just need to self cater. Now the hunt for a lovely coastal cottage begins...

[nooddsocksforme]

www.applecrossholidaycottages.co.uk Applecross is lovely if you don’t mind driving the bealach makes ba .or what about Skye/Lewis/ Harris

[jenthehen]

Thanks nooddsocks, Applecross is beautiful, we've been a few tim w (love the pub) but not actually stayed there. I'll check out the link.