Can anyone give advice on travelling to Oban and further afield?

[GrapefruitMoon]

By brother and his family are visiting from overseas at Easter and want to take a trip to Scotland while they are here - to the Isle of Barra specifically.

Has anyone got any advice on the best way to do this (starting in London) - the obv options seem to be to fly to Glasgow and then either hire a car or take a train to Oban and ferry from there. Or drive all the way from London.

There will be 6 in the party so would need to hire a large car - don't know if this would be any cheaper than trains/planes? (They are on tight budget).

Also, how long would it take to do the entire journey? I'm thinking it would be 3 days to get there from London, unless they can be sure of train connections, etc - or am I being pessimistic? (Have to admit to being slightly miffed that this side trip has been mooted given that I haven't seen my brother for a very long time and wish he would spend the time with his (original) family [selfish emoticon]

Thanks in advance!

You can fly to Barra! The runway is the beach - it is a beautiful flight. The timetable relies on the tides.

It is expensive though.

You want the Cal-Mac ferry timetable
here

I think that its probably about 10 hours to Oban driving - based on the fact we're further north and manage it in less than that and down to London in about 3. Its a very easy journey from Glasgow (although I can't think how long as we stopped so many times last time) We do sometimes do the first stint to Glasgow and stay overnight - although we might not do this again until ds has got a little older.

I go to Barra a lot, as dh's family from there. its expensive to fly from Glasgow, tbh, for six people you would probably be cheaper to hire a larger car and get the ferry, where you would pay for the car and then the number of passengers. If you are planning to fly to Glasgow and hire a car from there, it is a 2-3 hour drive to Oban, then a 5 hour ferry journey to Barra. There are also trains that connect with the ferry which as far as I know are fairly reliable.

Either way, tbh will be expensive though! Dh and I were £200 for the two of us, dd and our car last year on the ferry. Well worth it, Barra is the most beautiful place on the planet!

Why don't you go with them to Barra?
That way you will see more of your brother and you can all get blown away have a great time together

It's not really feasible for me (plus kids!) to go with him - we are going abroad for a family wedding just after that - which is supposed to be the reason why they are coming to visit this part of the world in the first place. I think I am just slightly miffed that now I know their travel dates it appears that they are spending longer in the UK/Scotland than with my family (who are funding a major part of their trip )

Anyway back to the practicalities....

It looks like they can get Easyjet flights for around £23 each from London to Glasgow. Personally I think they would be better off flying that bit as they will be jetlagged and may only have one person who can drive - do you all agree?

So would it be better to then hire a car in Glasgow and take that all the way to Barra or should they go by train to Oban and ferry from there?

And I think they will need to stay overnight in either Glasgow or Oban?

thanks for all the advice so far!

It depends on how their flights to Glasgow work out. The Barra ferry usually leaves Oban just before 3, and I think the connecting train leaves Glasgow about 10am, although I could be wrong. Personally I would hire a car and go to Oban directly from the Airport, if they need to have an overnight stay I'd rather do it in Oban than Glasgow! I can recommend a good B&B in Oban for them if you like.

It would be a long journey to do in a day it has to be said, mostly due to the length of the ferry trip. But if you could get an early enough flight out of London it would be doable in a day, as someone else said, the drive to Oban from Glasgow is reasonably short and easy, and very beautiful!

Thanks Esme. I think I need to price up the various options for them now. I agree that hiring a car in Glasgow would be best - otherwise they might find it hard to get around Barra anyway (though it is small!) I assume that they can see what there is to see in a couple of days?

I know this sounds bonkers but take sunglasses!
The last part of the trip, from Tyndrum to Oban is a straight east-west road. With the sun low in the sky, if you do it at the wrong time of the day then you have the sun right in your eyes.

Now I am wondering why on earth I put this in Shorthaul

Oh yes, definitely in a few days. If the weather's bad they might start getting bored quite quickly! For the time of year I'd probably go for a car, the weather can be pretty iffy. There's lots to see but its a wee bit spread out if its going to be raining and you have to walk everywhere.

The local website is here gives some ideas of things to do and see, as well as local B&B's and hotels. If they decide to stay a night in Oban I can recommend here run by some of my dh's family and very nice/family friendly!

Thanks again Esme. Having looked into the prices I think it will be cheaper for them to drive from London so they will probably need a break by Glasgow rather than Oban.

Anyone know of anywhere cheap in the Glasgow area (they are happy to stay in a hostel)? Have never been to Glasgow myself so will they need to drive through the city to get to Oban?

Just a suggestion, but they may be better going via Stirling (central scotland) rather than navigating though the city centre in Glasgow. It will only add about 20 miles to the journey, be less likely to take a "wrong turn" and will probably be cheaper for accommodation.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'm waiting to hear if they are going ahead with the trip before I do any more research!

Might be worth looking into the Caledonian sleeper trains - the bargain berths can be a really good deal, and it goes to Glasgow or Fort William, so they could hire cars there.