With only 130,000 visitors a year, Iona still enchants (as it did the Colourists and centuries of pilgrims), especially if you can get away to the Bay at the Back of the Ocean or sit in one of the many gardens. To stay over, the Argyll Hotel is best, but the St Columba Hotel near the abbey has more rooms. There’s also a great hostel and glamping Iona Pods with first class facilities. On your doorstep you have views over the Sound of Iona to the mountains of the Isle of Mull as well as being just a 10-minute walk to the sandy white beaches that Iona is so famous for.
This location boasts stunning scenery, peace and plenty of exploring not to be missed. The tiny isle of Iona, just 1.5 miles by three miles, is the perfect antithesis to the copious consumerism that has engulfed much of the rest of the British.
Pilgrimage walks take in the island’s historic sites and bike hire is available from the Finlay Ross shop. Everything about Iona is benign; even the sun shines when it’s raining on neighbouring islands.
