Orkney Island Holidays
Other Holidays
The Islay and Jura Tour
An early spring exploration of the special birds, mammals, distilleries, history and archaeology of both Islay and Jura in the Western Isles of Scotland, with sumptuous Hotel accommodation.
Download your illustrated Islay and Jura Brochure for full details.
What's included in the cost
Hotel transfers in Islay from either the ferry terminal or airport to and from the Hotel.
Full board and ensuite accommodation for 6 nights in the luxurious Port Charlotte Hotel.
Five days guiding with Paul & Louise Hollinrake, of Orkney Island Holidays.
Daily excursions by minibus and short walks to different parts of Islay and Jura.
Entrance fees to sites of interest where applicable.What's not included in the cost
Travel to Islay. Personal travel insurance, laundry of personal clothes.
All drinks from the bar, telephone calls, things of a purely personal nature.
Tips for Hotel staff.
Islay and Jura highlights
Mammals
We will search the coastlines for otters. Both
Mad March hares are more visible in spring, and we look forward to watching their boxing antics.
Both grey and common seals are found along the sea shore of both islands.
Birds In March winter birdwatching highlights include the world famous flocks of thousands of barnacle and Greenland white-fronted geese.
Birds of prey like hen harriers, peregrines, merlins and golden eagles are resident here, as well as barn owls seen in late afternoon and early evening. We have excellent opportunities to find some of these iconic birds.
There is a good range of species of sea ducks such as scaup, common and velvet scoters, long-tailed ducks and eiders.
Wading birds abound on the fields and shoreline and we hope to see a good selection of oystercatchers, lapwings, redshanks, curlew, snipe, woodcock, ringed plover, golden plover, black-tailed and bar-tailed godwits, turnstones, purple sandpipers, dunlin, knot, sanderlings and maybe others.
Slavonian grebes, tysties, red-throated, black-throated and great northern divers frequent the larger bays and we have a good chance of seeing all these.
Snow buntings, twite and reed buntings will be found using crops especially planted for them by land owners, to help their winter survival.
Islay is one of the best places to search out and find the enigmatic & rare chough in Scotland, an acrobatic and playful member of the crow family.
History and Archaeology History and archaeology abound, with fascinating Pictish and Celtic crosses and symbol stones to be admired.
Islay and Jura were part of the domain of the Lords of the Isles and we will explore some of their strongholds.
Distilleries With seven distilleries on Islay and one in Jura, we will visit a special one and sample the tastes and aromas!
Scenery The scenery is wonderfully varied, with rocky and sandy shorelines, estuaries, mountains, woodland, farmland, rivers and streams and the sea air invigorating.
Hotel accommodation The Port Charlotte Hotel is a four star establishment, well known for its fine cuisine and lovely rooms. Our hosts will make every effort to ensure our stay is comfortable and relaxing.
Getting Around We will explore the islands each day by minibus with short walks and visits to all the best sites on these islands. Most of our time will be spent on Islay, but we will take the ferry crossing to Jura for one day to explore there.
This Holiday is great fun and full of interest.
Why not give it a try?