Scotland Road Trip: Glasgow to Oban

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Glasgow, Scotland’s largest city (and I would say it’s most vibrant), has so much to offer including fantastic restaurants, bars and coffee shops, museums such as the Kelvingrove, the botanical gardens, as well as countless beautiful walking trails. But, if you fancy a day trip away from the city, I recommend this road trip itinerary which takes you up through Loch Lomond and Luss for a quick morning paddleboard, on to Inveraray with an oyster lunch on Loch Fyne, and then up to Oban for an afternoon of whiskey and chocolate tasting.

Timings by car: Glasgow to Loch Lomond: 50 minutes. Loch Lomond to Inverarary: 50 minutes. Inverarary to Oban: 1 hour. Oban to Glasgow: 2 hours, 30 minutes.

Loch Lomond and Luss

Start the day off with a short drive to Luss – voted the prettiest village in Scotland on multiple occasions.  

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Part of the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park, there is plenty to see and do here and you could spend a whole holiday exploring this area. For a day trip, you can spend the morning by the water (or even out on the water for a quick kayak or paddleboard), and looking around Luss.

Inveraray

After Loch Lomond, head to the town of Inveraray on the shore of Loch Fyne. Many people in the UK will have heard of the Loch Fyne restaurants and you can visit the original one here and have fresh oysters for lunch!

Inveraray itself is small and fun to walk round as well as being very photogenic. There is also an award-winning museum to visit: ‘Inveraray Jail’ where you can get an idea of what a 19^th century prison would have been like.  

Whilst here, you can also visit Inveraray Castle – home of the Duke of Argyll, Chief of the Clan Campbell. Whilst I am hesitant to encourage people to spend money visiting the home of someone who plays ‘elephant polo,’ the castle is stunning and looks straight out of a fairy-tale. You can look around the rooms and walk in the gardens. There is also a tearoom where you can eat scones made by the Duchess.  

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Oban

Finally, head to Oban. Similar to Loch Lomond, you could spend an entire holiday in Oban and use it as a base to visit the Hebridean Isles such as Mull and Skye. There are plenty of wildlife tours and boat trips, if you have time, and Oban is beautiful to look at from the water.

If you only have a short amount of time here, I recommend just walking through the streets and getting some chips from the famous Nories. There is also Oban Distillery which is well worth a visit for those who want to learn more about (and sample) some of Scotland’s finest whiskey. For those who don’t like whiskey, there is Oban Chocolate Company.   

It will be a long and busy day but worth it for all you will be able to see and do. If you can stay longer, there is so much more to explore, but for a snapshot and the chance to try some of Scotland’s best food, this is a fun day trip.