The Outer Hebrides

Late spring and summer bring long days, wildflowers on the machair and calmer seas, though the weather is changeable year-round. The Hebridean Celtic Festival in Stornoway takes place in July. Winter is wild and dark, with storms, but the northern lights are sometimes visible on clear nights.

CalMac ferries link the islands with the mainland at Ullapool, Uig on Skye and Oban, and between the islands themselves; book vehicle space well ahead in summer. Flights reach Stornoway, Benbecula and Barra from Glasgow and other Scottish airports. A car is the easiest way to explore, on mostly single-track roads.

• Sunday is still observed as a day of rest in many communities, especially on Lewis and Harris; many shops, petrol stations and services close.
• Book ferries and accommodation early in summer.
• Use passing places on single-track roads to let others pass.
• Pack waterproofs and layers in every season.
• Midges can be a nuisance on calm summer evenings.
• Learn a few Gaelic words; road signs are often in Gaelic first.

The islands are known for their seafood, including scallops, langoustines and lobster, and for Stornoway black pudding, which has protected status. Isle of Harris Distillery in Tarbert makes a gin infused with sugar kelp seaweed, as well as whisky. Small cafés serve home baking with views of the sea.

Stornoway has the widest choice of hotels and guesthouses. Across the islands, self-catering cottages, bed and breakfasts, restored blackhouses and campsites offer stays close to the beaches and hills.

Harris Tweed is a cloth that, by law, must be handwoven by islanders in their own homes in the Outer Hebrides from pure virgin wool dyed and spun in the islands. Visitors can see weavers at work in small sheds and buy directly from them, and the orb trademark on every length guarantees its authenticity.

The Outer Hebrides are the only place in Scotland where Gaelic is the everyday language of most communities. You'll hear it in shops, on local radio and in church, where some congregations still sing unaccompanied Gaelic psalms, with a precentor leading each line and the congregation following in a haunting, slow chorus. Ceilidhs, evenings of music, song and dance, take place in village halls, especially in summer, and fiddle and accordion music is part of island life. Place names on maps and road signs are given in Gaelic, often with the English below.

The islands offer superb walking, from easy strolls along the beaches and machair to hill walks on Clisham, the highest peak in the Outer Hebrides, in North Harris. The Hebridean Way, a walking and cycling route, runs the length of the islands from Vatersay in the south to the Butt of Lewis in the north, using causeways and ferries. Look for golden and white-tailed eagles over the hills of Harris, otters along the shores, seals in the bays, and, in summer, the rasping call of the rare corncrake in the fields of the Uists.

Far out in the Atlantic, about sixty kilometres west of Harris, the archipelago of St Kilda was inhabited for thousands of years until its last residents were evacuated in 1930. Its towering sea cliffs hold one of the largest seabird colonies in Europe, and it's one of the few places in the world listed as a World Heritage Site for both nature and culture. Day trips by boat run from Harris in summer, weather permitting.