Driving Isle of Mull
 

Have 2 nights to spend on the Isle of Mull independently, or stay in Oban and do one of the ferry trips. It seems if you do the ferry trips you can only do Iona/Staffa from Fionnphort and back to Oban, can't do Tobermory without doing a second ferry trip.
q1 Is driving the island really difficult?
q2 Are there lots of buses?
q3 Is it possible to drive the whole island successfully in 2 days (and do the trip to Iona and Staffa)?
q4 Any suggestions on itin. on island that will avoid the bulk of tourist buses? eg clockwise, and best locations to stay enroute?

2 days is good for Mull. But not as day trips from Oban.

q1) Driving is really easy on teh island. Most of the roads are single track - but there is little traffic so no problem. The one exception is on the road out to fionnphort at 10:00 a.m. and back at 3:00-4:00 p.m.. That is what all the day tripper buses are taking that route out and back from the Iona ferry. So as long as you are elsewhere on the island at those two specific times you will very few cars.

q2) Not much public transport - there are buses - but a car makes things a LOT easier.

q3) Yes - 2 full days is enough to see most sites on the island.

q4) Answered above . . .

sorry about the typos - was watching the the end of the Kings / Lakers game and trying to type at the same time (d#@m Lakers :( )

The ferry from Oban goes to Craignure and is run by Caledonian MacBrayne (www.calmac.co.uk). Buses connect at Craignure and there are two routes: to Fionnphort and to Tobermory. They are run by Bowmans (www.bowmanstours.co).

Driving on Mull is no problem except when the Music Festivals are ongoing (April 27th - 29th April, 2007 and the 2nd - 8th July, 2007 and at these times there are a lot more cars and people on the roads and you have to drive more cautiously as many drivers are not used to the single track roads.

Thank you all, particularly Janisj, that was everything I needed to know. Sorry about the Lakers, I was watching Aussies demolish the Brits in the 5th test! There would probably be a lot more people driving the island if this info was on any of the websites. Also found that there is a week long food festival scheduled for our time, 6-11 Sept, but I don't think that will bother us. Thanks again.

I agree that you can't take the ferry fromOban, drive to Iona and then Tobermory in one day. I drove around Mull as well as to the ferry to Iona, what you need to watch for is not other cars but the highland "coos" with their very long hair and very large horns. I drove up a road which the "coos" had wandered onto and you just had to sit and wait for them to move on. It was obvious that they had the right of way.

I expect I am wasting time suggesting it but why do you want to see the whole island? Why not savour the Ross of Mull and Iona.
Foar a start unless you go to Iona early, it will be quite ridiculously crowded - I mean the first boat and that suggests a night somewhere near or on the island - Bunessan would be nice.
Then there are roads south to some of the most beautiful beaches in the Uk. The magic of Mull is to be found in lingering - not in rushing about!

Kookabura: W/ 2 nights/the best part of 3 days, you will have time to see/savor much of the island w/o rushing

And if you stay in or near fionnphort you can take any ferry over to Iona you wish -- before the day trippers get there or after they have headed home.

The large, very nice car ferry (Caladonian line) is a beautiful trip from Oban to Mull...gorgeous scenery.
We then drove down to Fionnphort(yes, one lane road) and took the walk-on small ferry , 10 min ride to Iona. No cars allowed there and it it quiet, remote and just beautiful. We had a little lunch,walked around, then ferried back to Fionnphort.
We then drove up to Tobermory ,a beautiful town on the northern tip of Mull. There are lots of B&B's, some hotels . We stayed at a small 5 room lovely B&B right in the middle of the interesting 9 hole golf course...owned by Derek McAdam and his wife. This as been several years....! The vistas and scenery are absolutely stunning, and peaceful! I believe we stayed a 2nd day and night...but the road down to the large ferry to Oban from Tobermory is 2 way and quite good. Mull is truly a lovely , serene spot in Scotland.
Oh, I'd repeat that trip in a heartbeat...but as we get older we have other"first time" places to visit!