Before heading to Islay, I would like to spend the night near the ferry terminal, proabaly in the Tarbert area. Any recommendation of hotel/B&B to stay at? A few places I am considering:

1. Anchor Hotel
2. Tarbert Hotel
3. Balinakill Guesthouse Hotel
4. The Columba Hotel
5. Dunultach B&B
6. Glenorchy Guesthouse

I was thinking about the Stonefield Castle Hotel but is not available on the night I will be in town.

Thanks!

TTT

Stonefield Castle is a good place to stay. Have you tried laterooms.com for the date you want to stay? Just in case!

You don't want the Anchor; it's a dive. The Columba looks nice- never stayed there.

But my pick would be where we always stay on the night before the ferry- the West Loch Hotel.

http://www.tarbertlochfyne.com/hotel...loch-hotel.php

The rooms are small and basic but it's got really nice bar food, and a good restaurant. The atmosphere is nice and the location top notch. if you're on the early boat, they leave your breakfast out for you the night before, but do remember that breakfast on a cal-mac ferry is a seminal experience.

When are you going?

I retract the rudeness about the Anchor. I was mixing it up with the Frigate. I don't the Anchor but it's got a good web site

Answering your post reminded me that I needed to book a bed for the night before our next trip to the Queen of the Hebrides in May. For the first time ever, I couldn't get into the West Loch (or anywhere else in Tarbert) because of some yacht race; so we're booked into the Balinakill. A new experience.

We stayed at the Columba a few years ago and it was fine. Nice pub with good fish and chips and great location.

Thanks for all your input! I am going to be in Tarbert in mid-May. If I book Balinakill, I may see Sheila there!

Normally I prefer some place in the village so I can take a stroll at night. However, I really like what I see at the Balinakill website.

I will check out the laterooms.com. Probably too early to try it at this point.

If you're going at the same time as us, book NOW!!

I was booking for the 25th, catching the 7am from Kennacraig to Port Ellen

Stay on the boat! That's a joke, kinda.
Last Sept me (an American) and 4 German friends headed to Islay for 5 days via Ryan Air from Frankfurt Hahn. The flight lands quite late so by the time we got to the ferry it was around 1am. Now we knew we would be early so we had just planned on sleeping in the car until the ferry left at 7am. However after 1 hour of trying to sleep I realized it was hopeless.
So I grabbed my rucksack and headed up the gangway to see if the ship was open. Unbeleivably the door was wide open and nobody was to be found anywhere. So I sat down at the cafateria to read for a while however after an hour or so one of the workers noticed me. I thought for sure this was the end of my night on the ship, however he just smiled and asked if I would like any coffee or tea. Stunned I declined but asked if it was ok to remain onboard. He said sure, but that I would be more comfortable upstairs where there is a small lobby with padded cloth sofa's and the like. He did warn me however that if someone else saw me they might ask me to leave and that I should get off before 6am and reboard then. So up the stairs I went to a very warm & cozy lobby and slept like a baby, feeling a little guilty about my 4 friends freezing out in the car.
The next morning I woke and headed downstairs just in time to bump into one of my buddies looking for me. After I told them all what happened and how well I slept that night they gave me nothing but grief. lol Even to this day when we gather to drink a Ardbeg or Lagavulin and talk about how great the trip was, they rib me about leaving them in the car all night.
BTW, Islay is just fantastic! We stayed in a house on the water in Bowmore just 2 doors down from the local pub with the butcher directly accross the street and the bakery just around the corner. We visited all 7 distilleries but toured only a few, such at Bruichladdich (our wives watched us on their web cams from home), Bowmore,Arbeg, Lagavulin & Caol Ila. We signed up at the Laphroaig websight for their "friends of Laphroaig" and thus received a free dram as well as a free bottle of whisky when we visited their sight. I must say the tasting rooms at Lagavulin & Laphroaig are just fantastic, especially if it's cold, windy & rainy outside. Also, the food at Ardbeg is great, really top notch.
We also took the short ferry to Jura and visited the Jura Distillery and got an unplanned personal tour from the manager there. The food at the small restuarant accross the street was great and really inexpensive. I had a deer burge & fries along with a beer for about 3.50 pounds.
I really need to put together a trip report as we had such a great time and were treated so wonderfully by the local population. Part of what "endeared" us to the locals were these silly T-shirts we had made up. They were black longsleaved shirts with Islay on the sleave, a copy of a map of Islay on the left breast and "Islay Whisky tour 2006" on the back with the name of every distillery listed under it. We wore these shirts every day (with t-shirts under them) and after a while even the garbage man was waving at us in recognition. By the 5th day you could throw the t-shirts against the wall and I swear they would stick. lol
Well sorry to ramble on so long, have a great trip.
Nate

Great story, Nate. In the old days, when the Iona did the run, you could book a berth on the boat. Sigh. No more.