8 Best Sights in Scotland

The 13th-century ruined priory on the tiny island of Inchmahome, on the Lake of Menteith, is a lovely place for a picnic after you explore the building's chapter house and other remains. It was a place of refuge in 1547 for the young Mary, Queen of Scots. In season, a seven-minute ferry takes passengers to the island, now owned by the National Trust for Scotland. The ferry jetty is just past the Port of Menteith (a village) off the A81 shortly before Aberfoyle. The island is currently not accessible to visitors because a bird of prey has made its nest there, but check the website for more updates.

This small island in the middle of the Firth of Forth is home to many interesting sights, from the ruins of a medieval priory to a Gothic lighthouse to a wartime signal station. But it's the seabirds that really bring in the visitors. The Isle of May is the largest puffin colony on the east coast of Britain and is home to a quarter of a million birds nesting on the cliffs during late spring and early summer, as well as seals basking on the shore. To visit the island, you'll need to take a 12-seat RIB (rigid inflatable boat) across choppy waters, including a sail by Bass Rock—the world's largest colony of gannets. Tours start from the Scottish Seabird Centre and last four hours, including at least 2½ hours on the island. Book in advance online to avoid disappointment.

It was on St. Ninian's Isle that a schoolboy helping archaeologists excavate the ruins of a 12th-century church discovered the St. Ninian treasure, a collection of 28 silver objects dating from the 8th century. This Celtic silver is housed in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh (a point of controversy), but good replicas are in the Shetland Museum and Archives in Lerwick. Although you can't see the silver, walking over the causeway of golden sand (called a tombolo or ayre) that joins St. Ninian's Isle to the Mainland is an unforgettable experience. From Sumburgh head 4½ miles north on A970, turn left onto the B9122 at Skelberry, and continue for another 4 miles to Bigton.

A Romanesque church can be seen at the Brough of Birsay, a tidal island with the remains of an early Pictish and then Norse settlement. (Brough is another word for "fort".) The collection of roofless stone structures on the tiny island, close to Birsay, is accessible only at low tide by means of a concrete path that winds across the seaweed-strewn bay. The path is slippery, so boots are essential. To ensure you won't be swept away, check the tides with the tourism office in Kirkwall or Stromness before setting out. The cliffs at the far side of the island are stunning but be very careful as you look for puffins.

Unlike their neighbors in nearby Tiree, Coll's residents were not forced to leave the island in the 19th century. Today half of the island's sparse population lives in its only village, Arinagour. Its coasts offer extraordinarily rich birdlife, particularly along the beautiful sandy beaches of its southwest. Coll is even lower lying than Tiree but also rockier and less fertile. There are prehistoric standing stones at Totronald, a cairn at Annagour, and scant remains of several Iron Age forts around the island, though it takes some imagination to visualize what they must have looked like many centuries ago.

The beautiful beach at Kiloran Bay on Colonsay is an utterly peaceful place even at the height of summer. The standing stones at Kilchattan Farm are known as Fingal's Limpet Hammers. Fingal, or Finn, MacCool (Fionn mac Cumhaill) is a warrior of massive size and strength in Celtic mythology. Standing before the stones, you can imagine Fingal wielding them like hammers to cull equally large limpets from Scotland's rocky coast. The island's social life revolves around the bar at the 19th-century Colonsay Hotel, 100 yards from the ferry pier. The adjacent island of Oronsay with its ruined cloister can be reached at low tide via a 1½-mile wade across a sandy sound.

Barely 7 miles long, this sheltered island between Kintyre and Islay has sandy beaches and rich wildlife. Ferries make the 20-minute trip from Tayinloan on the mainland.

A fertile, low-lying island with its own microclimate, Tiree is windswept, but has long hours of sunshine in summer. Long, rolling Atlantic swells make it a favorite with surfers, and in summer, when an influx of wealthy visitors arrives, the posh accents of southern England sometimes drown out native voices. Among Tiree's several low-key archaeological sites are a large boulder near Vaul covered with more than 50 Bronze Age cup marks, and an excavated broch (stone tower) at Dun Mor Vaul. Tiree has two hotels and an assortment of self-catering accommodations, including a hostel with shared dorm rooms. The island is served by CalMac ferry from Oban.