West Coast Tours - Oban

Aditi A.

The three isles tour is a really well organized option for travelers who are looking to explore the Inner Hebrides over a weekend. The views are magnificent and it is a good starting point to explore - Staffa, Iona and Mull.

Charlie D.

Really good trip on the Isle of Mull and Iona tour. The entire trip was smooth and efficient. We booked the trip a few days before after finding out it was dog friendly! The coach was clean and not too noisy. The scenery was beautiful and the driver was brilliant. Would recommend doing a trip with West Coast Tours

Z C.

The trip was great. Andrew, our driver, was excellent and actually gave us some great info about driving on the 1 lane roads that we used later in our visit to the Isle of Skye. Iona and Mull are beautiful. There were so many cute baby sheep and highland cows to see.
The only minor negative is that there is not a lot of info about where to go other than to go to the ferry in Oban at the beginning. We expected to see someone or a kiosk of some sort that was marked West Coast Tours. There is not, just go to the ferry with everyone else and they will check your tickets. Also keep an eye on your email as the ferry time can change the night before. Once we got on Mull there was not initially anyone there to direct us so we just headed towards the West Coast Tours bus and found out that that one was booked as a separate private tour. Eventually someone came out and got us sorted and let us know when our bus was coming. Once we were on our bus with Andrew the driver, everything went smooth as silk. He let us know exactly when to catch the ferry off of Iona so we could get back home.

Megan G.

We loved our time on our 3 island tour yesterday. We booked on a whim after learning of the opportunity to see puffins. This tour gave some freedom that is not always given with other experiences. We enjoyed our time on Mull but would have loved the opportunity to get out at a spot or two for some photos.

Staffa was by far our favorite of the three. We had great weather so it was safe for us to explore the island and the caves. The puffins were so cool to see. The caves were an added bonus for us as well. We would have loved a bit more than just an hour on Staffa.

We also enjoyed our time on Iona. We paid for tickets into the Abbey and had a lovely time. Iona was great plenty of shops and the nunnery ruins were fun to explore. We spent some time on the beach while we enjoyed our lunch we packed.

I would recommend bringing plenty of snacks to get you through the day as there is limited time available.

If we were to suggest some improvements to West Coast Tours it would be to include the Abbey tour in the cost of the three island tours. While we felt the cost was worth the experience we had it is a little steep.

Urška B.

The wildlife tour (Mull, Staffa, Lunga, Iona) was the highlight of our two week Scottish trip! We booked over a month in advance and our hearts sunk as we received an email a couple of days before the planned trip date that the tour is canceled due to ferry issues. We tried to rebook but finally got a confirmation that the tour will proceed as planned. We have received the ferry ticket via email (1 QR code for all ferry rides for both passengers) and set on our adventure early in the morning. The tour is perfectly organized, however do not expect any hand holding - there will not be a tour guide with you from start to finnish. You will need to be a bit proactive and get yourself from one stage of the trip to the next where each stage will be taken care of by a different guide, group, driver or transport means. First, we made sure to be at the Oban ferry terminal bright nad early in the line for the Mull ferry. We quickly spotted some other tourists and bonded over our plans as we were headed for the same tour. After enjoying the scenic ferry ride we disembarked at Mull and already spotted the unmistakable red West Coast Motors double deckers. The bus drivers had a list of names and quickly and expertly sorted out who should be in which bus. During the ride we enjoyed the views and listened to interesting stories on the recorded audio guide. In Fionnphort, we embarked on small Staffa boat tours. The Staffa guys took us to see the impressive Fingal's cave, and the most amazing thing of all: the puffin colony on the isle of Lunga. This was absolutley the best. The adorable brave little birds are not too shy and one can see them from close range. Still, be respectful and make sure not to cause them stress. Let's not forget the little guys spend the whole tough winter out in the Atlantic and come ashore to build a family - not to make a show for us 🙂 We appreciated the fact that wildlife Rangers accompanied us on the tour to gently remind us of that fact and to share other valuable information, stories, and experience with us. After precious two hours with puffins and other seabirds, such as seagulls, razorbills, european shags, and others on Lunga, our Staffa tours boat took us to Iona. The beautiful little island has a couple of nice restaurants and cafes, tons of lovely craft shops, an impressive old monastery, and it's own whiskey and gin distillery. We had to be careful to catch the ferry from Iona back to Fionphort (again, be proactive and responsible, no guide is going to hunt you around the island;) where our West coast motors bus drivers greeted us warmly, checked the names on the list and took the happy and tired passanegrs back to Craignure from where we took the ferry back to Oban. An amazing, adventure packed dynamic day that we were lucky not to miss out on! Thank you West Coast Tours for cooking up this wonderful itinerary!

Stephanie C.

We had an amazing time on the three isles tour. Starting with the bus journey through mull, the bus driver and tour provided interesting facts about the island as we made our way to the ferry to Iona. Iona was absolutely beautiful, we were incredibly lucky with the weather and made our way to the other side of the island where we saw eider ducks and sandpipers. The island had lots of amenities. We then had the tour to Staffa island which again was beautiful. The cave was amazing and we saw some puffins.
Only small criticism (hence four stars) is that there was a change in itinerary which could have been communicated better, such as via email. Such as specific timings and collection points. Luckily the island is small enough that you can’t really get lost but the miscommunication did lead to a moment of stress which should usually be avoided through paid excursions. But overall had a great time!

Grant D.

An excellent trip, really well organised and good value for money.
We visited the Isles of Mull, Staffa and Iona. The ferry trip across from Oban was excellent with stunning views and the bus trip across Mull was very informative. We then got a small boat to the Isle of Staffa and Fingals Cave. Before returning to the beautiful island of Iona.
Highly recommended trip and would definitely use again.

David N.

The three island tour is fantastic. We take family and friends on the tour every time we come to Scotland. Short ferry from Oban to Mull. Across Mull on a tour bus with incredibly friendly and knowledgeable drivers/tour guides. A short boat ride to Staffa to see Fingal's Cave and Puffins (go before mid July) and incredible views. A short boat ride to Iona to step back in religious history and time. Enjoy two hours on the island to see the nunnery, Abby, crosses, and white sand beaches. Go on this tour!