Here is our pick of ten of the best that are must-visits.
Great Cumbrae
Just 10 minutes off the coast of Largs, Great Cumbrae is home to the narrowest house in the world and the Cathedral of The Isles.
The holiday town of Millport welcomed thousands of tourists in its heyday with people coming ‘Doon the Watter’ during Glasgow Fair.
Today it’s a little quieter, but the attraction of cycling round the island and posing on Crocodile Rock remain.
St Kilda
Uninhabited since being abandoned in 1930, it is now a UNESCO World Heritage Centre and archaeological site.
The remote archipelago sits 40 miles north-west of North Uist in the Atlantic Ocean.
Easdale
Anti-consumerist community shot to fame with a video to entice new residents. Also runs the annual World Stone Skimming Championships.
It was once the centre of the British slate industry, with hundreds working at its quarries.
It is accessible by boat from the nearby Isle of Seil, which itself is connected to the mainland near Oban by the famous Atlantic Bridge.
Mull
© Andrea RicordiThe island’s main town, Tobermory, is famous for its brightly-painted waterfront houses and as the setting for popular children’s TV programme Balamory.
The rest has a wide variety of attractions, including Duart and Toronsay Castles and is easily accessible by ferry from the mainland.
Fair Isle
Britain’s most remote inhabited island is known for its animal life and knitwear – a product of its lively arts and crafts scene.
It sits roughly halfway between the Orkney and Shetland Islands.
Iona
Where St Columba brought Christianity to Scotland, its abbey houses the remains of 60 Scottish, Irish and Norwegian kings.
Just off Mull, the island is a hotspot for tourists.
Handa
One of the largest seabird colonies in Europe, 200,000 gather to breed in summer. Rock climbers often scale its huge Great Stack.
A small ferry sails to the island from Tarbet, Sutherland.
Hoy
The second largest island in the Orkneys.
The trek to 450ft sea stack The Old Man of Hoy is well worth it. Also home to the Dwarfie Stane, a 5,000-year-old rock-cut tomb.
Jura
More than 6,500 deer but just 200 humans live on this rugged, cave-filled island where George Orwell wrote 1984.
It’s a large island with only one road and it is dominated by the three main peaks of the Paps of Jura.
Canna
One of the Small Isles off the coast of Mallaig.
Locals were shocked when sweets and woollen hats were taken from an honesty box last year – the first theft on the island for 50 years.
The islands on a map
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