Dunoon – Castle Hill and Lunch on West Bay
A few hours.
The route
An easy morning in Dunoon, the old Clyde holiday resort.
Climb Castle Hill between the town's two bays for the view down onto the Victorian pier and across the water, past the statue of Burns's Highland Mary. Then it's a couple of minutes down to lunch in a café on West Bay.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
The nearest of ours is Glenstriven House, 6 miles away. Sleeps 15; next free Sun 1 Nov to Tue 3 Nov.
The day
Dunoon
It's a gentle morning on foot, the hill and its view first, then lunch by the water.
About two hoursAbout 1 mile on foot
Castle Hill, Dunoon
Castle Hill is the green knoll between Dunoon's two bays, where a royal castle stood from the thirteenth century; Mary, Queen of Scots, stayed in it in 1563. Only grassy mounds are left, with a flagpole on the site, but the top is a fine viewpoint over the town, down onto the timber pier of 1898 and across the Clyde to Gourock. Below the top, the statue of Burns's Highland Mary, put up in 1896, looks out over the water. Castle House, built in 1822 at the foot of the hill, is a museum of Cowal's story from the Stone Age to the American nuclear submarines, open in its summer season. Park in the small car park by Castle House, which has five spaces and two disabled spaces, or in the council's free car park on Jane Street, a few minutes' walk west. The paths up the hill are steep in places.
About 2 min on foot
Rock Cafe
Lunch
Rock Cafe sits on the shore at the top of West Bay, a couple of minutes' walk down from the Highland Mary statue, looking across the Clyde. It reopened in May 2025 with a brand-new chef and baker team: café favourites and fresh specials, with a house roast from Argyll Coffee Roasters. It opens Thursday to Monday. On a Tuesday or Wednesday, the Swallow Cafe on Argyll Street, about ten minutes' walk north, is the place for lunch instead (01369 707942).
If it rains
The paths up Castle Hill get slippery in the wet, so take them slowly. In its summer season, Castle House Museum at the foot of the hill is somewhere dry for a shower to pass; otherwise go straight down to the café, two minutes away.
Where to stay
Photograph by Chris Shields via Google
Maps from OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles, data © OpenStreetMap contributors; heights from Mapzen's terrain tiles.