Dunollie and Ganavan – Castle, Playpark and Sand
A day.
The route
Dunollie, a mile north of Oban, is the old home of the MacDougalls: a ruined tower on a crag above the bay, the family's museum in the 1745 House, and woodland trails with a faerie garden and a free playpark.
Lunch is at its Kettle Garden Café, and then it's a short hop up the coast road to Ganavan Sands for sandcastles and a paddle.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
The day
Dunollie
A morning of castle, trails and playpark at Dunollie, lunch at its café, and an afternoon on the sand at Ganavan.
About five and a half hours
Dunollie Museum, Castle and Grounds
An attraction
Dunollie is on the coast road a mile north of Oban, on the way to Ganavan, with its own visitor car park; the spaces nearest the site are kept for those who need them. It opens at 10am, Tuesday to Sunday, from mid-March to the end of October. A ticket is £13 for an adult, £6 for a child of 5 to 15 and £30 for a family of two adults and two children at the time of writing. Under-5s go free, and the ticket becomes a pass for the rest of the season. Start in the 1745 House, the MacDougalls' museum, then climb the steep path to the ruined tower on its crag, about 15 minutes there and back, with a handrail. The path isn't for pushchairs, so leave yours in the safe spot by the museum and carry the smallest up. Back down, children can follow the Dunollie Explorers Trail or the Mythical Creatures QR trail through the woods, past the Faerie Garden and the Willow Hall, and finish at the playpark, which is free during opening hours. Lunch is at the Kettle Garden Café beside it: soup, light lunches, scones and home baking, with food until 3.15pm. Dogs on a lead are welcome outdoors and at the café's outside tables, but not in the museum. The accessible toilets are on the museum's ground floor.
5 min by car
Ganavan Sands
An attraction
Ganavan Sands is 5 minutes' drive on up the coast road. Park in the council's Ganavan car park above the beach, £1.20 an hour at the time of writing, with public toilets beside it. Ganavan is Oban's own beach, a curve of pale sand under a green headland with the island of Lismore out across the water, and after a morning on the trails it's the place for buckets, spades and a paddle. Keep little ones close at the water's edge. Wee Ganavan, the small bay just down the road, has rock pools at low tide and only a little roadside parking, so look up the tide times for Oban before you set off. A van sells ice cream and hot food on the beach in the busy season only. The car park is right beside the sand, but the sand itself is soft going for a pushchair.
If it rains
The museum and the Kettle Garden Café are indoors, and the woods are sheltered; on a wet afternoon swap the beach for a second look round the 1745 House, or a quick blowy walk from the Ganavan car park.
