Oban War and Peace Museum – Flying Boats and Lunch at Coast
A few hours, from Oban station and back.
The route
Oban's War and Peace Museum fills the old Oban Times building on the Esplanade with the town's own story, from the fishing boats and the railway to the war years, when flying boats took off from the bay.
It's free, all on one level and kept by volunteers who love to talk about it. Lunch is a minute round the corner at Coast, a favourite with locals for fish and shellfish from the west coast. It's a good one for a rainy morning.
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 Glencruitten House, a mile away.
Book a table at Coast by phone on 01631 569900 or by email for about 12.15pm: lunch is served Tuesday to Saturday from noon to 3pm, with last orders at 1.45pm, and it's shut on Sundays and Mondays.
The day
Oban
A morning by the North Pier, almost all of it under a roof. An unhurried hour among the museum's photographs and models of the town, then a long lunch of local seafood round the corner.
About three hours
Oban War & Peace Museum
It's a 7-minute walk from Oban station along George Street to the War and Peace Museum, in the old Oban Times building on the Corran Esplanade beside the North Pier. If you come by car, there's paid parking on the road outside and in the North Pier car park next door. It's free, with a donation welcome, and open every day from 10am to 4pm, to 2pm on Fridays, from early March to the end of November. Inside, the volunteers' photographs and models tell Oban's story: the fishing boats and the harbour, the railway and the building of McCaig's Tower. Then come the war years, when Australian, Canadian and American aircrew were based in the town and RAF flying boats flew from the bay. Children get a quiz to follow round. It's all on one level and suits a wheelchair, and the nearest public toilets are on the North Pier. An hour is about right.
Coast
Lunch
Lunch is a minute's walk round the corner at Coast, 104 George Street, a favourite of locals and visitors for local shellfish, fish and Scottish game. It serves lunch Tuesday to Saturday from noon to 3pm, with last orders at 1.45pm, and it's shut on Sundays and Mondays, so book a table on 01631 569900 for about 12.15pm. It takes no dogs. On a Sunday or Monday, Ee-Usk on the North Pier, 2 minutes from the museum, serves lunch every day from noon. It's 7 minutes back to the station.
If it rains
All of it is under a roof: the only wet parts are the 7-minute walk from the station and the minute round the corner to lunch.
