Springbank and Glen Scotia – Campbeltown on Foot
A day.
The route
Campbeltown's distilleries stand a few streets apart, so this is a day with no driving in it at all.
Springbank's tour in the morning follows every step from the malting floor to the bottling hall, lunch is seafood on Main Street, and Glen Scotia's tour on High Street fills the afternoon. The car is parked once, on Hall Street, and stays there until the next morning.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
Book the 2pm Whisky Distillery Tour on Glen Scotia's website, Monday to Friday: an hour, finishing with a dram of Double Cask.
Book the Springbank Tour on springbank.scot or on 01586 552009 for the morning, Monday to Friday for this day: an hour, the first at 9.45am.
Book a table at the Red Herring for noon on 07803 166003: it is open every day from noon to 10pm, and booking is recommended.
Book a night nearby
Book accommodation nearby for the night of the tours, so the car stays on Hall Street until the morning.
The day
Campbeltown
A morning among the malting floors and the stills off Longrow, a walk down to Main Street for lunch, and an afternoon under the white gable on High Street. Every walk between them is a short one through the town.
About six hours
Springbank Distillery
An attraction
Springbank is on Well Close, off Longrow in the middle of Campbeltown. Parking is free on Hall Street, outside the Picture House, and the car stays there all day. Book the Springbank Tour ahead, online or on 01586 552009. It takes an hour and follows every stage on the one site, where whisky has been made since 1828: the malting floors, the kiln, the stills, the warehouses and the bottling hall. The first tour is at 9.45am, Monday to Saturday. No whisky is being made from early September to the end of 2026, so the floors and the stills stand quiet, but the tours still run. The tour ends with a dram from the core range, a glass to keep and a miniature to take home. Under-18s come free with an adult; say so when you book.
About 5 min on foot
The Red Herring
Lunch
The Red Herring is at 42 Main Street, a few minutes' walk from Springbank towards the harbour. It opens every day at noon, and the menu is mostly seafood: freshly landed haddock, Shetland mussels, Loch Fyne langoustines and hand-dived scallops. Booking is recommended, on 07803 166003. Be away by a quarter to two for the afternoon's tour. If it is full, Springbank's own Washback Bar serves soup and light bites from noon to 2.30pm, Monday to Saturday, and takes no bookings.
About 12 min on foot
Glen Scotia Distillery
An attraction
Glen Scotia is at 12 High Street, a short walk north of Main Street, with its name and the date 1832 painted across a tall white gable. Book the Whisky Distillery Tour on its website for 2pm. It runs Monday to Friday at 11am and 2pm, and booking is essential. One of the staff takes you round the working distillery for an hour, and the tour finishes with a dram of the Double Cask single malt. Nobody drives on this day. Anyone who must drive that evening takes Springbank's miniature home unopened and passes this dram to someone else. Scotland's drink-drive limit is 50 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood, and the Scottish Government's own guidance is that one drink can put a driver over it. Tell the distillery about any access needs when you book. The shop is open until 5pm, Monday to Saturday, with its last tastings at 3pm.
If it rains
Both tours and the lunch are under a roof; only the short walks through the town are out in the weather.
Photographs by Red herring seafood restaurant and Frank Hug via Google