Ganavan Sands

Ganavan has been Oban's beach for the best part of a century. Old photographs show hundreds of people on the sand here, cars queued nose to tail outside a pavilion that served teas and hired out bathing huts through the resort's heyday. The pavilion lasted until 2007, and the holiday village beside it has gone the way of most things at British seaside spots, replaced by housing, but the beach itself carries on doing what it has always done. On a clear evening the view runs across the water to Lismore, the hills of Morvern and Mull beyond, and the sunsets are the best you'll get this close to town.

The beach has a wartime past that isn't obvious until someone points it out. During the Second World War this was part of RAF Oban, a flying boat station, with Sunderlands and Catalinas working the Atlantic from the bay. The large apron slabs in the car park are left over from the RAF facility, and a memorial cairn on the sea wall remembers the personnel who served here. A short walk north of the beach, a spiral of small stones laid in concentric circles sits on the coast, a more recent addition that has become a favourite subject for photographers at sunset.

Kayaks and paddleboards get plenty of use here in calm weather, rock pools mark the edges of the bay, and seals appear offshore often enough that it's worth keeping an eye on the water. There are public toilets kept in good order, and the car park gives you the first two hours free before charging around £1 an hour, with motorhomes allowed by day but no overnighting. There's no café on site, though ice cream vans do the rounds in summer, so bring supplies from town.

The coastal path north is the part many visitors miss. It climbs over Ganavan Hill and reaches Dunstaffnage Castle in about 50 minutes, two and a half miles of clifftop and grassy knolls with Ben Cruachan in view on a good day. Little Ganavan, the smaller cove round the corner, stays quieter than the main beach even in July.