Areas

Jura is essentially one long, wild island with a single road.

Craighouse & The South East This is the heart of community life on Jura. The island’s only village, Craighouse, curves around a sheltered bay on the east coast. It is home to the island’s shop, its hotel, the community-run café, and the celebrated Isle of Jura Distillery. You can tour the distillery, which makes the island's single malt. This southern part of the island is the most accessible, with the main road providing stunning views across the Sound of Jura.

The Paps of Jura These three iconic, scree-covered mountains dominate the island and are its most famous feature. The highest, Beinn an Òir (Mountain of Gold), reaches 785 metres. The traverse of all three Paps is one of Scotland’s classic and most challenging hill walks, a long and arduous day over rough, pathless terrain that rewards the determined with spectacular views. Even for those not attempting the climb, the Paps make a dramatic backdrop to any journey through the island.

The North: The Long Road & The Whirlpool The single road north of Craighouse continues for over 20 miles into an increasingly wild and remote landscape. This long, winding track leads past tiny, isolated settlements and vast, empty expanses of moorland. The road ends near Barnhill, the remote farmhouse where George Orwell wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four. From here, it is a long walk to the northernmost tip of the island to overlook the Gulf of Corryvreckan, home to one of the world’s largest and most dangerous whirlpools, a churning maelstrom of water that adds to the island’s mythical, untamed reputation.