Isle of Coll holidays


Isle of Coll, Inner Hebrides Collholidays offer the highest levels of self-catering accommodation and service – judge for yourself by the quality of our web-site, our literature and our personal service. Holidays are important.! Don’t choose second-best. Choose ‘Collholidays’ - quality at a fair price


Coll lies in the inner Hebrides 10 miles west of Mull and the Treshnish Isles, and is reached by ferry from Oban. It is low lying, with a landscape of sandy beaches, dunes and peat bog, freshwater lochs and rock. Looking in a westerly direction on a clear day gives a 60 mile (or greater) panorama of the Hebridean islands.
Island life is low-key, coming alive on ferry days. There is one hotel, one shop, and a petrol pump, and no resident police force. Islanders are renowned amongst holiday –makers for their friendliness.

Things to do Coll is the ideal venue for the outdoor lover, with superb beaches, unusual and rare flora and fauna, diving, fishing, golf, walking, archaeology, whale watching and wild-life boat trips, an RSPB bird reserve and more. Couple this with the most incredible panoramic views, total peace and tranquility, and you’ve got the perfect place to wind down (that’s why we want to retire here!)
bird watching		We'll not bore you with our own words on the fantastic birding on Coll - we'll leave that to Simon Wellock, the RSPB warden on the isle. Try these hyperlinks for information on the habitats a birding year
big things that swim	The seas around Coll are the UK's prime area for whale watching, with trips from Mull steaming around Coll and towards Rhum. Again we'll let the experts in their field explain what Coll has to offer, as it is the same as they offer on their trips - it is perfectly feasible to see most of the marine beasties mentioned from the shore. Sea Life Surveys

walking		This is a rare shot for Coll - snow like this is a great rarity, but whatever the weather, the walking is fabulous, with incredible panoramic views, and big skies. Out of season you will probably not even come across one other walker in a day
botany	The flora is quite specialised, varying from acidic peat-bog plants, to those adapted to the alkaline environment of the 'machair', created by wind-blown shell-sand. For the more dedicated Coll has some exciting specialty species, The Spotted Rock-rose Tuberaria guttata is a recent discovery, the only record of this plant in Scotland. Elsewhere amongst the bogs you may find Irish Lady's Tresses Spiranthes romanzoffiana, one of Coll's more secret orchids.
fishing		Coll boasts many hill loughs containing the ubiquitous brown trout, though the thick murky water does not encourage free-rising fish. The shoreline offers excellent pollack fishing, with 6lb fish a regular occurrance. Boat fishing can be very productive for mackerel,pollock, ling and flatties, with barn-door skate an option for the committed. (there is 600ft of water within half a mile of the shore in places)
boating and watersports	As well as the fishing, the coastline offers tremendous possibilities for those with their own craft. The omnipresent breeze means excellent wind-surfing and sailing, and the rich seas are a magnet for divers, fishermen, and fisherdogs! Power-kiting is a new attraction that is proving very popular.


Click here for 360 degree panoramic photos of Isle of Coll courtesy of Scottish Island Shopping. (The bottom 3 buttons on the panorama map show the area around Glendyke, and the two buttons on the r.h.s in the middle of the Isle show Arinagour bay below the Dairy. top of page

Collholidays supplies high quality self-catering accommodation on the Hebridean isle of Coll, situated 10 miles west of the isle of Mull and 3 miles from Tiree. Access is gained via Caledonain McBrayne (Calmac) ferries sailing out of Oban. The journey to Coll is superb taking you past Ardnamurchan peninsula, with views to Rhum (or Rum), Muck, Eigg, and Canna, with views southwards to the Treshnish Isles, Iona, Fingal's Cave and Staffa, with Islay and Jura visible on a clear day. The island is a ornithologists’s dream with the RSPB Coll reserve and rare birds such as corncrakes in profusion. The seas offer excellent angling, being rich in food. This attracts basking sharks and Minke whales – the area is one of the best in the UK for whale watching. Porpoises, dolphins and seals are also very common.The main town/village is Arinagour, home to several dozen holiday homes and a small number of residents along with a bistro known as First port of Coll. Scotland and the Western isles are particularly beautiful area of the united kingdom, and our scottish self-catering holiday properties are amongst the best in the Hebrides. At one time we were self catering members of the Scottish Tourist Board, but following a dismal period of membership of the Scottish Tourist Board during which we found that their offerings did not match our needs, we decided to dispense with their services. The Scottish Tourist Board administration is such that we still get their tourist board packages to put in our properties 8 years later - or maybe they think we are mug enough to do their advertising for them? Pity they were not so persistent with the things the Oban branch of the scottish tourist board SHOULD have done for us (like displaying our details in their office). We are now self-certified to three tiara standard by the Collholidays team. We are not 3 crowns certified by the Scottish Toursit Board . Parasitologists should be aware that the island of Coll is a rare breeding ground for the minute liver fluke Dicrocoelium dendriticum, which can be found inhabiting a strange species of snail living on the machair, identified by three crowns -like structures on its shell. If you see one of these, we suggest that you stamp on it. Archaeologists, botanists, & celtic historians following Johnson & Boswell will all find something for them on the Isle-of- Coll. There is one hotel/bar on the Island of Col, the Coll Hotel, but there are plans for a second hotel competing with the Coll Hotel