Attractions in The Outer Hebrides

Amhuinnsuidhe Castle

Category A listed 19th-century house by the B887 in North Harris, now run as exclusive accommodation and a sporting estate.

• Isle of Harris & Tarbert, The Outer Hebrides

An Lanntair

Arts centre on the Stornoway waterfront with an art gallery, a cinema, an auditorium and a café bar.

• Isle of Lewis & Stornoway, The Outer Hebrides

Annie Jane Monument

Memorial on Vatersay to the emigrant ship Annie Jane, wrecked off the island in 1853 with the loss of about 350 lives.

• Barra & Vatersay, The Outer Hebrides

Arnol Blackhouse

Fully furnished thatched blackhouse where a family and its animals once lived under one roof, run by Historic Environment Scotland.

• Isle of Lewis & Stornoway, The Outer Hebrides

Bàgh Halaman

Sandy bay on the west coast of Barra at Tangasdale, on the island ring road.

• Barra & Vatersay, The Outer Hebrides

Balranald RSPB Reserve

RSPB reserve on the west coast of North Uist with sandy beaches, a rocky shore, marshes and dunes.

• The Uists & Benbecula, The Outer Hebrides

Barpa Langass

Neolithic chambered cairn about 5,000 years old, around 22 metres across and 5.5 metres high, on North Uist.

• The Uists & Benbecula, The Outer Hebrides

Barra Airport

Airport on the tidal bay of Tràigh Mhòr, opened in 1936, where scheduled flights land on the beach.

• Barra & Vatersay, The Outer Hebrides

Borve Castle

Ruined 14th-century tower house, also called Castle Wearie, in the south-west of Benbecula; a scheduled monument.

• The Uists & Benbecula, The Outer Hebrides

Butt of Lewis Lighthouse

Unpainted red-brick lighthouse by David Stevenson, built in the 1860s at the northern tip of Lewis and automated in 1998.

• Isle of Lewis & Stornoway, The Outer Hebrides

Calanais Standing Stones

Neolithic stone circle with stone rows, built around 2750 BC and cared for by Historic Environment Scotland, with a visitor centre nearby.

• Isle of Lewis & Stornoway, The Outer Hebrides

Clach an Trushal

Single standing stone about 5.8 metres high in Ballantrushal, said to be the tallest in Scotland; it is the last stone of a circle.

• Isle of Lewis & Stornoway, The Outer Hebrides

Dun an Sticir

Iron Age broch in a loch about 9.5 km north of Lochmaddy; a building was raised on the site in the late medieval period.

• The Uists & Benbecula, The Outer Hebrides

Dun Carloway

Well-preserved broch on a rocky knoll above Loch Carloway; on its east side the wall still stands about 9 metres high.

• Isle of Lewis & Stornoway, The Outer Hebrides

Dùn Èistean

Inter-tidal sea stack near Knockaird with ruined buildings and a turf wall, the traditional stronghold of the Morrisons of Ness.

• Isle of Lewis & Stornoway, The Outer Hebrides

Dun Vulan

Iron Age broch on the west coast of South Uist, near Bornish.

• The Uists & Benbecula, The Outer Hebrides

Eilean Glas Lighthouse

Lighthouse on the east coast of Scalpay, the first in the Hebrides and one of the four original Northern Lights.

• Isle of Harris & Tarbert, The Outer Hebrides

Gearrannan Blackhouse Village

Nine restored thatched cottages by the shore at Garenin, lived in until 1974; now holiday cottages, a café and a hostel.

• Isle of Lewis & Stornoway, The Outer Hebrides

Heaval

Highest hill on Barra at 383 metres, about 1.5 km north-east of Castlebay, with views south over the Barra Isles.

• Barra & Vatersay, The Outer Hebrides

Hushinish Beach

White-sand beach at the end of a 19 km single-track road, looking out to the uninhabited island of Scarp.

• Isle of Harris & Tarbert, The Outer Hebrides

Iolaire Memorial

Memorial to the Iolaire, wrecked at the mouth of Stornoway harbour on New Year's Day 1919 with more than 200 lives lost.

• Isle of Lewis & Stornoway, The Outer Hebrides

Isle of Harris Distillery

Distillery in Tarbert making Harris gin and whisky, the first legal distillery built on Harris; CalMac mentions tours and tastings.

• Isle of Harris & Tarbert, The Outer Hebrides

Kildonan Museum

Museum of South Uist life with more than 10,000 items, plus a café and a craft shop, in a former school.

• The Uists & Benbecula, The Outer Hebrides

Kisimul Castle

Medieval castle on a rock in Castlebay, seat of the chief of Clan Macneil, reached by a short boat trip from the village.

• Barra & Vatersay, The Outer Hebrides

Lewis War Memorial

Memorial completed in 1924 on the highest point of Stornoway, remembering Lewis men lost in the First World War and the Iolaire.

• Isle of Lewis & Stornoway, The Outer Hebrides

Lews Castle and Museum nan Eilean

Victorian country house built in the 1840s for Sir James Matheson; the modern extension houses Museum & Tasglann nan Eilean, opened in 2016.

• Isle of Lewis & Stornoway, The Outer Hebrides

Luskentyre Beach

Long sandy beach on the west coast of Harris, reached from the A859 by a minor road.

• Isle of Harris & Tarbert, The Outer Hebrides

Ormacleit Castle

Shell of an early 18th-century house built for the Clanranald chief and said to have burned down in 1715.

• The Uists & Benbecula, The Outer Hebrides

Our Lady of the Isles

Large sculpture of the Madonna and Child on the hillside above the A865 in South Uist.

• The Uists & Benbecula, The Outer Hebrides

Pobull Fhinn

Prehistoric stone circle on North Uist near Langass; the Gaelic name can be translated as Fionn's people.

• The Uists & Benbecula, The Outer Hebrides

Prince's Beach, Eriskay

• The Uists & Benbecula, The Outer Hebrides

Scolpaig Tower

Georgian folly near the village of Scolpaig in the north-west of North Uist.

• The Uists & Benbecula, The Outer Hebrides

Seilebost Beach

Sandy beach beside the A859 at Seilebost, across the estuary from Luskentyre.

• Isle of Harris & Tarbert, The Outer Hebrides

St Clement's Church, Rodel

• Isle of Harris & Tarbert, The Outer Hebrides

St Michael's Church, Eriskay

• The Uists & Benbecula, The Outer Hebrides

Steinacleit

Stone setting on a low hill once thought to be a cairn and stone circle, which may in fact be an early farmstead.

• Isle of Lewis & Stornoway, The Outer Hebrides

Taigh Chearsabhagh

Museum and arts centre in Lochmaddy for heritage, visual arts and Gaelic culture, with a café and exhibitions.

• The Uists & Benbecula, The Outer Hebrides

Talla na Mara

West Harris Trust centre on the coast road with a café, a gift shop and events.

• Isle of Harris & Tarbert, The Outer Hebrides

Teampall Mholuaidh

St Moluag's Church in Eoropie, reached on foot along a short path from the road and one of the busiest visitor sites in Ness.

• Isle of Lewis & Stornoway, The Outer Hebrides

Teampull na Trionaid

Ruins of a 13th-century Augustinian nunnery at Carinish, believed to be a daughter house of the Iona nunnery.

• The Uists & Benbecula, The Outer Hebrides

The Clisham

At 799 metres the highest mountain in the Outer Hebrides and its only Corbett; expect boggy ground and rain.

• Isle of Harris & Tarbert, The Outer Hebrides

Tràigh Mhòr

Wide shallow bay of cockle sand at the north end of Barra that doubles as the airport runway.

• Barra & Vatersay, The Outer Hebrides

Uig Sands

Wide sands of Tràigh Ùige in the far west of Lewis; the 12th-century Lewis chessmen were found at Uig in 1831.

• Isle of Lewis & Stornoway, The Outer Hebrides

Vatersay beaches

Bàgh Siar and Bàgh a Deas, sandy bays on the west and south of Vatersay, the southernmost inhabited island in the chain.

• Barra & Vatersay, The Outer Hebrides