Scotland Guide
Argyll
Port Charlotte
PORT CHARLOTTE, named after the founder's mother, is generally agreed to be Islay's prettiest village, its immaculate whitewashed cottages clustered around a sandy cove overlooking Loch Indaal. On the northern fringe of the village, in a whitewashed former chapel, the imaginative Museum of Islay Life (Easter– Oct Mon– Sat 10am–5pm, Sun 2–5pm; Nov– Easter Mon– Sat; £3), has a children's corner, quizzes, a good library of books about the island, and tantalizing snippets about eighteenth-century illegal whisky distillers. The Wildlife Information Centre (Easter– Oct daily except Sat 10am–3pm; July & Aug daily 10am–5pm; £2.50), housed in the former distillery warehouse, is also worth a visit for anyone interested in the island's fauna and flora.
The welcoming Port Charlotte Hotel ( 
01496/850360, 
www.portcharlottehotel.co.uk ; Price: ₤111-150) has the best accommodation – the seafood lunches served in the bar are very popular, and there's a good, though expensive restaurant. For B&B, you're better off going for the excellent Octofad Farm ( 01496/850594, www.octofadfarm.com ; April– Oct; Price: ₤51-60), a few miles down the road beyond Nerabus. Port Charlotte itself is also home to Islay's SYHA hostel ( 0870/004 1128, www.syha.org.uk ; April– Sept; dorm beds £14), housed in an old bonded warehouse next door to the Wildlife Information Centre. In addition, there's a campsite at the new Port Mòr Centre ( 01496/850441, www.islandofislay.co.uk ), situated outside the village on the road to Portnahaven. For inexpensive food, there's a choice between the Croft Kitchen ( 01496/850230; April– Oct), opposite the museum, and the café in the Port Mòr Centre. The bar of the Port Charlotte is very easy-going, while the fun (and occasional live music) goes on at the Lochindaal Inn, down the road, where you can also tuck into a very good local-bred steak.