Iona: Three Miles of Island, Fifteen Hundred Years of History

Iona is less than 5 kilometres long and about 2 kilometres wide. It has a permanent population of around 170 people. There are no cars for visitors, no ATMs, one pub, two small restaurants, and a ferry that stops running in the late afternoon. It is also one of the most significant places in early Christian history in Britain and Ireland, and the island has a quality of atmosphere that serious visitors notice even if they struggle to account for it rationally.

Saint Columba founded the first monastery here in 563 AD, coming from Ireland to establish a community that became the primary centre for the Christianisation of Scotland and Northumbria over the following century. The Book of Kells, now in Trinity College Dublin, was almost certainly produced on Iona before the community fled the Viking raids that devastated the island multiple times in the 790s and 800s. The connection between this small, windswept island and the cultural history of northern Europe is not a thing that advertising inflates; it is simply true.

Getting There

Iona is a 10-minute ferry ride from Fionnphort at the western tip of the Isle of Mull. Getting to Fionnphort requires a 60-minute CalMac ferry from Oban to Craignure on Mull, followed by an 80-kilometre drive across Mull. Oban is reachable by train from Glasgow in about 2.5 hours, through Loch Awe and the Argyll hills. The journey is worthwhile in itself.

The Iona ferry takes foot passengers only; no cars cross. It runs frequently in summer, reduced in winter. Check CalMac’s website for current timetables, particularly if you want to stay overnight and need to know the last practicable ferry of the day.

Iona Abbey

The current abbey buildings date from the medieval period and were substantially restored in the 20th century. The Iona Community, an ecumenical Christian movement, now manages the site and holds regular worship there. This makes it a living religious building rather than a heritage site, which gives it a different quality from most historic churches: you may arrive to find a service in progress, which is worth pausing for. Admission costs around £9.

The adjacent burial ground of Reilig Odhrain is traditionally held to contain the remains of 48 Scottish kings including Macbeth. The small Romanesque chapel of St Oran nearby is the oldest surviving building on the island.

The Rest of the Island

The Bay at the Back of the Ocean on the island’s west side is a wide beach of pale sand with water of extraordinary transparency. The 20-minute walk there from the village crosses the island’s low central ridge. On the right day the water colour here is Caribbean in quality; in North Atlantic conditions it is magnificently wild. Both versions are the correct Iona experience.

The Marble Quarry on the south coast has exposed Iona marble, a distinctive green-and-white stone quarried since the medieval period and used in buildings across Scotland. The quarry is no longer working; the sea-smoothed marble boulders at the shoreline are the draw.

The Hill of the Angels (Sithean Mor) is a low granite knoll on the western part of the island where, according to tradition, Columba was seen in conversation with angels. It offers a good view over the west coast and the Atlantic beyond. Getting there requires paying attention to your route back across rough pasture.

Where to Stay and Eat

The St Columba Hotel and the Argyll Hotel are the island’s two hotels, both modest and priced above mainland equivalents given the logistics. Book ahead for summer. Self-catering cottages work well for family groups or anyone staying more than two nights.

The island’s general store has limited provisions: stock up in Oban or Fionnphort before crossing. The Argyll Hotel restaurant is reliable for dinner; tables are few and the menu changes by season.

Stay at least one night. The evening light across the Sound of Iona toward the Mull coast, after the day-trip ferry has stopped running and the island is quiet, is the reason Iona has retained its reputation for 1,500 years.