Search hotels in Port Ellen

Port Ellen is perfect for whisky lovers. There are many great distilleries in walking distance (Port Ellen, Ardbeg, Lagavulin, Laphroaig and soon another one) and many more by bus or taxi (but taxis are sometimes hard to get and there is no Uber available).

Pubs/bar - try all of them (only 3 if including Sea Salt Bistro). I only had time to visit one and chose unwisely - the Ardview Inn and wasn't impressed (only a snapshot - maybe depends on the staff at the time) and LOCAL Finlaggan beer there was £2 more than other pubs and inns I visited in the island (over £7 vs £5 elsewhere!) But it's good beer - buy it at the Coop or another pub. Views beautiful from the harbour front. Use the Coop and make your summer picnic on one of the four benches provided. The town up keep is good. Clearly looked after by all involved including local council. 3 mile whisky trail. Get bus back from Ardbeg. But do check out the 4m plus standing stone near Portintruan.

Beautiful location, small but great for a few day's stay or a week. Lot's to see and do if you like or love Scotch. The Woolen Mill was a beautiful scenic location with lovely staff (https://islaywoollenmill.co.uk/ ). Port Ellen is tiny by city standards, but that's why we love it and it's local people - who are all very friendly and ready to chat about this or that. We look forward to our next visit. Only advice is book everything in advance is you can (flights, transportation, hotel, tours, etc.) Cheers! Lousha and Haggis

Lovely, small and scenic, set around a beautiful bay and also with a ferry terminal (note, this was main reason I selected Port Ellen for the destination of my final 3 nights on Islay; unfortunately, just before the trip, CalMac had announced that all ferry trips to/from Port Ellen would be diverted for the period from early Sept through mid-November to Port Askaig (on the eastern side of Islay). Since traveling that direction via bus can have a more difficult bus schedule to coordinate with the early ferry (for connecting at Kennacraig on the mainland to bus to Glasgow), so I ended up booking a Loganair flight back to Glasgow for 9/28 to ensure getting there in time for my early a.m. long-haul journey GLA/AMS - AMS/SFO on 9/29. In general the town has wonderful dining options, scenic walks, both a small Co-Op and a Spar as grocery options, fantastic aged stone buildings, and the paved whisky trail at the far end of town to get to Laphroaig, Lagavulin and Ardbeg on foot or bicycle, and if you have the energy (and often good rain-gear), you can keep going a few miles further on foot to the historic Kildalton Cross and Chapel. And I would be remiss to not mention the lovely flock of swans at the north end of White Hart Beach!!!

The food at the Islay Hotel was superb and very reasonably priced. The service was excellent too. We also ate at the Seasalt bistro and this was nice too, slightly more expensive than the Islay Hotel. If you arrive on a Monday like we did you may not be able to get into the Islay hotel unless you have booked in advance and the Seasalt is closed Mondays. We got a Chinese takeaway from Ellen's Wok - the food was good but we found the rice a bit stodgy. The other thing was for 2 meals we ended up with 4 plastic take away boxes with lids and food remnants that we couldn't recycle. Apparently there is no food recycling on Islay at the moment which means that everything goes to landfill. However this should change in the near future. The litter bins in the street were full of everybody else's take away meals too! My recommendation for food is to book in advance to avoid disappointment!

Beautiful location for taking a break from busy life. Amazing beaches and plenty space to enjoy quiet and tranquility. Not a great place for dining out surprisingly. We’ll stock stores though for anything you need.