Iona Abbey and Nunnery

We spent a day in Iona visiting the abbey and nunnery. The weather cooperated and it was mostly cloudy with just spots of rain. It's a short walk to the nunnery and abbey from the dock where the ferry dropped us off.

The nunnery is on the way to the abbey and is mostly in ruins. It's still worth a stop to understand the history, although you can't go inside. If you're lucky you might even see some hairy coos on the walk to the abbey. The abbey is having some work done so there was scaffolding on one side. But the architecture is still stunning. It's in a beautiful location. The interior is serene and tranquil. There's a separate building in the back that is the museum, which is also very informative. This was on our must-see list during our Scotland visit and it was wonderful to spend the hours here.

There is an admission fee (£7.50 per adult), but it is worth it given the effort it takes to get to Iona in the first place. The Isle of Iona is accessed by a large Caledonian ferry from Oban to Isle of Mull and then again from a small ferry that does not allow vehicles from the Western edge of Mull to the small Isle of Iona. Once on the island, there are minimal activities, but it is worth the day trip when combined with a visit to the Isle of Staffa. The major attraction on Iona is the Abbey, which lay partly in ruins. There are excellent, guided tours of the abbey by extremely knowledgeable staff. The full tour of the abbey takes around 30 minutes.

Wow! Absolutely fabulous. You receive a little hand held listening device and you go on your own audio tour. Being the dork that I am, I listened to everything. It took more than 2 hours.

My mother has limited mobility. She thought she could walk from the ferry to the Abbey. Big mistake. Spend the money and take a taxi.

The welcome center where you buy the tickets does not have any seating. It was pouring down rain too. They were so kind and permitted my mom onto the grounds and let her sit in the Abbey. She had a walker and it was bit of a squeeze to get her walker through the doors, but she did. She got to sit down, she was dry, and did not have a bad view either.

There is a gift shop. Their prices are the best on the Island and even on Isle of Mull. I recommend this is the place to buy souvenirs.

On the back of the Abbey is more stuff to visit. They even have Highland Cattle (the long haired cows) just chillin', so you can get some real close up pictures of them.

From the ferry, go up the hill. On your right, stop off at the Nunnery Ruins. Nice photos shots. Continue to your right. You will see an old celtic cross, this was a pilgrimage stop. Another good photo spot. Unfortunately we came on a Sunday, so a museum was closed, but I would have visited.

The Abbey gift shop called a taxi for us. He dropped us off at the restaurant and gift shop because we had 30 minutes until the next ferry. The reviews about the restaurant being crazy busy is true -- its a mad house. The gift shop was very nice, but so so expensive.

We decided to eat once we got back to the Isle of Mull (the snack place at the ferry stop was not worth it -- so I advise bring snacks with you).

We did this on our own. We did not do the "day trip" with an added boat trip to see wild life.

This island and Abbey is well worth the visit, even though it takes a while to get to the South-West point of Mull for the 10-15 min ferry over, no cars without permits. The building and history behind it is very interesting, its lovely. This is also very busy considering its whereabouts.