EZTrip.com International Destination Guide and Hotel Listings

PORT CHARLOTTE , named after the founder's mother, is generally agreed to be Islay's prettiest village, its immaculate whitewashed cottages cluster 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; £2), 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 Mon, Tues, Thurs & Fri 10am-3pm, Sun 2-5pm; June-Aug Mon, Tues, Thurs & Fri until 5pm; £2), housed in the former distillery warehouse, is also worth a visit for anyone interested in the island's fauna and flora. As well as an extensive library to browse, there's lots of hands-on stuff for kids: microscopes, a touch table full of natural goodies, a seawater aquarium, a bugworld, and owl pellets to examine.

Port Charlotte is the perfect place in which to base yourself on Islay. The welcoming Port Charlotte Hotel (tel 01496/850360, carl@portcharlottehot.demon.co.uk ; £60-70) has the best accommodation - the seafood lunches served in the bar are very popular, and there's a good (moderately expensive) restaurant. For B&B, you're actually better off going for Octofad Farm (tel 01496/850225; under £40; April-Oct), a dairy farm a few miles down the road beyond Nerabus. Port Charlotte itself is also home to Islay's SYHA hostel (tel 01496/850385, ; May-Sept), housed in an old bonded warehouse next door to the Wildlife Information Centre. The Croft Kitchen (tel 01496/850230; mid-March to mid-Oct), opposite the museum, serves simple food , such as sandwiches and cakes, as well as inexpensive seafood, during the day, and more adventurous fare in the evenings (except Wed). The bar of the Port Charlotte is very easy-going, while the local crack (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.