Portavadie Marina Local Information and Links
Sailing on the Clyde Estuary from Portavadie Marina places you in a great location for touring Scotland's beautiful West coast and the Western highlands. Once a fishing village, Portavadie is a small hamlet on the Eastern side of Loch Fyne.
It is situated about 4 miles or 6.5 kilometres South West of Tighnabruaich almost directly across the loch from Tarbert, which lies on the Western side of Loch Fyne.
Local shops, Bank and Post offices are located in Kames and Tighnabruaich.
If you are sailing from Portavadie Marina the whole of the Clyde estuary and Scotland's west coast is within easy reach. Portavadie can be reached by road from Glasgow within 1 hour 30 minutes
The beautiful island of Arran is about 12 miles to the South and the island of Bute is about 10 miles South East. We are ideally located for Clyde Coast Sailing with easy access to Largs, Kip, Troon, Ardrossan, Arran and even Northern Ireland and the Inner Hebrides through the nearby Crinan Canal.
Notes: Portavadie Marina is not responsible for the content of other websites. For convenience the links on this page open in new windows or new tabs on your browser.
Sailing and Maritime Related Links for the West Coast of Scotland
The West Highlands and Islands Sailing Clubs' Association exists to promote sail racing and cruising in the beautiful West Highlands of Scotland. (http://homepages.rya-online.net/whisca/)
The Met Office Marine Call is the UK's leading provider of telephony-based weather information for UK sea and European areas. (http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/leisuremarine/marinecall.html)
UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency (http://www.mcga.gov.uk)
The Royal Yachting Association (RYA) campaigns on an enormous variety of issues that affect boaters. Their expert staff work to represent members' views and interests at local, regional, national, European and global level. (http://www.rya.org.uk/ and the RYA Scotland website at, http://www.ryascotland.org.uk).
The Firth of Clyde Forum is a voluntary partnership of local authorities, organisations, businesses and communities committed to working towards integrated, sustainable management of the Clyde's environmental, economic and community resources. (http://www.clydeforum.org/)
The Yachts & Yachting magazine website. (http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/)
The Clyde Cruising Club: information on the clubs activities, including reports on previous events and advanced information on future events. (http://www.clyde.org)
Touring and Tourism in the Portavadie Marina Area
Portavadie Self Catering Accommodation: These are our own cottages and luxury apartments, attached to the Marina.
Tighnabruaich Art Gallery has been associated with great Scottish art and artists and they continue that tradition, showcasing the new, up-coming artists with more established painters and sculptors
in print making, jewellery, wood turning and glasswork.
(www.tig-gallery.com)
Tarbert, Loch Fyne, is an idyllic Scottish village also known as the gateway to the beautiful peninsula of Kintyre. The shops, pubs, hotels and houses settled snuggly around the welcoming natural harbour, one of the very few in Scotland. (http://www.tarbertlochfyne.com/)
The Argyll Secret Coast website offers information specific to the area around Portavadie Marina. (http://www.argyllsecretcoast.com/)
Argyll Online provides an Internet Guide to Argyll. We link to their page, which provides information to visitors to Scotland. (http://www.argyllonline.co.uk/index.asp?id=95)
Dunoon is the seaboard gateway to the Scottish Highlands, including the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park. It is a great touring base with an excellent selection of accommodation, shops and eating places to choose from. (http://www.cowal-dunoon.co.uk/index.htm)
The Visit Kintyre website provides information about Campbelltown and the Mull of Kintyre in Argyll. (See http://www.visitkintyre.info/index.htm)
The Island of Bute lies close to Portavadie. This is a link to the official site for the Isle of Bute Marketing and Tourism. (http://www.visitbute.com/index.php)
Campbeltownonline is a community based site for visitors and local people. The website covers the area of South Kintyre, in Argyll, Scotland. The site is separated into easily useable sections including a Business Directory - shops, an Events Calendar, News, Gallery, Walks and a whole lot more. The site covers the areas of Campbeltown, Davaar Island, Carradale, Glenbarr, Machrihanish, Saddell, Southend and Sanda Island. (http://www.campbeltownonline.org.uk/)
The Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park is only a short drive from Portavadie. It embraces the deep inland waters of Loch Lomond, the wild glens of the Trossachs, Breadalbane's high mountains and the sheltered sea lochs of the Argyll Forest. (http://www.lochlomond-trossachs.org/)
Visit the Scottish Heartlands. A tourist website with lots of information about Argyll, the Isles, Loch Lomond, Stirling and the Trossachs. This website lincludes lots of useful links to other local tourist boards in the region. (http://www.visitscottishheartlands.com/)
Ferry Services
The Caledonian MacBrayne Hebridean and Clyde Ferry Company (Calmac) offers a service from Portavadie to Tarbet, Loch Fyne. (http://www.calmac.co.uk/summer-cowal-and-kintyre-timetable.html)
Western Ferries operate over the Short Ferry Crossing Between Hunter's Quay (Dunoon) & McInroy's Point (Gourock)
(http:// www.western-ferries.co.uk)
Walking in Portavadie and Cowal
The Cowal Way is a 47 mile (75 Kilometres) walk, which starts at Portavadie pier and ends at Ardgarten on Loch Long. (http://www.ramblers.org.uk/info/paths/cowal.html)
Cowalfest, Scotland's largest walking festival is now also a major arts festival with a 10 day long programme of walks, arts, cultural and social events that celebrate landscape and the natural world's influence on creativity. Held in the Cowal Peninsula every autumn this West Highland destination is readily accessible by plane, train, car and ferry from the rest of the UK and Europe. (http://www.cowalfest.org/index.html)
The villages of COLINTRAIVE and GLENDARUEL (http://www.visitglendaruel.com) are situated on the Cowal Peninsula in Argyll and Bute. If arriving at Portavadie by car you will pass through Clachan of Glendaruel about 14 miles (23 km) North before taking the turn for Portavadie. Colintraive (say colin-trive) lies about 7.5 miles (12 Km) South of Clachan of Glendaruel. The area is known locally as "COLGLEN". Visit the Colglen website for information about that is happening in this area. (http://www.colglen.org.uk)
General Information and News about the Portavadie area, Argyll and Bute
Argyll and Bute Council is the local government authority for the area. The council website provides a wealth of information about the regions and its towns and villages. (http://www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/)
The Buteman is one of the local newspapers covering the area. (http://www.butemantoday.co.uk/)
The Argyllshire Advertiser - another local newspaper. (http://www.argyllshireadvertiser.co.uk/)
The Dunoon Observer and Argyllshire Standard - another local newspaper. (http://www.dunoon-observer.co.uk/)
Other Links
Loch Lomond Distillery: visit the Loch Lomond Distillery website for information about their range of Scotch Malt whiskies and their grain whisky distillery.