Useful information

It should be a piece of cake to find information on the Outer Hebrides, since I think that there are about as much websites on them as there are actual inhabitants... Nevertheless, an overview, with some tips.

Hebrides Information:

Visit Hebrides
Surf the Hebrides!

Where to stay:

There are no offical campsites on Harris & Lewis, except for a semi-offical one at Drinisiadar, and a public toilet in a bad state at Horgabost.
However, you might consider yourself an utter idiot if you don't try one of the Youth Hostels, especially those run by the Gatliff Trust; here's a complete list, from north to south -
Lewis - In & around Stornoway: SBH (IBHS); Fairhaven (IBHS); Laxdale (IBHS) - Elsewhere: Galson Farm (IBHS); Garenin (see also; Gatliff/SYHA); Kershader (SYHA)
Harris - North: Rhenigidale (see also; Gatliff/SYHA) - Tarbert: Rockview (IBHS) - South: Drinishader (IBHS); Am Bothan (IBHS)
Berneray - Berneray (see also; Gatliff/SYHA)
North Uist - UOC (IBHS)
Benbecula - Balivanich (IBHS)
South Uist - Howmore (see also; Gatliff/SYHA)
Barra - Dunard (IBHS)
Do check out the immensely useful YH-list of the SYHA (NW Scotland); the most outrageous one is Carbisdale Castle.
Also check out the great list of IBHS (Hebrides); also NW Scotland

To get there:

All the links you'll need on one official page -
Most people, when in Scotland, get there by ferry, either from Ullapool to Stornoway, or from Uig (on Skye) to Tarbert. You can get to the southern Outer Hebrides from Oban as well. The ferry's the most dramatic way, since you really feel like you're going to the edge of the world. Best is to get on the Western Isles at some point, hopping from one island to another, and leave at a different point. Cyclists: note that winds are mostly from the WSW, so you're advised to start on Barra and make your way to Lewis (more information on cycling, with a very handy map with all the facilities). In any case, when you want to go there, you'll have to take a combination of plane/train/boat, since it's remote, even for Scotland.

Additional tips on travel:

BARRA AIRPORT - What you should absolutely try (we didn't, but will), is use one of the only airports in the world where the landing strip is actually the beach! How? Well, Loganair flies to several impossibly small airports, one of which is Barra Airport (from Glasgow), where the flight scedule depends on the tides (check it at British Airways). Note however that flights get quite expensive once you don't depart from the same airport you arrived at. The plane in which you fly is also impossibly small, a Twin Otter. Check out Barra Airport at Undiscovered Scotland, and look at this QuickTime panoramic view (zoom in or out with shift/control)!!!
ST. KILDA - There are numerous little remote islands, but St. Kilda (Hiort) is probably the most famous, an archipelago of sharp rocks sticking up out of the raging waves of the Northern Atlantic, 50 miles off the Outer Hebrides coast. There's no one living on the islands (there's a small army base), but there's the remains of an entirely unique community (who relied almost exclusively on birds for their food), prehistoric sheep, and Birdwatcher's Heaven.
You can get there in several ways; try the sympathetic Ardnamurchan Charters or Northern Light, but there's more of them. Note that the seas are extremely wild, and the boat trip that takes an average of 6-8 hours can take much longer, or may not be able to get there at all. Freaks might want to go sea kayaking.

back to Harris (Na Hearadh) or the Isle of Lewis (Eilean Leòdhais); or onward to the Mainland

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