Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Isle of Bute
POP 7350
The island of Bute lies pinched between the thumb and forefinger of the Cowal peninsula,
separated from the mainland by a narrow, scenic strait known as the Kyles of Bute. The
Highland Boundary Fault cuts through the middle of the island so that, geologically
speaking, the northern half is in the Highlands and the southern half is in the central Low-
lands - a metal arch on Rothesay's Esplanade marks the fault line.
The
Isle of Bute Discovery Centre
(
01700-502151;
www.visitscottishheartlands.com
;
Victoria St, Rothesay; 10am-6pm Mon-Fri,
9.30am-5pm Sat & Sun Jul & Aug, 10am-5pm daily Apr-Jun & Sep, shorter hours Oct-
Mar)
is in Rothesay's restored Winter Gardens.
The five-day
Isle of Bute Jazz Festival
(
www.butejazz.com
)
is held over the first week-
end of May.
ROTHESAY
From the mid-19th century until the 1960s, Rothesay - once dubbed the Margate of the
Clyde - was one of the most popular holiday resorts in Scotland. Its Esplanade was bust-
ling with day-trippers disembarking from the numerous steamers crowded around the pier,
and its hotels were filled with elderly holidaymakers and convalescents taking advantage
of the town's famously mild climate.
The fashion for foreign holidays that took off in the 1970s saw Rothesay's fortunes de-
cline, and by the late 1990s it had become dilapidated and despondent. But in the last few
years a nostalgia-fuelled resurgence of interest in Rothesay's holiday heyday has seen
many of its Victorian buildings restored, the ferry terminal and harbour rebuilt and mari-
nas constructed at Rothesay and Port Bannatyne. There's now a feeling of optimism in the
air.
Sights
Victorian Toilets
(Rothesay Pier; adult/child 20p/free)
There aren't too many places where a public toilet
would count as a tourist attraction, but Rothesay's Victorian toilets, dating from 1899, are
a monument to lavatorial luxury − a disinfectant-scented temple of green and black
marbled stoneware, glistening white enamel, glass-sided cisterns and gleaming copper
HISTORIC BUILDING
