Choosing your corner of the island.

The island's only town, and where the Wemyss Bay ferry lands. Staying in Rothesay means you can arrive as a foot passenger and never need a car: shops, restaurants, the castle, the Winter Gardens, the Victorian toilets, the bus terminus and the pier are all within a few hundred metres of each other.

Accommodation here is largely Victorian and Edwardian — hotels and guesthouses along the Esplanade with bay views, and a good supply of self-catering flats in the big seafront terraces. Best for first-time visitors, car-free trips, families who want ice cream within walking distance, and anyone travelling out of season when rural options close.

The southern end of the island is where walkers should stay. Kilchattan Bay is a single curving row of houses above a sandy beach, and the West Island Way starts at the end of the street. St Blane's, Kingarth, the Kingarth Hotel and Mount Stuart are all within a few miles.

Expect self-catering cottages and rooms rather than hotels, fewer facilities, and darker skies. A car or a willingness to use the island bus makes life much easier here.

Self-catering is the island's strength — Victorian apartments in Rothesay, estate and farm cottages elsewhere — and it usually works out better value than hotels for stays of three nights or more. Hotels and guesthouses cluster in Rothesay and Port Bannatyne, with a few country options inland and to the south.

For camping, there is a caravan and camping site on the island as well as Scotland's right of responsible wild camping under the Scottish Outdoor Access Code: small tents, high ground away from farmland and houses, no fires, leave nothing. Motorhomes should use formal sites and be careful of the single-track west-coast lanes.