Dunoon

Dunoon's accommodation is shaped by its history as a Victorian and Edwardian holiday resort, so the choice runs from grand seafront hotels built for the steamer trade to smaller family-run guest houses in the same bay-windowed terraces. Several of the town's best-known hotels, including the Argyll and the Esplanade, sit directly on the water at West Bay and the pier, putting guests within easy walking distance of the shops, the museum and the ferry terminal. Further along the coast towards Kirn and Hunters Quay, hotels and guest houses look out over the Firth towards Gourock and the Cloch lighthouse, and are the natural choice for anyone arriving by the Western Ferries car crossing rather than the passenger ferry into the town centre.

Away from the seafront, a handful of properties trade on quieter, more secluded settings, with wooded gardens on the hillside above West Bay offering a country-house feel only a short walk from the town. Inland, towards Loch Eck and the Argyll Forest Park, a historic coaching inn gives walkers and wildlife-watchers a base close to Puck's Glen and Benmore Botanic Garden without the need to return to the coast each evening.

Across the board, expect traditional rather than boutique styling, with many properties run by the same family or small group for years and prizing personal service and home cooking over minimalist design. Sea views are common currency here rather than a premium extra, and several hotels and guest houses have held long-standing certificates of excellence from guest review sites. Booking ahead is worth doing for the Cowal Highland Gathering weekend in August, when the town's beds fill quickly, but outside that peak, Dunoon's hotels rarely feel oversubscribed even in high summer.

Dunoon's attractions divide neatly between the town itself and short trips into the surrounding Cowal countryside, so a few days here rarely feel repetitive.

• Castle House Museum traces the town's history from the medieval castle through the Victorian steamer age to the Cold War submarine base, in a Victorian house built for a local sugar merchant.
• Benmore Botanic Garden, a few miles north of the town, is an outstation of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, famous for its avenue of giant redwoods and its rhododendron collection.
• Puck's Glen is a steep wooded gorge walk near Benmore, threaded with footbridges over a tumbling burn and waterfalls, and one of the most photographed short walks in Argyll.
• Dunoon Pier and the Cowal waterfront are worth a slow stroll, taking in the Cowal War Memorial, the pier's Victorian ironwork, and views across to Gourock and the Cloch lighthouse.
• Cowal Highland Gathering, held each August, is one of Scotland's largest Highland games, with massed pipe bands, heavy events and Highland dancing drawing crowds back to the town every summer.
• Kilmun Arboretum and the Holy Loch shore make an easy afternoon drive, combining a Forestry and Land Scotland tree collection with the quiet villages of Kilmun, Sandbank and the former submarine base.
• Toward Point Lighthouse, south of the town, is a good easy walk or drive with views down the Firth of Clyde towards Bute and the Cumbraes.
• Loch Eck, a long freshwater loch a short drive inland, offers fishing, quiet lochside walking and access into the wider Argyll Forest Park.

Dunoon's food scene leans on its seafood and its long history as a holiday resort, with fish and chip shops along the front doing brisk trade alongside more contemporary cafes and bistros that have opened in recent years. Local seafood, particularly langoustines and scallops landed around the Clyde and Cowal coast, turns up on menus at several of the town's restaurants, often served simply to let the produce speak for itself. The town's hotels tend to run their own bars and dining rooms rather than relying on standalone restaurants, and a few, including some of the seafront hotels, keep a genuinely local crowd alongside overnight guests, which makes them a good measure of where residents actually eat and drink. A small Saturday farmers' market and the independent shops along Argyll Street are worth a look for Scottish cheese, baking and preserves to take home, and the traditional ice cream parlours along the seafront are an essential stop on a fine afternoon, a habit that goes back to the town's earliest days as a steamer resort.

There is no large-scale touring or tent campsite within Dunoon itself, but the Cowal Peninsula around it is well supplied with genuine camping and touring caravan parks, all within a few miles of the town and its ferry links. The closest options sit just north of Dunoon around the Holy Loch and Kilmun, within easy reach of the seafront, the museum and the shops, while a short drive further into Cowal opens up sites set among woodland and hills, better suited to walkers heading for Puck's Glen, Benmore Botanic Garden or the Argyll Forest Park.

Facilities across the area tend towards the straightforward rather than the resort-style: electric hookups, modern shower and toilet blocks, and dog-friendly pitches are standard, while swimming pools and organised entertainment are the exception rather than the rule. That suits the kind of camping the Cowal Peninsula does best, built around walking, wildlife and the loch and forest scenery rather than static holiday parks, though touring caravans and motorhomes are just as welcome as tents at each of the sites below.

Given the region's rainfall, a hardstanding or well-drained pitch is worth checking for at busier times of year, and it is sensible to book ahead for the Cowal Highland Gathering weekend in August, when demand for pitches within reach of Dunoon rises sharply along with demand for the town's hotel rooms.