Lewis

Lewis forms one part of an island in the Outer Hebrides. Harris forms the southern third of the same island. In former times (up to 1970s) Lewis and Harris were in separate counties, which may explain the dual names.

Callanish standing stones, Isle of Lewis

Map with Lewis in Red

Stornoway Harbour

Regions

Ness is in the north part of the island, the west coast is known as the West side. Uig is in the far west bordering Harris and Lochs is in the South. Point is the peninsula to the east of Stornoway and Back is directly to the north of Stornoway on the east coast.

Cities

• 🌍 Stornoway is the only town.

Villages

Lewis has a large number of fairly small villages, so here they are grouped together

• 🌍 Ness at the very north of the island, including Port of Ness, Lionel, Eoropie and Cross.
• 🌍 Arnol on the west coast including Barvas and Borve.
• 🌍 Carloway on the West coast, including Callanish, Breasclete and Shawbost.
• 🌍 Valtos (Bhaltos) at the southwest including Uig (Lewis), and Timsgarry.
• 🌍 Back on the east coast, north of Stornoway, including Coll and Tolsta.
• 🌍 Balallan on the east coast, south of Stornoway, including North and South Lochs.
• 🌍 Point on the east coast, to the east of Stornoway, including Bayble, Melbost, Garrabost and Shulishader.

Other destinations

Great Bernera is a small island on the west coast connected to Lewis by a bridge.

Understand

Religion plays an important part in many people’s lives. In Lewis and Harris this is often in the form of Protestant Free Presbyterian Churches. As a result the Sabbath (Sunday) is respected, so you are unlikely to find shops open on a Sunday. Activities happening on a Sunday often are opposed locally.

Talk

The Gaelic language and culture is appealing. At a practical level this means that place names on road signs are in Gaelic, but the bus timetables use the English names! Gaelic is widely spoken, but locals are happy to change to English if a visitor joins the conversation.

Get in

By boat

Caledonian MacBrayne. The national ferry service. Citylink coaches generally connect with the ferries on the mainland. Details below are for Summer 2011:

• Ullapool to Stornoway Mon-Sun 2 per day.
• Uig on Skye to Tarbert on Harris Mon-Sat 1 or 2 per day taking 1 hour 40 minutes.

By plane

• Stornoway Airport (SYY ^IATA) has flights connecting the town with Aberdeen, Benbecula, Edinburgh, Inverness and Glasgow. The airport is located about 3km from the town near the village of Melbost.

Get around

By bus

There are good bus services during the day Mon - Sat, but little in the evening and no buses on a Sunday. Western Isles bus timetables.

Car hire

There are no national car hire companies on the islands. There are a number of small local operators, see the Car hire section of Outer Hebrides article for details.

See

• 🌍 Butt of Lewis Lighthouse (About as far north as you can go on Lewis. About 1 mile from the bus stop at Eoropie.). Red brick lighthouse built by David Stevenson in 1862. The lighthouse was automated in 1998. It is in the windiest spot in the United Kingdom, according to the "Guinness Book of Records". The nearby cliff are also worth seeing. From the road up to the lighthouse, the ground can be seen to have ridges from the old system of "Lazy Beds".  

Beaches

There are many fine sandy beaches, mainly on the Western side.

• 🌍 Tolsta Beach (Traigh Mor Tholastaidh) (on the east coast, north of Stornoway). Sandy beach (updated Apr 2017)
• 🌍 Traigh na Beirigh (Valtos Beach) (near Valtos, Uig). Long sandy on the west coast. There are also several smaller beaches nearby. (updated Apr 2017)
• 🌍 Mealista Beach. A beach with both rocks and sand near the former township of Mealista, which was cleared in 1838. (updated Apr 2017)
• 🌍 Uig Sands (Traigh Uige / Ardroil Beach). A large sandy beach, about 2 miles long and over a quarter of a mile wide at low tide. The Lewis chessmen were found nearby in 1831. (updated Apr 2017)

History

Inside Arnol Blackhouse

• Historic Scotland Properties:

• 🌍 Callinish Standing Stones. always open. A 5000 year old impressive stone circle, which is said to be comparable to Stonehenge. There is a locally run visitor centre with cafe nearby, open Mon - Sat 10:00 - 18:00. free. (updated Apr 2017)

• 🌍 Carloway Broch (Dun Carloway). A pre-historic round castle, built around 200BC, and used until about 1000. This broch is about 9m tall, and retains most of its original height, but it one of the more impressive examples. (updated Apr 2017)

• 🌍 Black House Museum at Arnol., 42 Arnol. Apr - Sep Mon - Sat: 9:30 - 17:30, Oct - Mar Mon, Tue, Thu - Sat 10:00 - 16:00. A restoration of an old thatched black house, as was the main housing on the island around 100 years ago. The peat fire inside the black house really brings the place alive, Recently a restored "White House" has been added, showing the sort of house people moved to from the black house. £5. (updated Apr 2017)

• 🌍 Steinacleit, Borve. always open. a set of boulders are all that remains of this chambered cairn. free. (updated Apr 2017)

• 🌍 Garenin Historic village. A village of black houses. The individual houses are not as accurate as Arnol, but you get the village effect better. Some of the houses are let as holiday homes. 

Norse Mill

• 🌍 Norse Mill and Kiln (near Shawbost). A restored flour mill built over a mill lade. This type of mill used to be common in the highlands and islands. (updated Apr 2017)
• 🌍 Cress Raider's Memorial, Cress. Memorial to several land raids against Lord Leverhulme (the landlord) between 1919 and 1921. Leverhulme wanted to convert the surrounding crofts into three big farms. The memorial is in the form of a croft split in three. (updated Apr 2017)
• 🌍 Ness Historical Society, Comunn Eachdraidh Nis, Cross School, Ness, ☎ [phone]. Mon - Fri 10:00 - 16:00, cafe opens at 11:30. Museum and Cafe (updated Apr 2017)

Do

Kite surfing and buggying at Uig Bay

Scotland is becoming increasingly popular as a surfing destination. Despite the lower temperatures compared to traditional surf spots, Lewis offers clean, beautiful and empty beaches and arguably the best breaks in Europe. Lewis offers both west and east coast surf spots, giving a good choice of locations for a variety of wind directions.

Buy

All the major shops are in Stornoway, which has two supermarkets. It is also the only place on Lewis that you will find any chain stores. However there are several small shops around the island, which often manage to pack a varied stock into a small building. Note that shops are all closed on a Sunday (except one petrol station in Stornoway).

• 🌍 Uig Community Shop, ☎ [phone]. Mon - Sat 9:00 - 17:00, (-18:00 on Thu, Fri). shop, post office, laundrette and ATM. Petrol and diesel with out of hours payment terminal. (updated Apr 2017)
• 🌍 Shawbost Shop and Cafe, Raebhat House, HS2 9BD, ☎ [phone]. (updated Apr 2017)
• 🌍 Cross Stores, 7 Cross Skigersta Road, Ness, HS2 0TD, ☎ [phone]. Licensed grocer and hardware store. The on-site butcher makes his own black, white and fruit puddings. (updated Apr 2017)
• 🌍 Swainbost Shop And Filling Station, 28 Swainbost, Ness, HS2 0TA. (updated Apr 2017)
• Cross Post Office, Cross, Ness, HS2 0SN. Post Office And Shop (updated Apr 2017)
• Buth Tholastaidh Limited, North Tolsta, HS2 0NL. Shop And Post Office (updated Apr 2017)
• 🌍 Borve Mini Market, Fivepenny, Borve, HS2 0RX. Shop And Filling Station (updated Apr 2017)
• 🌍 Back Pharmacy, Back, HS2 0JS. (updated Apr 2017)
• 🌍 Welcome Inn Filling Station, Barvas, HS2 0RA. Shop and filling station (updated Apr 2017)

Eat

There are several small shops for buying self-catering supplies, but you will have to go to Stornoway if you want a supermarket.

In many places the best place to eat in the evening may be a hotel - see Sleep for listings.

• 🌍 Cafe Sonas, Port of Ness, ☎ [phone]. seafood restaurant and coffee shop. (updated Apr 2017)
• 🌍 Loch Croistean Coffee Shop & Restaurant, ☎ [phone]. Jun - Sep Mon - Sat 12.00 - 20.00, Oct - May Wed - Sat 12.00 - 20.00 Uhr. (updated Apr 2017)
• 🌍 Old School Tearoom, Balallan, HS2 9PN, ☎ [phone]. summer only. Tearoom run by the historical society. Also coin operated laundrette. (updated Apr 2017)
• 🌍 Uig Cafe, Uig Community Centre, Timsgarry, HS2 9JT. Apr - Sep Mon - Sat, 12noon-5pm. Cafe and small museum in the community centre. (updated Apr 2017)
• 🌍 The Edge Cafe, Aird Uig. (updated Apr 2017)
• 🌍 The Verandah, 40 North Bragar, HS2 9DA, ☎ [phone]. Tue - Sat 12:00 - 16:00, 18:00 -21:00. Also have the Croft Kitchen takeaway (Tue-Sat 12:00 - 19:00) offering pizza, pasta, curries and salads. mains from £15. (updated Apr 2017)

Drink

You won't find standalone bars except in Stornoway, but most hotel bars are open to non-residents.

If you see a local ceilidh advertised it is worth going along. These dances are typically held in village halls and are Scottish Country Dances, usually to a live band. Ceilidhs often don't have a bar, but instead you can bring your own drink. On Lewis Saturday night events will finish very promptly at midnight, but Friday night events may continue well past midnight.

There is one brewery and one distillery on Lewis.

• 🌍 Abhainn Dearg Distillery, Carnish, HS2 9EX, ☎ [phone]. Tours Mon - Sat 11:00 - 13:00, 14:00 - 1600 (closed Sat in winter). A whisky distillery founded in 2007. They keep production totally on the island by using locally grown grain. tour £5. (updated Apr 2017)
• Hebridean Brewing Company. A brewery producing six different ales, which are widely available in bottles on Lewis. The brewery (in Sornoway) is not open for visits. (updated Apr 2017)

Sleep

See Stornoway for accommodation there. More rural places are listed here. Bed and breakfasts and self catering can be found on the tourist board website. Renting a house for a week or more is a popular option. Such places are generally let from Saturday to Saturday.

Hostels

• 🌍 Kershader Community Hostel, Ravenspoint, Kershader, South Lochs, Isle of Lewis, HS2 9QA, ☎ [phone]. Modern hostel affiliated to the SYHA, run by a local group. As it is small and sometimes used by groups, advance booking is recommended. Ravenspoint cafe is on the same site. 
• 🌍 Otter Bunkhouse, Uig, HS2 9ER, ☎ [phone]. 8 bed hostel bed £20. (updated Apr 2017)
• Gearrannan Hostel, Carloway, HS2 9AL, ☎ [phone]. 10 bed hostel in a restored village of traditional blackhouses. If you have a bigger budget, the blackhouses are now luxury holiday cottages. No arrivals on a Sunday. bed £15. (updated Apr 2017)

Camp Sites

• 🌍 Eilean Fraoich Camp Site, North Shawbost, ☎ [phone]. tent and caravan site with kitchen, showers and WiFi 1 man tent £6 - caravan £20. (updated Apr 2017)
• 🌍 Traigh Na Beirigh Campsite (Reef Beach), 13 Kneep, Uig, HS2 9HS, ☎ [phone]. Basic site with showers but no power. It is right next a great sandy beach. Arrive early in the day to get a good pitch. £10. (updated Apr 2017)
• 🌍 Mangersta Croft, 5 Mangersta, Uig, HS2 9EY, ☎ [phone]. 2 shepherd's huts sleeping two and 2 wigwam cabins sleeping four. £85 per cabin per night in summer, £65 in winter. (updated Nov 2018)

B&B and Guesthouses

• 🌍 Leumadair Guesthouse, 7a Callanish, ☎ [phone]. from £40 per person. (updated Apr 2017)
• 🌍 Loch Roag Guesthouse, 22a Breasclete, ☎ [phone]. from £50. (updated Apr 2017)
• 🌍 Clearview B&B, 44 Balallan, ☎ [phone]. 3 room B&B from £40 per person. (updated Apr 2017)
• 🌍 Baile-na-Cille, Timsgarry, Uig, HS2 9JD, ☎ [phone]. 6 rooms £65 per person, dinner £30. (updated Apr 2017)

Hotels

• 🌍 Auberge Carnish, Uig, ☎ [phone]. 4 room hotel and holiday cottage. 20 seat restaurant for which booking is essential (2 course dinner £30.50). £130 per room. (updated Apr 2017)
• 🌍 Borve House Hotel, Borve, ☎ [phone]. 9 room country house hotel with bar and restaurant. (updated Apr 2017)
• 🌍 Doune Braes Hotel, Carloway, HS2 9AA., ☎ [phone]. 16 room hotel with restaurant and bar. from £60. (updated Apr 2017)
• 🌍 Loch Erisort Inn, Sheildinish, HS2 9RA (near Balallan, on the road to Kershader), ☎ [phone]. 5 room hotel and restaurant from £38 per person. (updated Apr 2017)

Stay safe

Go next

• South to Harris, then by ferry to Berneray and North Uist
• East by ferry to Ullapool