Isle of Staffa walk - Staffa walk

Route: Isle of Staffa and Fingal’s Cave

Area: Staffa, Scotland

Date of walk: 13th September 2026

Walkers: Andrew and Gilly

Distance: 2.0 miles

Ascent: 100 feet

Weather: Mostly sunny

A visit to the Isle of Staffa has been at the top of our wish list for our stay on Mull. We’d already booked a boat tour to the island with Staffa Trips, who very helpfully emailed us a couple of days ago to ask if we wanted to change the date of the tour, as weather conditions would be much more favourable on the Sunday. We were very grateful for this, as the weather was superb

From our base on North Mull we drove to Fionnphort, a journey of 60 miles which takes 2 hours thanks to the tortuous route and single track roads. We parked in the free car park at the edge of the port and set off for Staffa aboard the Iolaire of Iona. The journey took about 1 hour and we kept a look out for whales and dolphins along the way. We saw none of these, but had plenty of good seabird sightings

Eventually Staffa hove into view and the captain steered the boat along the coastline, giving everyone the chance to see the incredible basalt columns for which the island is famous, click here for information about the geology of the place. After disembarking (quite tricky with an ocean swell and a small boat), we made our way up a flight of steps to the top of the island. We decided to leave Fingal’s Cave until the end, by which time most visitors would have seen it. There are numerous paths which meander across the top, all of which offer spectacular views. I’ve not suggested a route as this will depend on the time available. We had an allotted hour or so, which was plenty of time

We then descended back to the landing stage and set off along the foot of the cliffs to seek out Fingal’s Cave. This involves walking over basalt columns (which can be very slippery when wet) with a comforting fence to hold onto at times. We arrived at the entrance to the cave – an incredible place – and walked into it along a narrow path. From here we retraced our steps in time to catch the boat back

This wasn’t the end of the adventure though, since Staffa Trips offer the option to disembark on Iona, see my next walk

The Isle of Staffa is very small, and a route map isn’t necessary. The Map Page links to the National Trust for Scotland website with a plan showing the geography of the island. Note that Staffa is completely uninhabited and there are no facilities whatsoever

Scroll down – or click on any photo to view as a slideshow

Having parked at Fionnphort, Isle of Mull, we walk to the quay. Our boat comes in - Iolaire of Iona, operated by Staffa Trips

We sail past Iona and its Abbey, which we'll visit later

A colony of cormorants

After a 45 minute journey, the Isle of Staffa comes into view, with Mackinnon's Cave left and Boat Cave right

Sailing past Mackinnon's Cave

Closer to the incredible basalt column as we pass by Mackinnon's Cave...

...and Boat Cave

View along the coastline

Fingal's Cave, which we'll visit after disembarking from the boat

We sail past Fingal's Cave as we approach the landing stage

The otherwordly rock islet of Am Buachaille ('The Herdsman')

Tide and weather dictate if it's possible to land. Fortunately these were on our side today

Most of the other passengers headed straight for Fingal's Cave, but we decided to save this until the end and climbed the stairs to the top of the island

Hexagonal columns are the most common, but four, five, and seven-sided pillars also form depending on how fast the lava cooled

View from the top of the stairs, looking towards the Isle of Mull

We follow a path to a cairn, the highest point on Staffa, here looking back towards Mull

We follow a path over the grassy top. We only had an hour or so on the island so we simply ambled wherever our interest took us

Looking down on the basalt colums

We continue along the island

Bac Mòr in the distance, often called Dutchman’s Cap because of its shape

We descend to the path below and follow it for a short distance

We pass by a rock outcrop

We retraced our steps at this point, as we needed to allow sufficient time to visit Fingal's Cave

We return via the staircase

The start of the walk to Fingal's Cave. There are rails in places

We have to take care, as the rocks can be slippery

Looking back to Am Buachaille, one of the scenic highlights of our visit

We arrive at the mouth of Fingal's Cave

We enter the cave, and were glad to have done so at the end of the visit, as we had an unobstructed view into it...

Composer Felix Mendelssohn visited this place in 1829 and wrote his overture, The Hebrides, (also known as Fingal's Cave Overture), inspired by the echoes in the cave