South West

South West Scotland is a lowland region of Scotland, a triangle bounded to the west by the Firth of Clyde and to the south by the Solway Firth. It's mostly rural, but with a strip of resort towns along the Clyde coast and industry inland.

Photo: Прон, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Photo: AlasdairW, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Essential Destinations

Top destinations include Ayr and Isle of Arran.

Ayr

Photo: AlasdairW, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Ayr is a town in Ayrshire on the coast of South West Scotland, with a population of 46,260 in 2020. Its chief attraction for visitors is the nearby village of Alloway, birthplace of Robert Burns.

Isle of Arran

Photo: AlasdairW, CC BY-SA 3.0.

The Isle of Arran is part of Ayrshire in southwest Scotland. It lies in the Firth of Clyde, the broad reach of sea southwest of Glasgow and enclosed by the Ayrshire coast to the east and the Kintyre peninsula to the west.

Dumfries

Photo: AlasdairW, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Dumfries is the principal town of Dumfries and Galloway in southwest Scotland. It's a pleasant market town, with a population of 46,500 in 2020. Robert Burns the poet spent his last years here: from 1788 to 1791 at Ellisland Farm 7 miles north, then in Dumfries town until his death, aged 37.

Destinations to Discover

Explore places such as Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway.

Ayrshire

Photo: StaraBlazkova, CC BY 2.5.

Ayrshire is a region in the southwest of Scotland. It's divided administratively into South, East and North Ayrshire; but for visitors the practical divisions are the coast, the islands, and the inland areas.

Dumfries and Galloway

Photo: Phil Sangwell, CC BY 2.0.

Dumfries and Galloway is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, situated in the western part of the Southern Uplands. It is bordered by East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and South Lanarkshire to the north; the Scottish Borders to the northeast; and the English county of Cumbria, the Solway Firth, and the Irish Sea to the south.

Clydesdale

Photo: AlasdairW, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Clydesdale is a region in the southwest of Scotland. It encompasses the catchment and upper course of the River Clyde, and roughly corresponds to four of the local government districts of South Lanarkshire, which in 2019 had a combined population of about 62,000.