Iona Abbey and Nunnery

Beautiful Iona. The Nunnery remains are mainly ruins and are the first thing you encounter going to the Abbey. The Nunnery was founded around 1200 ad. The Abbey was founded by St Columba in 563 ad. The Abbey is used by the Iona Community and still functions as a religious and welcome centre. You can't visit Mull and not visit Iona! You have to pay to enter the grounds and the Abbey but it really is worth a visit. The museum is very small but extremely interesting but the location could be better identified.

If you're on Mull, you should take some time to visit Iona Abbey and Nunnery. A peaceful and tranquil experience of life for monks and nuns on this tiny island. Well worth a visit.

A very interesting day out, get over to the south of Mull early though. This way you will miss the rush for the ferry to Iona. The history in this place goes back over 1000 years. Truly worth a visit

I didn't expect this place to be so nice. The history of this remote place is very interesting, and we were quite happy to visit. The free audio guide is something nice as well. Little museum on the back was nice as well.

We visited 24 years ago on honeymoon and it was incredibly special. Visiting again you could see the change in tourism. Many many more people, the place itself hasn't changed but the feel has. It didn't feel as spiritual now, more of a destination to look at rather than be in. It left me feeling a little sad actually. It's lovely and well worth a visit but I remember the feeling I got the first time I went. Talking to a local it was interesting that she recognised the challenge of being financially sustainable and feeling remote and spiritual!

One of the main attraction if you been to this place. Isle of Iona is a part of our 3 Isle trip from Oban that covered Isle of Mull, Staffa and Iona. Ferry leaves here for 2 hours and that I think more than enough to be here. This place has different tickets which I think you can buy on the spot as well, or if you only want a pic from outside only then there are couple of places to have so.

It's almost impossible to imagine a place so serene, so saturated with peace, history and beauty. Perhaps even holiness. Having a perfect, sun-washed day helped, of course. it was a short walk along immaculately clean streets and past tidy community gardens. An admission building funneled everyone into it and then we were able to wander the grounds. There is a very nice museum with loads of artifacts across the centuries; effigies, original Celtic crosses, statues and relics. The original bakehouse site is now a lovely garden with seating for rest and contemplation. We stood outside the entrance to the original chapel where St Columba once stood and heard the tail end of a message from a priest of the current Iona Community, an ecumenical group. The Abbey was built later around 900 AD and remains a stunning building with great acoustics for any singers as well as statues, effigies and architectural interest.

Amazing place if you are into windswept Scottish Hebridean islands, Viking conquest history or Scottish religious history this place is stunning.

I thought I was reserving the most interesting building in the islands. Turns out I didn't even need to reserve them, plenty of available room here. I doubt they ever have enough tourism to sell out of tickets. I can't say the Abbey and museum were a waste of my time, since I had 2 hours to kill between ferries, but I don't think they're worth £10. Because this place is still active, they've rebuilt a lot of original material, which is quite sad. I photographed the original bits that were left, but the most interesting parts (the nunnery especially) are free! You only pay to enter the grounds of the church and see the small museum, and the whole thing is 90% stone crosses and grave markers. I have to think the fee is to raise money for the church, more than maintaining history. So if you find yourself in Iona, and you're not a devout Christian, I recommend checking out all the ruins around the Abbey, anything you can see without paying, and leaving it at that. If you do believe in the Church, this place probably has more spiritual significance for you, but unfortunately it lacks as a museum.

We spent a day in Iona visiting the abbey and nunnery. The weather cooperated and it was mostly cloudy with just spots of rain. It's a short walk to the nunnery and abbey from the dock where the ferry dropped us off. The nunnery is on the way to the abbey and is mostly in ruins. It's still worth a stop to understand the history, although you can't go inside. If you're lucky you might even see some hairy coos on the walk to the abbey. The abbey is having some work done so there was scaffolding on one side. But the architecture is still stunning. It's in a beautiful location. The interior is serene and tranquil. There's a separate building in the back that is the museum, which is also very informative. This was on our must-see list during our Scotland visit and it was wonderful to spend the hours here.

There is an admission fee (£7.50 per adult), but it is worth it given the effort it takes to get to Iona in the first place. The Isle of Iona is accessed by a large Caledonian ferry from Oban to Isle of Mull and then again from a small ferry that does not allow vehicles from the Western edge of Mull to the small Isle of Iona. Once on the island, there are minimal activities, but it is worth the day trip when combined with a visit to the Isle of Staffa. The major attraction on Iona is the Abbey, which lay partly in ruins. There are excellent, guided tours of the abbey by extremely knowledgeable staff. The full tour of the abbey takes around 30 minutes.

Wow! Absolutely fabulous. You receive a little hand held listening device and you go on your own audio tour. Being the dork that I am, I listened to everything. It took more than 2 hours. My mother has limited mobility. She thought she could walk from the ferry to the Abbey. Big mistake. Spend the money and take a taxi. The welcome center where you buy the tickets does not have any seating. It was pouring down rain too. They were so kind and permitted my mom onto the grounds and let her sit in the Abbey. She had a walker and it was bit of a squeeze to get her walker through the doors, but she did. She got to sit down, she was dry, and did not have a bad view either. There is a gift shop. Their prices are the best on the Island and even on Isle of Mull. I recommend this is the place to buy souvenirs. On the back of the Abbey is more stuff to visit. They even have Highland Cattle (the long haired cows) just chillin', so you can get some real close up pictures of them. From the ferry, go up the hill. On your right, stop off at the Nunnery Ruins. Nice photos shots. Continue to your right. You will see an old celtic cross, this was a pilgrimage stop. Another good photo spot. Unfortunately we came on a Sunday, so a museum was closed, but I would have visited. The Abbey gift shop called a taxi for us. He dropped us off at the restaurant and gift shop because we had 30 minutes until the next ferry. The reviews about the restaurant being crazy busy is true -- its a mad house. The gift shop was very nice, but so so expensive. We decided to eat once we got back to the Isle of Mull (the snack place at the ferry stop was not worth it -- so I advise bring snacks with you). We did this on our own. We did not do the "day trip" with an added boat trip to see wild life.

This island and Abbey is well worth the visit, even though it takes a while to get to the South-West point of Mull for the 10-15 min ferry over, no cars without permits. The building and history behind it is very interesting, its lovely. This is also very busy considering its whereabouts.