2028 Scotland to Iceland Golf Cruise

The tour opens in the Inner Hebrides and finishes in Reykjavík, and it covers ground that almost nobody sees in a single trip. You begin on Islay with two nights at The Machrie above Laggan Bay, then cross by ferry to the Kintyre peninsula for Machrihanish Dunes and the Championship Old Course, staying at The Ugadale directly behind the first tee. On the fifth day the group boards Le Bellot in Glasgow and sails for ten nights, calling at Belfast, Fort William on Loch Linnhe, Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis, two days in the Faroe Islands, Djúpivogur on the east coast of Iceland, Heimaey in the Westman Islands and finally Reykjavík. The last two nights are ashore in the Icelandic capital with two rounds of golf. 14 Nights from 18 May – 01 June 2028.

between 20 – 24 guests for this trip. The number is deliberate and it governs everything about how the tour runs. Our group fits into one private coach, which means the group moves together and nobody waits for a second vehicle.

Late May is the narrow window where all of this works at once, and it is the reason the dates are what they are. The Scottish links have come into early summer condition but the season has not yet filled, so the courses are quiet and the group plays without pressure from behind. The North Atlantic is at its most settled of the year, which matters a great deal on a route that crosses to the Faroes and along the Icelandic coast. The seabird colonies at Beinisvørð and in the Vestmanna cliffs are at full occupation, so the Faroese days are at their most spectacular. And the light is remarkable. Scotland in late May gives around seventeen hours of daylight, and by the time the ship reaches Reykjavík at the start of June there are roughly twenty one hours of usable light and no real darkness at all. Guests routinely find themselves on deck at midnight because it simply does not occur to them to go to bed.

There is no minimum handicap for this tour and you do not need to be a low marker to enjoy it. These are historic links courses rather than tournament setups, and the characteristics that make them great are width, firmness and wind rather than length and penalty. The Machrie and Machrihanish both have generous fairways and the sort of ground that rewards a running ball, which flatters an average striker more than a manicured parkland course ever will. However, for everyone’s enjoyment we recommend ladies have a handicap of 36 or below, and 28 for men.

Yes, and non golfers are not an afterthought on this tour with a dedicated itinerary throughout. On Islay that means a guided day through the distilleries of the Kildalton shore where Laphroaig, Lagavulin and Ardbeg stand within a mile of one another. On Kintyre it is Campbeltown and Springbank, the only distillery in Scotland that malts, distils, matures and bottles everything on one site. In Belfast it is the Titanic Quarter and the city. On Heimaey it is Eldheimar, the museum built over a house buried by the 1973 eruption. In Iceland it is a food and culture walk through old Reykjavík and a day at the Blue Lagoon.

5 Included rounds of golf during the main cruise, and two during the post-tour. Up to seven rounds across four countries. On Islay you play The Machrie, laid out by Willie Campbell in 1891 and rebuilt by DJ Russell between 2013 and 2018, with five holes running along the North Atlantic. On Kintyre you play Machrihanish Dunes, built across a Site of Special Scientific Interest with almost no earth moved, and then the Championship Old Course at Machrihanish, extended to eighteen holes by Old Tom Morris in 1879 and opening with what Jack Nicklaus called the best first hole in the world. From the ship you play Royal Belfast, the oldest club in Ireland and a Harry Colt design above Belfast Lough, and Vestmannaeyjar, laid out inside an extinct volcanic crater on Heimaey. In Iceland you finish with Keilir, whose front nine threads through a lava field, and Brautarholt, a clifftop course on a peninsula with the Atlantic on three sides.

Bring your own if you reasonably can, because these are courses you will want to play with your own equipment, and because the logistics are handled for you rather than by you. Clubs travel with the group for the duration. They are moved between hotels, loaded on and off the ferry, taken aboard Le Bellot in Glasgow and brought back ashore in Reykjavík, and you will not carry them further than your own room. If you would rather not fly them halfway around the world, hire sets can be arranged at every course on the itinerary and we will organise that ahead of departure so there is nothing to sort out on arrival. Alternatively, we work with logistics companies and can source a quote for shipping your clubs back home for you if travelling on.

For the most part you will be walking, and that is not an oversight. Links golf is a walking game and the ground at The Machrie and Machrihanish is part of the experience of playing them. Machrihanish Dunes is the one course where the rule is absolute. It sits on a Site of Special Scientific Interest, which means the course is walking only and buggies are permitted strictly on medical grounds and must be driven by a hired caddie rather than the player. We hold a small number of those and they are allocated on request. At the other courses buggies and caddies can generally be arranged, and because we contract the tee times directly we can request them as part of the block rather than leaving you to ask at the counter. Let us know what you need when you book and we will have it in place.

Le Bellot is a small ship by any measure and intentionally so. She is a hundred and thirty one metres long, under ten thousand tonnes, and carries a maximum of a hundred and eighty four guests in ninety two staterooms with a French and international crew of around a hundred and ten. That is close to one crew member for every two guests. The size is not a compromise on comfort, it is the reason the itinerary exists at all. Suðuroy, Djúpivogur and Heimaey are simply closed to larger vessels, either because the berths cannot take them or because the call has to be made by tender. She entered service in 2020 as one of six sisters in Ponant’s Explorer class, purpose built for high latitude coastlines, and the interiors are contemporary French rather than traditional cruise ship, understated and full of daylight.

Almost everything, and the things that are included are the things that usually appear on the bill at the end. All meals across both restaurants, the main panoramic dining room and the casual outdoor grill, with no surcharge and no reservation required for either. An open bar for the entire voyage covering French wines, Champagne, spirits, beer and soft drinks. Twenty four hour room service. All crew gratuities, so there is no daily service charge accruing and nothing to settle on disembarkation. Wifi throughout the ship, subject to where in the North Atlantic you happen to be. All port taxes and charges. And one Ponant excursion in every single port of call, which across this itinerary covers the Wonders of the Highlands at Fort William, the standing stones of Lewis, the Faroese days, Jökulsárlón on the east coast and the full Golden Circle out of Reykjavík.

Less than its reputation suggests, and this itinerary is built to keep it that way. Late May into early June is the most settled part of the year on this route, which is one of the main reasons the dates sit where they do. Le Bellot is a stabilised ship and the longest open water passages on the voyage are short, because the route works its way up the Hebrides and across to the Faroes in stages rather than striking out across open ocean. Your stateroom is on Deck 3, the lowest and most stable accommodation aboard, where motion is least noticeable. Most guests find they adjust within the first evening and think no more about it. If you know you are prone to seasickness, bring whatever normally works for you and speak to the ship’s doctor, who carries the usual remedies.

Aboard the ship it is elegant casual throughout, with no formal nights, no black tie and nothing you need to pack a dinner suit for. In practice that means a jacket and open collar for dinner if you like, or smart trousers and a good shirt, and genuinely relaxed clothing during the day. Ashore the expectations are a little firmer. The clubs expect proper golf attire on the course, which means collared shirts, tailored trousers or shorts and golf shoes, and one or two have requirements for the clubhouse itself. Because we contract directly with each club we know what each one asks and we send you a short note covering all of it before you travel, so nobody turns up at Royal Belfast in the wrong thing.

We build and operate this tour ourselves, working directly with the hotels, golf courses and local suppliers throughout the journey. From our accommodation on Islay and Kintyre to the tee times, private transport, flights, ferry crossings and our stateroom allocation aboard Le Bellot, each part of the itinerary has been arranged specifically for our group.

Just as importantly, we travel with you. A Voyages.golf Tour Host accompanies the group throughout the journey, looking after the day-to-day arrangements and making sure everything runs as planned. It’s a hands-on approach that has been central to our tours from the beginning.

International flights are not included, but we can certainly add these for you. The tour is priced from Glasgow and out of Reykjavík, which leaves you free to route your own long haul flights the way that suits you, whether that means using points, flying a preferred carrier, taking a premium cabin, or building a longer European trip around the dates. Guests travelling from Australia often add a few days in Scotland beforehand or continue on from Iceland, and pricing the tour this way makes that straightforward. We are very happy to advise on sensible routings and timings, including how much margin to leave before the Islay flight. The Glasgow to Islay leg itself is part of the tour and we book it for you.

Yes, it is a condition of travel. Much of the tour is prepaid and non refundable, as our supplier payments for all the included services have matching terms.