Pricing

The cost of this holiday starts at £1095 per person sharing a twin or double room, not including your travel to and from Glasgow.

Glasgow is the ideal starting point and we will have a welcome reception and dinner together at the Radisson Blu Hotel, within walking distance of Glasgow Central Station.

The next four or five nights will be at the St Columba Hotel which is reserved for  McCabe for the duration of the stay.

All rooms are en suite with the option of sea view. Each room comes with tea and coffee making facilities, a hairdryer and toiletries. Meals are served in the dining room, with beautiful views over the Sound of Iona.

Prices and Upgrades
The price is based on a standard twin or double. Sea view upgrade and upgrade to superior room with sea view are available.

Included in the price is breakfast, 3-course dinners and one lunch all with tea and coffee, plus coach transportation, ferry crossings and tips.

Included                                               

Hotel accommodation, breakfasts, 1 lunch and all dinners, Iona Abbey entrance fee, transport and gratuities.

Not included

Single room supplement and room upgrades

Travelling Alone

We can offer a limited number of single rooms at the St Columba Hotel with a single room supplement

Train Tickets

Travel to Glasgow is not included. Train is possibly easiest with our first night hotel walking distance from Central station. We recommend booking rail tickets online from www.thetrainline.com or similar.

Travel Insurance

We recommend that you buy UK Short Break Travel insurance which includes COVID-19 related claims. You can purchase cover at the Post Office or from Global Travel Insurance by calling 01903 235042.

Hotels

You can view hotel websites here:

Radisson Blu Hotel, Glasgow

St Columba Hotel, Iona

ISLE OF STAFFA BOAT TRIP

You can take a trip by small boat from Iona to Staffa, home to the basalt pillared Fingal’s Cave and inspiration for Mendelssohn’s overture The Hebrides. Time is spent ashore (weather permitting) with the opportunity to explore the cave and island.

Cost: £30 per person

Trips are scheduled every day at 09:30 and 12:15. Visit staffatours.com or call 07732 912370 to book.

Our journey

We recommend booking rail tickets online from www.thetrainline.com or similar.

If you are flying to Glasgow, there is a shuttle bus service from the airport to the city centre.

We will travel in our own coach and be accompanied by an experienced McCabe Travel leader.

Boats feature strongly in our programme and can be a lot of fun.  Our coach travels with us on the ferry to Mull which is a large modern vessel with restaurant, bar, shop, lounges and viewing decks.  The boat has lifts so is fully accessible.

In contrast, foot passengers, bicycles and islanders’ cars only are allowed on the small ferry to cross to Iona.

The hotel is a short walk from the ferry and luggage will be transported.  The Iona island taxi can assist anyone who prefers not to walk from the ferry to the hotel.

We will travel in our own coach and be accompanied by experienced McCabe leaders. On Iona we will meet members of the Iona community and offer two programmes, one involving more walking than the other. A highlight will be a service in Iona Abbey itself.

Iona and St Columba

Iona is a tiny and beautiful Hebridean island off the west coast of Scotland, cradle of Christianity in Scotland. In 563AD, the Irish monk Columba (Columkille) established a monastic settlement, evangelising large parts of Scotland and the north of England and Iona became an important centre of European Christianity.

In the Middle Ages it became the site of a Benedictine abbey, and over the centuries it has attracted many thousands of people on their own pilgrim journeys.

The Iona Community

The Iona Community was founded in 1938 by George MacLeod, minister, visionary and prophetic witness for peace, in the context of the poverty and despair of the Depression. From a dockland parish in Glasgow, he took unemployed skilled craftsmen and young trainee clergy to Iona to rebuild both the monastic quarters of the mediaeval abbey and the common life by working and living together, sharing skills and effort as well as joys and achievement. That original task became a sign of hopeful rebuilding of community in Scotland and beyond. The experience shaped – and continues to shape – the practice and principles of the Iona Community.

As an aside, the late Ursula MacLeod, George’s cousin, was a founder member of McCabe Pilgrimages.

Iona Today

Today, Iona remains a centre for pilgrimage and the daily services of the Iona Community are open to all.

There is a year-round population of over 100; long-established island families as well as more recent arrivals, including those who work for the Iona Community as staff or volunteers. The abbey itself is now managed by Historic Scotland but the Iona Community remains in residence as a living, worshipping presence. The islanders, the Iona Community and Historic Scotland work together to maintain Iona as a place of welcome.