Tiree is one of the sunniest places in the British Isles  - there are no hills for clouds to stick on and it tends to be pretty windy  so most weather systems just whizz on past. Even if you get up and it's mingin, chances are it will blow over and be sunny by tea time. There are beaches facing in all directions, plenty of waves and almost constant wind in Tiree so it's excellent for kiting, windsurfing and surfing. We should warn you that there aren't many options for the (unusual) non-windy days or people who don't do water, birds or walking. Most of the beaches are really easy to get to as you just drive off the road onto the machair and you're there! The exceptions are Balephuil Bay and Traigh Thodhrasdail (AKA The Maze) which are a bit of a sod to get to but I'm sure the nice people at Wild Diamond (that always makes me think of  Wyldd Stallyns from Bill & Ted!) will help you out!

Gott Bay

Gott bay is about 3 1/2 km of very hard, fine sand so with the right wind directions you can have a whole lot of fun on a buggy or landboard. We didn't get the right wind for kitesurfing Gott Bay when we visited but there are some fab shots on Tiree Images. The beach faces mostly SE (it's a curved bay) but you can get away with offshore winds for buggying/landboarding as the land is very flat so it's not too gusty.

Balephetrish

Again we didn't get the right wind to surf here but it's a smaller version of Gott Bay so we had some fine buggying as you can see from the picture. If the wind dies, you can always build a Beach Dude.

 Crossapol (Traigh Bhagh)

  Another lovely turquoise bay which is quite narrow at high tide but eminently kite-able. It was blowin a SW hoolie pretty much all the time when we were there and some nutty French dudes we met were getting some serious air of the top of the incoming swell. Ah, zee jumps!

Balavulin (Bail a Mhuillinn)

 Beautiful waves and currents to be respected. Sadly, the wind was the wrong direction for kitesurfing Balavulin during our visit. This is a TRAVESTY and we will go back to carve up those waves! Lots of people camp on the machair here - there weren't any facilities when we were there but things might have changed.

We really should get back up to Tiree as it's a good 3 years since we went and neither of us had the kitesurfing skills to properly appreciate the fantastic range of conditions the island has to offer. It will be done. Watch this space...

Other Info

For more fine pictures of Tiree, take a look at Tiree Images. For lessons and local knowledge contact Wild Diamond surfschool. We stayed a couple of nights at Kirkapol House on Gott Bay  which is a converted chapel so kinda cool! The owners were lovely and the food was good so job's a gud un if you can get a room. In common with all of the other Western Isles, it's a Calmac ferry to get there. It goes from Oban and takes about 4 hours, stopping in at Coll on the way past. Be warned - there is only one ferry every day so if you miss it, you're staying over!