The Isle of Arran (Scots Gaelic: Eilean Arainn) is the largest island in the Firth of Clyde with an area of 430 km² (167 square miles). It is in the unitary council area of North Ayrshire. In the 2001 census it had a resident population of 5,058.
Arran is the seventh largest Scottish island and the ninth largest island surrounding Great Britain (excluding Ireland).
Arran is commonly lumped with the Hebrides, with which it shares many cultural and physical similarities, but in actual fact, the Hebrides start off the west coast of Kintyre.

Geography

Auchencairn
Balliekine
Balmicheal
Bennan
Blackwaterfoot
Brodick, the main village
Catacol ("gully of the cat")
Cladach Cladach was the first place on Arran to entertain tourists as they would come to take goat's milk at what is now the Wineport restaurant.
Cordon
Corrie
Corriecravie
Corriegills
Dippen
Imachar
Kildonan, the most southerly village
Kilmory
Kilpatrick
Kingscross
Knockenkelly
Lagg
Lamlash
Largymore
Largybeg
Lochranza ("loch of the rowan trees")
Machrie
Margnaheglish
Penrioch
Pirnmill
Sannox ("the sandy one")
Shiskine
Sliddery
Strathwhillan
Torbeg
Tormore
Whitefarland
Whiting Bay Villages on Arran
Arran is a part of an Island group, comprising Arran, Bute, and Large Cumbrae, which are inhabited. Small Cumbrae, Inchmarnock and the Burnt islands are smaller uninhabited islands in the group.
Arran has three smaller satellite islands;
Eilean na h-Airde Baine off the south west of Arran at Corriecravie is more of a skerry than an island and, in any case, is connected to Arran at low tide.

Holy Isle lies to the east opposite Lamlash
Pladda lies off Arran's south coast
Tiny Hamilton Isle lies just off the Arran shore around 1.2 kilometres north of Holy Isle. History
Arran is connected with the Scottish mainland by two Caledonian MacBrayne ferries:
A third ferry route connects Lamlash to neighbouring Holy Isle during summertime.
In summer the paddle steamer PS Waverley calls in at Brodick on regular cruises.
The island has a main road running around the coast, the A841.

Brodick to Ardrossan, Ayrshire, from the east coast of the island.
Lochranza to Claonaig, Argyll, from the north of the island. Transport
The main industry for the island is tourism, but farming and forestry are other important industries. Successful local businesses include:
The main tourist spot on the island is the imposing Brodick Castle, owned by the National Trust for Scotland. Another interesting site is the twelve apostles of Catacol, a row of 12 small whitewashed cottages along the shoreline. The upper window facing the sea is different in each one. The theory behind this system was that the wife at home would be able to signal to her husband out fishing in the bay with a candle at the window. The husband would be able to identify who was being signalled by the shape of the window.

Arran Distillery, situated in Lochranza and built in 1995
Arran Brewery, situated in Cladach, produces Arran Blonde beer, alongside other premium ales which are sold throughout the UK.
Arran Aromatics, produces a range of toiletries on site which are sold throughout the UK.
Auchrannie Resort, 2 hotels, 3 restaurants and 2 lesiure complex, one of biggest employers on island.
Creelers, adjacent to Arran Aromatics, a seafood restaurant with locations in Arran and Edinburgh. Notable residents

Brodick Castle features on the Royal Bank of Scotland £20 note
Lochranza Castle was used as the model for the castle in the Tintin adventure The Black Island.
There are 42 red post boxes on the Isle of Arran
The Bishop of Sodor and Man refers to the sodor or southern isles, Arran being one, which used to belong to the bishop's see.
The island has three endemic species of tree, the Arran Whitebeams which grow nowhere else in the World.
Arran's local newspaper, The Arran Banner, was listed in the Guinness Book of Records in November 1984 under the 'Newspaper Records' section. Under the sub-heading of 'Most read' it was entered under the title of 'local newspaper which achieves the closest to a saturation circulation in its area.' The entry reads: 'The Arran Banner, founded in 1974, has a readership of more than 97 per cent in Britain's seventh largest off-shore island.'