SWC300 by Motorhome: The South West Coastal 300

The South West Coastal 300 is Scotland's quiet loop: a 300-mile circuit of Dumfries and Galloway and the Ayrshire coast that has the coastline, castles and big skies of the NC500 with hardly any of the traffic. It is also the closest of the big named routes to Glasgow, which makes it a fine shoulder-season trip when the Highlands are still waking up or winding down. Here is the SWC300 day by day from the depot.

Day 1: Glasgow to the Ayrshire coast

Barely fifty miles down the A77 and you're on the coast at Culzean Castle, Robert Adam's clifftop masterpiece with a country park wrapped around it and Ailsa Craig out in the firth. Carry on to Girvan or Maybole for the night. It's a gentle first day that gets you to the sea inside a couple of hours, with the whole loop ahead.

Day 2: The Rhins of Galloway

The hammerhead peninsula in the far south-west. Portpatrick is the prettiest harbour on this coast, and the road runs down to the Mull of Galloway, Scotland's most southerly point, with its lighthouse, sea cliffs and seabirds. The Gulf Stream keeps the Rhins mild, which is why Logan Botanic Garden grows palms and tree ferns this far north.

Day 3: The Machars

The quieter peninsula east of Luce Bay, easy to miss and worth the detour. Wigtown is Scotland's National Book Town, a small place with more bookshops than seems possible, and Whithorn down the road is the cradle of Scottish Christianity, with its priory and the harbour at the Isle of Whithorn beyond. This is slow, soft, green country.

Day 4: Galloway Forest and the dark skies

Inland into the Galloway Forest Park, the first Dark Sky Park in the UK. Walk in to Loch Trool from Glentrool, follow the Queen's Way past Clatteringshaws, and watch for red kites on the Galloway Kite Trail. If the sky is clear, stay out after dark; this is some of the blackest sky in Britain. Kirkcudbright, the artists' town with its painted houses, makes a lovely night.

Day 5: The Solway coast

East along the Solway, a coast of low tides and big skies. Sandyhills has the beach, Sweetheart Abbey at New Abbey has the ruined red-stone romance, and Caerlaverock Castle is a moated, triangular fortress with a wetland reserve alongside that fills with geese in autumn. Dumfries, Burns's town, sits at the end of the day.

Day 6: Back to Glasgow

Up from Dumfries through Nithsdale on the A76, or over the Mennock pass if the weather's kind, and back to the depot. It is the shortest run home of any of the big loops, which is part of the appeal.

Is the SWC300 a good alternative to the NC500?

For a lot of trips, yes. It has the same coast-castles-and-sky appeal, but it's far quieter, gentler to drive and much closer to Glasgow, so you spend less of the hire getting there. It comes into its own in spring and autumn, when the south-west is mild and empty; our piece on shoulder-season motorhoming makes the wider case, and the Dumfries and Galloway sites in our east coast and Borders campsites guide sit right on this route.

Good to know

• Dark skies. Galloway Forest is the UK's first Dark Sky Park; on a clear, moonless night the Clatteringshaws and Glentrool car parks are about as dark as Britain gets.
• Shoulder season. Mild, quiet and close to home, the south-west is one of the best spring and autumn routes in the country.
• Gardens. The Gulf Stream lets Logan Botanic and Castle Kennedy grow near-subtropical planting; the gardens are at their best from late spring.
• Dogs. Welcome throughout, with miles of quiet Solway beach. Bring your own bowls and bedding; the whole fleet takes dogs for a single per-hire cleaning fee.

It's the loop the crowds forget. For a first trip, a shoulder-season escape, or a quiet week near home, the SWC300 is hard to beat.

City guides nearby

For where to stop and what to see in the cities on or near this route, see our city guides: Glasgow.