The Hebrides divide naturally into two chains, separated by a stretch of sea called the Minch. The Inner Hebrides hug the Scottish mainland - Skye, Mull, Islay, Jura, Iona, Coll, Tiree, Colonsay and the Small Isles of Rum, Eigg, Muck and Canna. Skye is the largest and most visited, linked since 1995 by a toll-free road bridge to Kyle of Lochalsh on the mainland. Mull is accessible by frequent ferry from Oban. Islay and Jura together draw the whisky pilgrims, the two islands together holding more working distilleries than anywhere else of comparable size in Scotland. The Outer Hebrides - Lewis, Harris, the Uists, Benbecula, Barra and a scatter of smaller islands - lie further west across the Minch, a 130-mile chain reachable only by air or by longer ferry crossings. The Hebrides do not include Orkney and Shetland to the north of mainland Scotland, which are a different kind of place altogether.

The Hebridean bedrock is impermeable. Where it lies flat - much of Lewis, parts of Tiree - water sits on the surface and peat builds up over centuries to make boggy heath. Where it rises into hills, the same hardness makes them gnarly and difficult to farm. Either way, agriculture has always been a struggle. The Picts were the earliest people we have evidence of, supplanted from the seventh century by Vikings who built trading networks across what they called the South Isles. By the time of Dál Riata - the Gaelic kingdom that became Alba and then Scotland - the Norse had embedded into the place-names and the boats. The Hebrides were ceded to Scotland by Norway after the Battle of Largs in 1263. Norway kept Orkney and Shetland, which is why Orkney still feels half-Norse to this day.

There was little reason for anyone to come, and in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the population drained away - sometimes voluntarily, often driven out by the Highland Clearances to make way for sheep. Whole villages emptied. The empty, treeless, austere landscape you see today was largely created in that century of expulsion, when crofters were pushed off ancestral land by landlords who wanted higher rents from sheep farmers. The bonus, if it can be called that, is that the natural scenery and the prehistoric monuments were left undisturbed. The revival came with modern transport and tourism: ferries, planes, the Skye Bridge in 1995, the long Outer Hebridean causeways stitched together through the twentieth century. Scenic Skye and easy-to-reach Mull can feel touristy in midsummer. But the destinations are small, the visitors only look many, and on the right day you can still have a beach to yourself in July.

Callanish stone circle on Lewis is the outstanding prehistoric structure in the Hebrides, raised around 3000 BC and embedded in a wider ritual landscape of secondary circles. The famous Lewis chessmen - twelfth-century carved walrus-ivory pieces discovered in a sand bank in 1831 - are not at Callanish; you must visit the British Museum in London or the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh to see them. Black houses, the traditional Hebridean dwelling with cattle at one end and a peat fire in the middle of the floor, survive as museums and hostels across the islands. Castles are mostly medieval ruins - Kisimul at Castlebay on Barra is the most striking, perched on its own islet. Duart on Mull, Dunvegan on Skye and Lews in Stornoway have been remade into mansions. Iona has its rebuilt cathedral and the graveyards of Scottish kings. Fingal's Cave on Staffa is the basalt wonder Mendelssohn made famous - basalt columns part of the same Atlantic geology that runs through Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland and the active volcanoes of Iceland.

Calmac operates the main ferry routes, sailing year-round though winter services run reduced. Kennacraig handles Islay; Oban handles Mull, Coll, Tiree, Colonsay and Barra; Mallaig handles Skye and the Small Isles; Uig on Skye sails to North Uist and Harris; Ullapool sails to Lewis. Loganair runs the air links, with flights from Glasgow daily to Islay, Tiree, Barra, Benbecula and Stornoway. Barra Airport is famously the only scheduled beach landing strip in the world - flights time their arrival with the tides. Wild camping is a legal right in Scotland, with the usual caveats about not disturbing livestock or houses. Midges are a real problem in summer; pack repellent and consider face nets if you are camping. The Northern Lights are frequent in winter, when the skies are dark and the islands are still free of light pollution. In summer the sky never properly darkens, so you see neither stars nor aurora. The trade-off is daylight that lasts almost until midnight. The Hebrides sit on the same latitude as Labrador. The Atlantic gives, and the Atlantic takes back.