At its heart lies Ben More, a Munro with an elevation of 3,169 ft, which is a popular climb and the island has many other fine hill walks of varying degrees of difficulty.
Having been inhabited since the last ice age, it has a rich cultural heritage and is home to many historical sites and monuments. From the bronze age is a stone circle at Loch Buie along with various standing stones, and there are iron age fortified duns and crannogs, traditional medieval castles at Duart and Loch Buie (ruined), and grand baronial castles at Torosay and Glengorm. Novelist Robert Louis Stevenson set part of Kidnapped on the island.
The island's main town, Tobermory, is famed for the cheerful colours of its waterfront buildings and the yachts bobbing in the natural harbour, where legend has it that one of the Spanish Armada ships sank in 1588 carrying gold bullion. Tobermory is also well known for being the setting of hit children's TV show Balamory.
Beautiful beaches and bays abound, from Calgary and Kilninian in the north to Loch Buie and Carsaig in the south. Mull has an abundance of wildlife on its land and in its waters, with curious puffins on surrounding seabird colonies and great whales and basking sharks swimming just off the coast. There are guided wildlife tours - the island is one of the best places to see rare sea eagles - and boat trips to the neighbouring islands, including enchanting Staffa, where the motion of the waves crashing into Fingal's Cave - formed from giant basalt columns - inspired Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture.
