[3] The administrative centre for the council area is in Lochgilphead at Kilmory Castle, a 19th-century Gothic Revival building and estate.

(Scotland) Act 1994, which abolished the regions and districts which had been created in 1975, replacing them with unitary council areas.

At the northern end of the loch the lines leaves Argyll and Bute to enter Stirling council area.

[12][13] Helensburgh also has a much more frequent service into Glasgow and beyond via the North Clyde Line, which has its western terminus at the town's central railway station.

[14] The main trunk roads in Argyll and Bute are:[12][15][16] Due to its heavily indented coastline and many islands, ferries form an important part of the council area's transport system.

There are also routes connecting some mainland locations in Argyll and Bute to other parts of the mainland: Argyll and Bute also has ferry services linking it to islands in neighbouring council areas: There is also a passenger-only ferry service linking Campbeltown and Port Ellen on Islay with Ballycastle in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, running seasonally from April to September, operated by West Coast Tours as the Kintyre Express.

[46] The area has also been indirectly immortalised in popular culture by the 1977 hit song "Mull of Kintyre" by then-Kintyre resident Paul McCartney's band of the time, Wings.