Cairnryan (Scots: The Cairn;[1] Scottish Gaelic: Càrn Rìoghain or Machair an Sgithich) is a village in the historical county of Wigtownshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.

Into the 1800s, Cairnryan was an important staging post on the coach route to Ayr, with half a dozen inns along this short stretch of coast.

To make room for the development of new railway tracks, the properties on the loch side of the village were demolished, reducing the local population as the occupiers were re-housed elsewhere.

At the end of the World War II, the Atlantic U-boat fleet surrendered in Loch Ryan and was anchored in the port before being towed to the North Channel and scuttled, this activity was codenamed 'Operation Deadlight'.

For a period after the Second World War, (until at least 1958), the port was used to receive, by rail and by Liberty and Victory ships, surplus/time-expired ammunition which was loaded onto landing craft for dumping in deep water.

Handling and disposal was carried out by 13 Company Royal Pioneer Corps, based at the army camp (now a holiday campsite) behind the Loch Ryan Hotel.

The civil engineering work, involving an accommodation block and a winding road to the island's highest point, where the rocket-tracking building was built, was carried out by the RAF's 5004 Airfield Construction Squadron.

Stena Line operate a coach service between the ferry terminal and Ayr railway station to connect with certain sailings to and from Belfast.