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Rothesay Castle is located in the midst of the town of Rothesay, the main settlement on the Isle of Bute. Although now well inland from the harbour, it would originally have stood on Rothesay Bay, but land between the castle and the harbour has been reclaimed over the intervening centuries.
It is surrounded by an extensive and impressive curtain wall, with four defensive round towers and a C16th forework. The castle is encircled by a broad irregularly shaped moat. It was built by the Stewart family, later Kings of Scotland and became a royal residence. Construction was started in the C13th on the site of a C12th shell keep. Additions were made until around the mid C16th. However after the C17th it began to fall into ruin. The castle was repaired by the Marquess of Bute before passing into state care in the C20th
and is now administered by Historic Environment Scotland. It is now usually open to the public, though at the time of writing this [2022] it was closed due to dangerous masonry.
For opening information see Link
For more information see:
HES: Link
Canmore (The Castle): Link
Canmore (The Chapel): Link

The Isle of Bute (or just 'Bute') is a substantial island situated in the Firth of Clyde, it is the 13th largest of the Scottish islands but ranks 5th for population making it comparatively densely populated.
Being close to and easily accessible from the Scottish mainland it has for many years been a popular tourist destination particularly for nearby Glaswegians. Its heyday was around the turn of the C20th when Rothesay harbour was clogged by a succession of visiting paddle steamers. The isle's 'capital', Rothesay, by far the largest settlement on the island with a population of over 4000, is now looking a little tired and could do with some rejuvenation, but is still an interesting place to visit.
There are numerous other settlements around the island, notably Port Bannatyne (popn.c.1090) just to the north of the 'capital'.
The centre of the island contains most of the cultivated land and the amazing mansion of Mount Stuart whereas both the south and north of the island are more rugged and hilly.
St Blane's (ruined) monastery towards the south of the island was founded as long ago as 500AD and is an atmospheric place to visit.
There are two vehicle ferries both run by CalMac which service the island. The main crossing is between Wemyss Bay on the mainland (c.7 miles north of Largs) and Rothesay Harbour. This crossing is shared by the CalMac ferries Bute and Argyle (as of 2022) the crossing takes about 35 minutes and runs approximately every hour (not at night).
The other crossing is far shorter, taking just 5 minutes, and crosses between Rhubodach on Bute and Colintraive on the Cowal peninsula of mainland Scotland - this little ferry runs every half hour from early morning to about 9.00pm
(Note: These are for the Summer timetable, the winter will be different).

Statistics for Bute
Area: 12,217ha (47.17 miles²)
Population: 6,498 [2011 census]
Density: 53.19/km² (137.8/mile²)
Highest Point: Windy Hill, 278m (912') in the northern part of the island.
Chief Settlement: Rothesay (popn.c.4,310 [2020 est])