It is 5 miles (8 km) north-north-west of Cove. It marks the end of the B833 shore road, although the village can also be reached by a high-quality but unclassified access road (primarily designed for naval traffic) directly from Garelochhead. The village looks across to the small settlement of Ardentinny on the west shore to which, in the 18th/19th century, there was a ferry.
John Kibble, the son of a Glasgow metal merchant, was one of several wealthy Glasgow merchants who had large villas built at Coulport in the nineteenth century either as permanent residences or summer retreats. Several still survive, some now flatted, others in a dilapidated condition. Kibble's Coulport House was the original location of the giant conservatory known as the Kibble Palace (now in Glasgow's Botanic Garden).[1]