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Arran is connected with the Scottish mainland by two Caledonian MacBrayne ferries, one from Brodick to Ardrossan and the second (in summertime only) from Lochranza to Claonaig. Summer day trips are also available on board the paddle steamer PS Waverley and a summertime service operated by a local resident connects Lamlash to the neighbouring Holy Isle.

There are three roads on the island. The 90 kilometres (56 mi) long coast road circumnavigates the island. In 2007, a 48 kilometres (30 mi) stretch of this road, previously designated as the A841, was de-classified to a 'C' road. Travelling south from Whiting Bay, the C147 goes round the south coast continuing north up the west coast of the island to Lochranza. At this point the road becomes the A841 down the east coast back to Whiting Bay.

At one point the coast road ventures inland, this is to climb the 200 metres (660 ft) pass at Boguillie between Creag Ghlas Laggan and Caisteal Abhail, located between Sannox and Lochranza.

The other two roads run across from the east to the west side of the island. The main cross-island road is the 19 kilometres (12 mi) long B880 from Brodick to Blackwaterfoot called "The String", which climbs over Gleann an t-Suidhe. About 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) along the B880 from Brodick, a minor road branches off to the right to Machrie. The single track road "The Ross" runs 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) miles from Lamlash to Lagg and Sliddery via Glen Scorodale (Gaelic: Gleann Sgoradail).

The island can be explored using public transport using a bus service operated by Stagecoach.

The main industry of the island is tourism, one of the main attractions being the imposing Brodick Castle, owned by the National Trust for Scotland. The Auchrannie Resort, which contains 2 hotels, 3 restaurants and 2 leisure complexes, is one of biggest employers on island. Local businesses include the Arran Distillery, which was built in 1991 in Lochranza, and Arran Aromatics, which produces a range of toiletries.

Farming and forestry are other important industries. 2008 plans for a large salmon farm holding 800,000 or more fish in Lamlash Bay have been criticised by the Community of Arran Seabed Trust. They feared the facility could jeopardise Scotland's first community marine conservation area, which was announced in September 2008.

The Arran Brewery is a microbrewery founded in March 2000 in Cladach, near Brodick. The brewery produces three regular cask and bottled beers: Arran Ale 3.8% abv, Arran Dark 4.3% and the wheat beer Arran Blonde 5.0% (the most popular brand). In addition there are two seasonal brews - one in summer and in winter - the dark and gingery Arran Fireside.

The Arran Brewery went into liquidation in May 2008 and was subsequently sold to Marketing Management Services International Ltd. in June 2008, with a view to resuming production shortly thereafter. The brewery is now back in production.

The Scottish Gaelic dialect of Arran died out when the last speaker Donald Craig died in the 1970s. However, there is now a Gaelic House in Brodick, set up at the end of the 1990s. Brodick Castle features on the Royal Bank of Scotland £20 note and Lochranza Castle was used as the model for the castle in the Tintin adventure The Black Island.

Arran has two newspapers: the Arran Voice and The Arran Banner. The latter was listed in the Guinness Book of Records in November 1984 under the "Newspaper Records" section. Under the sub-heading of "Most read" it was entered under the title of "local newspaper which achieves the closest to a saturation circulation in its area". The entry reads: "The Arran Banner, founded in 1974, has a readership of more than 97 per cent in Britain’s seventh largest off-shore island". However, this claim is now unlikely to be wholly true with the arrival of the island's second newspaper.