Isle of Skye

The Isle of Skye is the largest of the Inner Hebrides, a fifty-mile sprawl of peninsulas and sea lochs off Scotland's north-west coast. No point on the island lies more than about five miles from salt water, which is why the map looks less like an island than a hand with its fingers spread. That shape is the reason Skye takes longer to explore than its size suggests: a village visible across a loch can be an hour's drive away around the head of the water.

Two mountain ranges dominate. The Black Cuillin, a horseshoe of gabbro and basalt behind Glen Brittle, is the most serious mountaineering ground in Britain, holding eleven Munros and a summit, the Inaccessible Pinnacle, that cannot be reached without a rope. Across Glen Sligachan the Red Cuillin are gentler, granite domes the colour of rust in late light. To the north, the Trotternish peninsula carries a twenty-mile escarpment created by the largest landslip in Britain, and it is here that the island's two most photographed landmarks stand: the Old Man of Storr and the Quiraing.

Skye is also a working island rather than a museum. Around ten thousand people live here, crofting, fishing, running boats and building a food scene that punches far above the population. Gaelic remains in daily use and Sabhal Mor Ostaig, the Gaelic college, sits on the Sleat peninsula. Clan history is everywhere, most visibly at Dunvegan Castle, held by the MacLeods for eight centuries, and in the Sleat lands of the MacDonalds. Visitor numbers have grown sharply since the Skye Bridge opened in 1995, so the island now asks a little planning in return: book beds early, start walks before nine, and be ready for single-track roads with passing places.

Top things to do in Isle of Skye

Most visitors work through a familiar list of landmarks, but Skye rewards anyone willing to add a boat trip or a quieter peninsula to it.

• Old Man of Storr — A fifty-metre basalt pinnacle standing below the Storr cliffs on the Trotternish ridge. The path from the pay-and-display car park on the A855 climbs steadily for around forty-five minutes to the base, and the rock catches the morning sun from the east.
• The Quiraing — A collapsed landscape of towers, hidden plateaux and grassy terraces north of Staffin. The full circuit is roughly four miles and takes three hours, though the first twenty minutes along the escarpment deliver most of the drama.
• Fairy Pools — A chain of clear green plunge pools on the River Brittle beneath the Black Cuillin, reached by an easy walk of about a mile and a half from the Glen Brittle car park. Wild swimmers come year round; the water rarely climbs above eleven degrees.
• Neist Point — Skye's westernmost headland, with a lighthouse built in 1909 and a steep concrete path down to it. Minke whales and basking sharks pass offshore in late summer, and the sunsets face straight out to the Outer Hebrides.
• Dunvegan Castle and Gardens — The oldest continuously inhabited castle in Scotland, home to the chiefs of Clan MacLeod. Inside are the Fairy Flag and Rory Mor's drinking horn; outside are five acres of walled and water gardens and seal-watching boat trips on the loch.
• Talisker Distillery — Skye's original distillery, working at Carbost on the shore of Loch Harport since 1830 and producing a peppery, maritime single malt. Tours book out weeks ahead in summer.
• Elgol boat trips — Small boats run from the slipway at Elgol into Loch Coruisk, a freshwater loch ringed by the Cuillin that is otherwise a long walk or a scramble away. Seals haul out on the rocks at the landing stage.
• Portree harbour — The island's capital, built around a sheltered bay lined with painted houses. It is the place to restock, book a wildlife cruise, or simply eat well after a day on the hill.

Getting to Isle of Skye

There is no airport on Skye, so almost everyone arrives by road or by a combination of rail and ferry. Driving from London takes eleven to twelve hours over roughly 640 miles, so it is realistically a two-day journey. From Glasgow allow around five hours for the 220 miles to Portree; from Inverness it is about two and a half hours and 110 miles on the A82 and A87. The Skye Bridge at Kyle of Lochalsh has been toll-free since 2004 and takes two minutes to cross.

By rail, the neatest route is London Euston to Glasgow in around four and a half hours, then the West Highland Line from Glasgow Queen Street to Mallaig — a five-hour ride past Rannoch Moor and the Glenfinnan Viaduct — followed by the thirty-minute CalMac ferry from Mallaig to Armadale on Sleat. The alternative runs via Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh, a scenic two-and-a-half-hour branch line, with a Stagecoach bus onwards over the bridge to Broadford and Portree. The Caledonian Sleeper from Euston to Fort William suits anyone who would rather not lose a day to travel.

The nearest airports are Inverness, about two and a half hours' drive away, and Glasgow, roughly five. Once on the island a car is close to essential: bus service 917 links Portree, Broadford and Armadale, but nothing useful runs to the Quiraing or Glen Brittle. Nearly all the major trailheads now charge for parking, and the Storr, Quiraing and Fairy Pools car parks fill by mid-morning between June and August. Portree's main car park is on Somerled Square. Verge parking is actively discouraged and increasingly enforced.

Best time to visit Isle of Skye

Spring is the island at its best. April and May are statistically the driest months, the daylight is already long, and the midges have not yet hatched — they usually appear in late May and stay until September. Waterfalls still run hard from winter rain and the hills carry snow into April.

Summer brings daylight until well past ten in June, warm-ish seas for swimming and every restaurant open, but also the peak of traffic and the peak of midges on still, damp evenings. Book accommodation for July and August six months ahead if you want a choice. Carry repellent and, if you plan to sit outside, a head net.

Autumn is the quiet reward. September and early October keep most services running while the crowds thin, the bracken turns copper and the light lowers into something photographers travel for. Storms become more frequent from mid-October.

Winter is stark and often superb — empty trails, snow on the Cuillin and genuinely dark skies for the aurora, which is visible from north-facing coasts several times a season. Many smaller B&Bs, campsites and cafes close between November and March, daylight shrinks to around seven hours, and ferry crossings can be cancelled for days at a time.

Where to stay in Isle of Skye

Portree suits first-time visitors and anyone without a car. It has the widest choice of hotels, guest houses and restaurants, a supermarket, and a central position that puts Trotternish, the Cuillin and Dunvegan all within an hour. It is also the busiest and priciest place to sleep.

Sleat, the southern peninsula reached first from the Armadale ferry, is the greenest and most sheltered corner of the island, wooded and quiet, with several of the best country-house hotels. It is a long drive to Trotternish, so it works better for a relaxed stay than a landmark-ticking one.

Dunvegan and Waternish in the north-west are the base for the castle, Coral Beaches, Neist Point and much of the island's best cooking. Carbost and Glen Brittle are the choice for walkers heading into the Black Cuillin and for anyone visiting Talisker.

Staffin and Uig on Trotternish put you within ten minutes of the Quiraing and the Storr, which matters enormously if you want those places without crowds. Broadford, on the road in, is cheaper and handy for the mainland but short on atmosphere. Elgol is remote and spectacular, best for a night or two rather than a week.

Food and drink in Isle of Skye

Shellfish is the island's strongest suit. Langoustines, scallops, brown crab and Loch Harport oysters come ashore within a few miles of most kitchens, and even pub menus take them seriously. Skye lamb, Highland beef and venison fill out the rest, alongside Isle of Skye Sea Salt harvested at Loch Snizort.

The Three Chimneys at Colbost has been the island's benchmark restaurant for decades and now runs a second, more casual room beside Talisker Distillery at Carbost. Loch Bay in Stein serves a short French-Hebridean menu in a former fisherman's cottage, Edinbane Lodge cooks tasting menus in a seventeenth-century house, and Kinloch Lodge in Sleat has an award-winning kitchen built on the island's own larder. In Portree, Scorrybreac and the harbourside seafood restaurants handle the day boats' catch, and Cafe Arriba does generous breakfasts before a hill day.

For something less formal, the Stein Inn in Waternish has poured pints since 1790 and lands shellfish from the loch opposite, while Seumas' Bar at Sligachan keeps hundreds of whiskies and feeds walkers coming off the Cuillin. Drink local: Talisker at Carbost and Torabhaig on Sleat both run tours, the Isle of Skye Brewing Company brews at Uig, and Misty Isle gin is distilled near Portree. Stock up at the Co-op in Portree or Broadford, and look out for community markets and the seasonal food stalls at Portree and Dunvegan.