Hotels in Isle of Skye

Where you sleep on Skye shapes the whole trip more than it would almost anywhere else in Britain. The island is fifty miles long, its roads follow the coast around a series of deep sea lochs, and single-track sections with passing places make average speeds low. A hotel that looks twenty miles from the Quiraing on the map can be an hour and a quarter away in practice, and that hour comes off the front of every morning.

Portree is the obvious base and the right one for most first visits. The island's only town has the biggest concentration of hotels, guest houses and restaurants, a supermarket, petrol and buses, and it sits far enough north that Trotternish is on the doorstep while Dunvegan, Sligachan and the Cuillin are all inside an hour. The trade-off is price and pressure: rooms in July book out by February and cost noticeably more than the same standard elsewhere on the island.

Sleat, the southern peninsula, is a different proposition entirely — wooded, sheltered, thinly populated and home to several of Skye's finest country-house hotels. It is the natural landing point if you come by ferry from Mallaig, and it suits couples and anyone who wants long dinners and a slow pace. Accept, though, that the Quiraing is a ninety-minute drive each way.

The north-west, around Dunvegan and Waternish, balances scenery, good cooking and easier availability than Portree, and puts Neist Point and the Coral Beaches within reach. Walkers heading for the Black Cuillin should look at Carbost, Glen Brittle or Sligachan, where you can be at a trailhead in minutes. Staffin and Uig reward early risers with near-empty views at the island's two busiest landmarks. Broadford is the budget option and a sensible first or last night if you are driving a long way, though it is a village strung along a main road rather than a destination. Wherever you choose, book earlier than feels necessary — Skye's bed stock is small, and the season now runs from Easter to late October.