Cuillin Hills Hotel

About Cuillin Hills Hotel

Built in 1870 as a hunting lodge for the Macdonald family, the Cuillin Hills Hotel sits in fifteen acres of mature private grounds on the north side of Portree Bay. The outlook is the selling point: across the water to the Sound of Raasay in one direction and along the full sweep of the Cuillin ridge in the other, a view that changes hourly with the Hebridean weather.

There are 26 en-suite bedrooms, nineteen in the main house and seven in a lodge to the rear, ranging from comfortable standard rooms to spacious sea-view suites. The hotel is family-run and locally staffed, and the service reflects that — attentive without being formal. The dining room and lounge bar both face the bay, and the kitchen leans hard on Skye produce, particularly shellfish landed a few miles away. The whisky list runs to several hundred bottles, with Talisker naturally well represented.

Portree town centre is a ten-minute walk down the hill, so you can eat and drink out and leave the car behind — a genuine advantage on Skye. There is plenty of free parking on site for guests. The Old Man of Storr is fifteen minutes north by road, the Quiraing around forty, and Sligachan and the Cuillin about half an hour south, making this one of the most practical upmarket bases on the island.