Isle of Skye

Two Days of Adventuring on the Isle of Skye, Scotland

Our visit to the Isle of Skye in Scotland during early September was awe-inspiring in so many ways — the landscape, the curious formations, the jaw-dropping views, the ancient history, the lovely hosts at the historic hotels, the farm animals wandering free all over the place. Gah, we loved (LOVED) every bit of it — and I took literally a thousand photos. If you have plans to go there, this post will show exactly what to expect.

An overview of our complete 10-Day Scottish Highlands Road Trip itinerary can be found here.

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The case for the Isle of Skye is that you will see things here that you won’t see anywhere else in Scotland — or in the world, for that matter. Who knew this little remote corner of the world would make such an impression. Sadly, I know my photos won’t do it proper justice. It is super hard to convey the scale and capture the depth of field. You must go and experience it.

Our adventure on Skye started the previous evening with our stay at the Cullin Hills Hotel in Portree. This was the perfect starting point for our drive north. We picked-up some groceries from the Co-op because we weren’t sure if we’d be able to find a good lunch spot later. Besides, I’ve grown rather fond of our car picnics.

Our total drive time for the day was under two hours, but we had quite a few stops planned. The first one was Bride’s Veil Falls. This cascading waterfall is right on the side of the road. You cannot miss it. We got out of the car and walked up to the top of the falls, enjoyed the view, and were on our merry way again.

Above photos: Bride’s Veil Falls

The Old Man of Stor is in sight for a while along this route. There is a trailhead if you would like to hike to it. Jason and I were good admiring it from the road:)

Above photo: Old Man of Stor

We very briefly stopped at Tobhta Uachdrach. There is a pretty panoramic view, but the interesting part about this stop is just discovering the history of the people who once lived here.

Above photo: Tobhta Uachdrach, Isle of Skye

Our next stop was Lealt Falls and An Leth-Allt. This is a remarkable viewpoint. The falls are close to the road, but as you walk out to the viewpoint, the better view is looking back towards the road to see the falls and gorge. It is quite steep and I’m not sure how the sheep managed to not roll down the side. Looking out in the other direction, there are views of Rona, a small island, and the remains of an old factory.

Above photos: Lealt Falls and An Leth-Allt

Of course, everyone stops at Kilt Rock. It is a pretty accurate description. The cliff appears to have kilt pleats just as you’d expect. There are more gorgeous views of the water, too.

Above photo: Kilt Rock

I had my doubts that Jason would be up for walking at The Quiraing. He’ll hike with me, but he’s usually not super excited about it. That all changed once we got there. (Side note: It is a tiny single lane road in-and-out from the car park.). Even though it has been a couple months now, I’m still so overwhelmed by this place. It is for sure amongst one of the most favorite places I’ve ever been.

The Quiraing is a landslip on the northernmost summit of the Trotternish. The views are forever! The landscape with the rocks spilled all over the lush green grass is almost surreal.

Above photos: The Quiraing, Isle of Skye

The hike is not terribly rigorous. The variable is how far you decide to walk. The complete loop takes about 2 hours (6.8km), but most folks just walked the part of it and then turned around to go back to the car park. Put this on your list and you won’t regret it.

Above photos: The Quiraing, Isle of Skye

Rather than driving out the way we came in, we decided to keep following the same tiny one-lane country road going west toward Uig. The road took us over the mountain (as opposed to the main road that takes you around the mountain). This ended up being a fun choice. We only passed a couple other cars from the opposite direction. The views were great and the sheep were rather courteous sharing the road with us.

Above photo: Driving towards Uig on the Isle of Skye

Uig is a ferry port on the other side of the ridge. We were unlucky finding a cafe for lunch. So, we had our car picnic afterall and continued our drive along Loch Snizort Beag.

St. Columba’s Isle is apparently not a popular place for tourists. If you are looking for a wonderful place off the beaten path, this is it — and I’ll provide some tips on how to find it. St. Columba’s Isle is located in Skeabost at the head of Loch Snizort. The inscription of the monument there says it is an Ancient Burial Ground and Site of the Cathedral Church of the Bishops of the Isles from 1079 to 1498. The funerary monuments and church ruins that we found were quite obviously from a very different and ancient time.

Above photos: St. Columba’s Isle, Isle of Skye

How to find St. Columba’s Isle

Set your GPS to the Skeabost House Hotel.
If you are old school, follow your map from A87 to A850 and head west.
When you turn down the driveway for the hotel, you will reach a fork in the road. Turn to the right and park on the side of the dirt road before the bridge. (Going straight will take you to the hotel. Going left will take you down a dead end.)
Continue on foot and walk over the bridge (it crosses the River Snizort).
Once you are across the bridge, turn left down the walking path.
The path will lead you to a red footbridge that crosses the river again over to St. Columba’s Isle which is in in the middle of the river.

From St. Columba’s Isle, it was another 20-ish minute drive to the Greshornish House Hot e l. This super charming historic property was pretty removed from everything (but it had good wi-fi). The owners were so nice. We had a little mixup with our dinner reservations, but they helped us find another place and made the reservations for us. We loved our room on the top floor. It was quaint and cozy, yet the bathroom had been completely updated with modern fixtures. Loved that!

Above photos: Greshornish House Hotel, Isle of Skye

In the morning, the on-site restaurant served breakfast. As we were enjoying our coffee, we noticed a pheasant out the window. Turns out, there are several of them that hang out there. They are Chinese-Scottish pheasants that will eat right out of your hand. I was all too thrilled to share my breakfast with this guy.

Scottish-Chinese pheasant at Greshornish House Hotel, Isle of Skye

Above photos: Greshornish House Hotel, Isle of Skye

I could easily see myself staying longer at Greshornish, especially if I had a good book and a bottle of whisky. But, we had more to see. So, we said goodbye and made our way over to Dunvegan Castle, less than 20 minutes away.

Dunvegan Castle was part of our Historic Houses membership. So, parking and admission were free. Fun fact: Dunvegan Castle is the only Highland castle to have been continuously occupied by the same family for 800 years.

Dunvegan Castle and Gardens, Isle of Skye

Above photos: Dunvegan Castle and Gardens, Isle of Skye

The gardens at Dunvegan were my favorite part of our visit. There are several formal gardens, including a walled garden and surrounding woodland trails. Even though it was drizzling rain that morning, I still enjoyed walking through these areas and exploring the area down by Dunvegan Loch.

Above photos: Dunvegan Castle and Gardens, Isle of Skye

Our last big adventure on the Isle of Skye was visiting the Fairy Pools. I had seen photos, but still wasn’t really sure what to expect. Heads up: this is a very un-fun drive (single lane road with lots of traffic that you have to try to squeeze by) to the car park. Once there, I was amazed at how crowded it was. Popular spot.

That being said, it was 1000% worth it. The hike is moderately challenging. Somehow it was uphill in both directions – I kid you not. It is gorrrrrrgeous! A lot of other hikers just went in far enough to see a few of the waterfalls. As the trail thinned out, I was inspired to keep going simply because it was so invigorating (and I had some sticky toffee pudding to work off). However, I will admit that on the way back I did hit a point where my legs felt like spaghetti.

Above photos: The Fairy Pools, Isle of Skye

From the Fairy Pools we had a three hour drive to our hotel outside of Ft. William. It was our longest day of driving. We back-tracked the way we came over the Skye Bridge and past Eilean Donan. Along the way, we stopped at the Skye Candle Company in the village of Broadford to pick up candles to take home as gifts. (It is also right next to a pharmacy, and Jason needed Advil. So, that worked out.)

Above photo: Skye Candle Company

Scotland has literally thousands of islands, many of which are very accessible for tourists via car or ferry. I am so grateful that we decided to include Skye on our itinerary. It was extraordinary. If we are able to go back again, I would focus on Skye, the Small Isles, and the Hebrides.

Above photos: Isle of Skye

When we arrived in Fort William, we just drove straight through it because our hotel was about 25 minutes south in the town of Ballachulish. This was one of my husband’s favorite hotels, probably because we stayed there two nights in a row, which meant we had a day off from toting our luggage around.

Above photos: The Ballachulish Hotel

That evening, we had dinner at the Loch Leven Seafood Cafe – quite possibly the best seafood I’ve ever had in my life. The langoustines and scallops were out of this world!