Days Out from Portree What We’d Tell Friends Staying with Us
Skye can be seen as roughly four peninsulas and the fantastic Cuillin mountain range, and Portree is where the roads to all of them meet. Guests with three nights here ask us the same things: which way round, which walk, what to book, what to skip. Below we go through it area by area, the way we’d go about it ourselves from Portree, better yet, The Portree Hotel.
Check availabilityUnless you really are pushed for time, focus on one peninsula, one quarter of our island, a day.
Trotternish first, then the Cuillin side, then Dunvegan and the west, then the south if there’s a fourth day. Add approximately 30% to any drive time the map gives you, to allow for stops both planned and enforced by wildlife on the road or slower than expected traffic. Book the distillery tours and the boats before you arrive; leave the serious walking plans to the fate of the weather that morning.
How Many Days Do We Need, and Which Order?
| Days | Where | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| One | Trotternish loop | The Storr, Kilt Rock, the dinosaur footprints, the Quiraing viewpoint, the Fairy Glen |
| Two | Sligachan, Glen Brittle, Carbost | The Cuillin from the bridge, the Fairy Pools, Talisker, the Oyster Shed |
| Three | Dunvegan and the west | The castle and seals, Coral Beach, Neist Point or Waternish |
| Four | The south | Elgol and a boat to Loch Coruisk, Sleat and Armadale |
The Storr, Kilt Rock, the Quiraing: fifteen minutes between each. Neist Point and Elgol are two hours apart through Portree and Broadford, so anyone who puts them on the same day spends much of it in the car.
Day One: The Trotternish Loop
If you want the view on ‘your side’ of the road the whole way, go clockwise. Out on the A87 towards Uig, back down the east coast on the A855. Going this way puts the sea on your side as you drive along on the left. On this route the Storr comes at the end of the day rather than at 10 a.m., when its 140 spaces are full in the height of summer. The exception is an excursion up the Storr before dawn, at which point the route can be anticlockwise.
The Storr is a steep ninety minutes to two hours up and down, a wide gravel path that turns to stone steps and grass near the top. The pinnacles are hidden from the road and the car park by the lower slopes and the cliff face behind camouflaging the pinnacle, so the walk is the price you pay for the iconic picture that so often finds its way around the globe.
Parking is £5 to £7 by card or the RingGo parking app, worth downloading when visiting the UK as most places accept parking payment with the app. Lealt Falls and Kilt Rock are one minute from their car parks on flat ground and worth both stops, Kilt Rock for the 105-metre basalt columns with the waterfall going straight into the sea. One of the few safe places you can stand right up close to a cliff edge.
After Kilt Rock, stop at the Staffin Museum for 15 minutes to see some of the incredible Jurassic fossils and finds from around Skye, most found by the late Dugald Ross, a Skye legend himself.
The Quiraing car park sits on the top of the winding and steep pass between Staffin and Uig, and the view most people came for is fifty metres from the car. The full circuit is 6.8 kilometres and nearer three hours on a narrow path under the cliff, then on the grassy summit above. The path is muddy in some areas, with drops below and some rocky gullies. If anyone in the car dislikes heights, it may be best to stay on the first few hundred metres. The pass road itself is single-track with hairpins and gets busy with coaches by late morning; the spaces can fill on any fine day, though the turnover is quite high, with people arriving, photographing and leaving.
Then there’s the Fairy Glen above Uig, an hour among the small green cone-shaped hillocks and lochans. This is a nice stop, but one of the more awkward places to go in the middle of a sunny day. It is an interesting place, but it is small (and probably overrated).
Uig has the Skye brewery, a couple of cafés and the ferries to the Outer Isles.
The Museum of Island Life at Kilmuir, with thatched cottages you can go inside and explore, is not far from Uig to the north of the island. Flora MacDonald’s grave can also be visited for stunning views and its fantastic inscription. She is known for saving Bonnie Prince Charlie, but there is far more to her than that: she is Skye’s most famous daughter, who spent time in the Carolinas, USA, before returning to Skye.
Day Two: Sligachan, the Fairy Pools and Carbost
Fifteen minutes south, park at the Sligachan monument next to the old bridge. This gives a fantastic view of the Black Cuillin, no walking involved, and cloud does not often spoil it other than in thick fog. The river comes up and the bronze statues of Collie and MacKenzie keep their eyes fixed on the ridge. It is worth visiting for their statue alone. It’s a beautiful stop.
The track south through Glen Sligachan is flat enough for most people; walk out as far as you like and turn around. The ridge above is mostly for people with a guide, or experienced climbers. The Cuillin may not look like it, but they are a significant feat.
The Fairy Pools are 25 minutes on from there, along the road down to Glen Brittle beach. It is a good idea to try to avoid arriving between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. The road is one lane with cars trying to pass each other; it is passable but slow progress, and your hire car may not feel so comfortable two inches from a passing caravan.
Parking is £8, card or cash, with good toilets at the trailhead. The pools are 20 to 25 minutes up a gravel track that starts by going downhill, so the return is the climb back to the car. The first kilometre is fine for children and pushchair-free grandparents; it gets slightly rockier after that. Most people do not swim, but many people do. If you are going to, the water is crystal clear and clean, and often very cold.
From here head back to Carbost for Talisker’s tour at £22. This can sell out weeks ahead in summer and takes children from eight years old. The shop and bar are open without a ticket.
The Oyster Shed is up the hill behind the distillery: oysters, scallops, crab and smoked salmon eaten standing at a barrel with Loch Harport below.
From here you can drive the west coast road to Struan for some spectacular views from the car, before taking the ‘back road’ into Portree. This road helps you see more of the island and is a less travelled route where you can see what life might be like living on the ‘real Skye’ beyond the tourist trails.
Day Three: Dunvegan, Coral Beach and the West
Dunvegan is 45 minutes on a ‘proper’ two-lane road from door to door. The Edinbane Inn is on the route about halfway, perfect for a lunch or dinner break.
The castle itself takes around two or three hours if you take your time, visit the garden and maybe have a coffee. The Fairy Flag is inside, along with its story, five acres of garden outside, and a 25-minute seal boat ride from the jetty below the walls. Dogs are allowed on leads in the gardens, but not inside. The castle opens roughly between 1 April and 15 October; the seal boats stop at the end of September.
Coral Beach is ten minutes further along the road past the castle, then a mile and a half each way on a farm track from the Claigan car park. The sand is crushed maerl, bleached seaweed, which gives the water a tropical turquoise under grey sky. Here there are no toilets, no café, and sheep and cattle on the path, so it is best to keep dogs on a short lead, with a bottle of water and food in your bag if you plan to stay for a few hours. The track is rutted and uneven and used mainly by tractors, so pushchairs are best left in the car.
From here, Neist Point is the next big hitter. It is 30 minutes each way from Dunvegan through Glendale, and the lighthouse view everyone hopes to photograph is taken from the clifftop to the right of the car park, not from the bottom of the steps.
Going down the path is still worthwhile, out onto the peninsula. It is a concrete path with a rail, cracked in places, so it could cause a trip if you are not careful. Coming back is a hundred metres of stairs, and quite steep, not ideal if you aren’t happy on your feet.
There is no shelter and the cliff drops are unfenced, so it is not the stop for a seriously windy day, or for anyone who hates edges, or with kids prone to running off in any direction. Sunset here is famous and the drive home afterwards is fifteen miles of narrow road in the dark with sheep on it. Castle plus Coral Beach is the half-day; castle, beach and Neist is eight or nine hours. If you decide to avoid Neist Point and take it easier, the best afternoon tea on Skye is available at Greshornish House in front of a roaring fire, ideal if it’s raining and you want to look out of the window and be warm when it’s wild outside.
Waternish is another area worth visiting in the west, with the village of Stein and its pub, the oldest inn on Skye, both with waiting lists in summer. Skyeskyns at Lochbay gives free tours of the sheepskin tannery, there are potteries and a knitwear studio along the road, and the ruined church at Trumpan has more incredible sunset views.
Day Four: Elgol or Sleat
Elgol is fourteen miles of single-track from Broadford along Loch Slapin under Blà Bheinn, one of the best drives in the country and one of the slowest (in a relaxing, Highland way). Allow an hour and thirty minutes from Portree if you have a boat booked, and then aim to arrive 20 minutes early for the boat. The boats to Loch Coruisk run April to October: Misty Isle is 45 minutes each way when you factor in time spent looking for wildlife. Seals on the way out are near enough certain. Puffins and whales need the three-and-a-half-hour trip out to Rùm and Canna. Ring the skipper at breakfast; if the sea is wild, boats must cancel, and you have saved sixty miles.
Sleat is the easy south from Broadford. The A851 to Armadale is two lanes the whole way, which makes it the day for whoever is nervous of single-track to do the driving. Armadale has forty acres of woodland garden on wide gravel paths, fine for pushchairs and walking aids, and the Museum of the Isles.
Torabhaig distillery is ten minutes up the road, small and almost brand new for a distillery, no children under thirteen. An Crùbh nearby has baking and a café. Isleornsay has the harbour, the pub and the gin room. The beach at Camas Daraich is two and a half miles down the track towards the Point of Sleat.
And the Day at Raasay
With three nights or more, the ferry from Sconser, twenty minutes south of the hotel, takes 25 minutes and runs up to ten times a day. Raasay has the distillery, Calum’s Road, and Raasay House for lunch; better yet, Raasay has almost nobody on it. Back on the four o’clock boat, and you will have had a truly remote island experience, only 30 minutes from the hotel.
From the Front Door
The Lump is the wooded hill above the harbour with the old apothecary tower on top and the Cuillin across the water, ten minutes’ walk. Portree Boat Trips sail from the harbour into the Sound of Raasay for sea eagles; seals are seen almost all year and puffins from May to July. Boarding is down the harbour steps onto the pontoon, which can move with the swell, so ask before booking if anyone struggles with steps.
The List We’d Hand You
- Book before you come: Talisker, Torabhaig, the Coruisk boats, and any restaurants you are desperate to try.
- Leave as early as you can manage for the Storr and the Quiraing, or leave later in the day and go clockwise around the north end to arrive at these places later in the afternoon and evening.
- Maps downloaded before you leave town, because 4G goes at the first bend.
- Parking money: £3 to £8 at the Storr, Quiraing and Fairy Pools, which pays for the paths and the toilets.
- Mostly step-free: Armadale gardens, Dunvegan’s ground floor and gardens, the Talisker visitor centre, the Sligachan bridge, the Quiraing viewpoint.
- Dogs: the castle gardens. Not inside the castles, museums or distilleries.
- Road check: Traffic Scotland and the Isle of Skye Road Watch Facebook group, which knows about the campervan in the ditch before anyone else.
Days Out from Portree, the Short Version
The short version of what guests ask us most.
Which is the best day trip from Portree?
Trotternish. The Storr, Kilt Rock, the Staffin footprints, the Quiraing viewpoint and the Fairy Glen sit on one 50-mile loop north of Portree. It’s pretty good bang for your buck if you only have a short time on Skye. However, you miss far more than you see, and the best of Skye is dotted around its quiet places, in different weathers and at different times of day.
Can you see the Old Man of Storr without the climb?
From the road past the Storr loch, yes, but it’s not really possible to stop without upsetting other drivers. From below they are tucked out of sight, so the ninety minutes of walking is what gets you the view. For scenery without effort, the Quiraing viewpoint, Kilt Rock, Sligachan bridge and the Elgol road all deliver from the car.
Are the Fairy Pools worth it?
Yes, before 10 a.m. or after 4 p.m. in summer, and any time from October to the end of April. In the middle of the day the single-track into Glen Brittle does slow down and the car park is full, so if you would rather miss the crowd, those are the times.
Do we need to book the Loch Coruisk boat?
Yes, in summer the seats go weeks ahead. If the weather cancels the sailing you get a refund or another day, and a phone call before the drive to Elgol, or checking social channels before setting off, is highly recommended.
Which trips work without a car?
The trip to the Storr via the 57A bus, and the 57C bus back two and a half hours later, boat trips from Portree harbour, and the day tours that start on the square. The Fairy Pools, Neist Point, Elgol and Waternish need a car, a taxi booked ahead or a tour. Taxis for this type of trip can be prohibitively expensive for some people; sadly we don’t have Uber or self-driving cars.
What should we do on a wet day?
Talisker, Torabhaig and Raasay distilleries, Dunvegan Castle’s rooms, the Museum of Island Life, or the Sligachan bridge in the rain, which is epic when the river is in spate. Tea and cake by the fire at Greshornish, or a whisky tasting in The Portree Hotel’s West Highland Bar.
Start Every One of These Days with Us on Portree Square
Every road on this page begins outside our door on Somerled Square.
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