Isle of Skye Day Trips & Hikes

How to spend the perfect few days on the Isle of Skye, plus day trip suggestions around the island. Scroll through the options below and pick & choose to suit your day, the weather, and how far you’d like to drive. Remember, you simply skip stops to shorten your days.

Note that we can update this with maps and drive times once you have booked your accommodation.

Island Base

PORTREE

Portree, the island’s colourful harbour town, is the main hub of Skye and makes an ideal base for exploring the island thanks to its central location and range of services. While there are plenty of other accommodation options scattered across Skye, many are in more rural settings—so Portree offers the best balance of convenience, choice, and atmosphere.

Portree

Founded in the early 19th century as a fishing village, Portree has grown into the main town on Skye and remains the island’s beating heart. Its pastel-coloured harbour, framed by cliffs and hills, is one of the most recognisable views in the Hebrides and still buzzes with fishing boats, tour vessels, and waterfront life. The town itself is lively and compact, with plenty to see and do: browse small shops, visit local galleries, or wander the pier and harbourfront lanes. Portree is also an excellent place to spend an afternoon if you’d like to take a boat trip on the bay, with options that range from wildlife spotting to scenic cruises. In the evening, the town comes into its own as one of the best places on Skye for dinner, offering everything from traditional pubs to acclaimed restaurants.

Food & Drink In Portree

The Isles Inn - a traditional pub with an open fire, good food, and a lively vibe.
Dulce & Brose - high-quality food, a relaxed but good bistro.
Gasta Port Righ – excellent pizzas in a relaxed setting, a short drive from town.
Cuillin Hills - an excellent restaurant located within the hotel. Overlooks Portree Bay. Also has a brilliant whisky and cocktail bar.
Scorrybreac – mainly seafood, foraged, and excellent. It is fine dining (though relaxed) and on the expensive side, but a real experience. Ask for a table upstairs overlooking the harbour if eating here! Also has a very cute gin/cocktail/whisky bar upstairs serving island/West Coast drinks with foraged garnish. Something of a hidden gem.
Birch – top-notch coffee, excellent pastries, and sweet treats.
Summer Café – excellent coffee and sandwiches, generally best for takeaway.
Caberfeidh: speak-easy style cocktails in the town centre (also excellent pizzas)
Merchant Bar - charming, whitewashed, and traditional pub most famous for its extensive whisky and gin selection.

Shops:

Skye Candle Co - island-made candles and homewares just outside of town.
ÒR - small gift shop with island-made homeware/books/jewellery. Highly recommend.
Misty Isle Distillers - island-made gins and whiskies (with tastings).

Day Trip 1

PORTREE & BOAT TRIP

Enjoy a slow morning in Portree and in the afternoon take a boat trip to explore Skye’s wilder places and stunning coastline.

Two of the most popular trips depart from Portree Harbour, offering peaceful cruising, thrilling wildlife sightings, and stunning views of Skye, Raasay, and Rona. It’s the perfect way to see sea eagles soaring, seals at rest, and—if you’re lucky—dolphins or even whales.

Stardust Boat Trips

Offering trips from Portree Harbour, Stardust specialises in wildlife cruises ranging from two-hour sea eagle and wildlife tours to longer whale trail adventures.

Tickets start at £30 for their Original Sea Eagle & Wildlife Trip and go up to around £45 for their rib-based Sea Eagle & Wildlife experience for adults. Book online.

Seaflower Skye

Cruising aboard the luxury 40-foot catamaran MV Seaflower, this company offers half-day tours, including seafood lunch or refreshments, a glass of wine, and visits to islands such as Raasay or Rona. Private charters, sunset cruises with fizz, and bespoke offerings are also available.

Tickets from £90. This is most definitely the luxury option, and I personally recommend their Sunset Prosecco Cruise or Skye Coastline Cruise. Book online.

Day Trip 2

BEACHES, DISTILLERIES, CASTLES, AND HIDDEN GEMS

A day of exploring the island’s northern parts and a few lesser-known places. In the morning, you have a lovely white sand beach walk, then a visit to Dunvegan Castle before heading south to Carbost for lunch. After lunch, spend some time in Carbost, then walk The Fairy Pools before heading back to Portree (or your acommodation).

Coral Beach

Coral Beach is a beautiful, secluded white sandy beach with coral pieces and shells. It’s a 3.8 km (2.4-mile) out-and-back, flat coastal walk.

The car park gets busy, so it's best to visit early. The road from Dunvegan is single track.

OS Maps route

Directions: car park

Parking: free car park, but it’s small, muddy and rutted. Not ideal for large vehicles.

Time: around an hour.

Dunvegan Castle & Gardens

Dunvegan Castle is home to Clan MacLeod. You can visit the gardens for £15 per adult. They have fantastic seal boat tours that take 30-40 minutes and cost £13.50 per adult. The first trip of the day is usually a little longer and interesting as the driver looks for seals. If you want to take the boat trip (which I highly recommend), proceed directly through the gardens to the pier (where you’ll find the ticket office) and opt for the first trip of the day to avoid the crowds. Visit the castle and gardens afterwards.

The castle opens at 10:00 a.m., and it’s best to arrive as soon as it opens. Skip the on-site café and head to The Dunvegan Deli afterwards.

Directions: Dunvegan Castle car park

Parking: a large free car park.

Time: approximately an hour, depending on whether you take the boat trip.

The Dunvegan hotel cafe & deli does some of the best coffee & cake on Skye. The café is super cosy plus they have great focaccia sandwiches.

Dun Beag Broch

A Broch is an Iron Age round stone tower only found in Scotland. Dun Beag Broch sits up high on a rocky knoll and was built around 2,000 years ago. Even though it’s a ruin, you can still see its double-wall construction and defensive architecture.

It’s a short walk up to the Broch through a muddy field filled with sheep.

Directions: Dun Beag car park

Parking: a small muddy car park. Aim for the first entrance; the second is heavily rutted.

Time: approximately 20 minutes.

Brunch/lunch

Head to Café Cùil - arguably the best cafe on Skye. They offer phenomenal breakfast/brunch options, as well as homemade cakes, tea, and coffee. I highly recommend visiting for lunch.

Carbost

For such a small village, Carbost has lots to offer. The Fairy Pools are very busy, so I recommend taking your time in Carbost, visiting a few attractions, and then heading out to the Fairy Pools closer to 4 pm.

Talisker Distillery - you can visit the bar & shop without booking. Tasting experiences last 30 minutes - last one at 4pm. Tours last one hour, and the last one is at 3:30 pm.
Caora Dhubh - a great coffee shop/roastery with homemade cakes.
The Oyster Shed - a rustic seafood shack with fresh, locally caught seafood. A short but steep uphill walk!
The Old Inn - a Skye institution! A traditional inn with great food and drink.
Three Chimneys at Talisker - we highly recommend this eatery. The food - made with local produce from the acclaimed Three Chimneys team - is excellent.

Directions: Talisker car park

Parking: free parking at the Talisker car park until 5pm.

Fairy Pools

This is an exceptionally popular attraction, so the car park gets very busy, particularly in peak season. The single-track road is one of the worst on Skye for being gridlocked.

I recommend arriving around 4 pm to avoid the crowds (or towards sunset for beautiful light and fewer other people). The walk takes around an hour, depending on how far you walk out. It’s on a good gravel path all the way.

Directions: Fairy Pools car park

Parking: It costs £8 for all-day parking. Toilets on-site are open until 5pm.

If you don’t mind an extra 10 minutes of walking, you can park at Glenbrittle Forest car park for free and avoid the crowded car park.

Time: the drive in & out, parking, plus the walk takes just over 1.5 hours.

Day Trip 3

ICONIC ISLAND HOTSPOTS ON THE TROTTERNISH COASTAL ROAD

A day of exploring the island’s most spectacular and iconic places. There are plenty of opportunities for walks and hikes today, but we recommend starting early to avoid any crowds and to see everything on this scenic route.

There are a lot of stops on this route, so pick and choose which you’d like to see most. You can split this day into two, to take things slower (this is an especially good idea if you’d like to do all the hikes).

Bride's Veil Falls

A small waterfall by the side of the road. Be warned, there’s no path, and it’s muddy & slippery.

Directions: large layby

Parking: A large, uneven layby.

Time: 5-10 minutes.

Old Man of Storr

The Old Man is probably the most visited of the “Big 6” attractions on Skye. I recommend arriving early to avoid the crowds and secure a parking space.

The walk is around 4km and 350m of ascent, depending on how far you walk up the path.

OS Maps route

If you don’t want to walk up to the Old Man but would like a nice view/photo. I recommend parking up at one of these points: one, two, three.

Directions: Old Man of Storr parking

Parking: it costs £5 for 6 hours (info).

Time: approximately 1.5 hours up and back.

The Quiraing

The Quiraing (pronounced kuh-rang) is a popular “Big 6” attraction, so it gets very busy at the main car park from 10am. The road up is single-track, narrow and twisty.

You can park up and walk 100m to the viewpoint, or walk around 4km out and back to The Quiraing and The Needle. The weather may dictate what you do!

OS Map route

Directions: main car park

Parking: a large car park, it’s pay & display and costs £3 for 3 hours.

Time: approximately 1 hour out and back or 20 minutes to see the viewpoint.

Rha Waterfalls

A stunning waterfall at the end of a short, picturesque forest walk. Park up and walk back along the road you just drove down. Look for the gap in the wall and the sign for “Uig Wood”.

Directions: car park

Parking: A large tarmac car park is located by the road junction.

Time: approximately 20 minutes.

Uig

Uig is a ferry port, so there’s not much to see other than The Isle of Skye Brewing Co.

If you’re unsure about visiting Fairy Glen, head back up the road you came down, as the detour takes around an hour, making for a late lunch. You’ll have more time to explore if you don’t walk the full routes on The Old Man and/or The Quiraing.

The scenery on the Trotternish Loop is fantastic when driving it clockwise. There are lots of great attractions along the way. This road is single track and sometimes rutted, but worth it.

Fairy Glen

Fairy Glen is the name for Balnaknock (Bail nan noc - village in the hills). It’s a 100,000-year-old geological formation sculpted by post-Glacier landslides and subsequent erosion to create unusual cone-shaped craggy hillocks, random boulders, lochans and a basalt castle.

It’s up a tight, single-track road, plus it’s a very busy attraction. If you’re on the fence about visiting, I recommend using the time to see other things.

Directions: Fairy Glen parking

Parking: £3 for 4 hours.

Time: around 1 hour.

Skye Museum of Island Life

A collection of traditional, thatched black houses, each with a different historical theme: island life, WW2, old shop, etc. If you’re interested in the history of Skye, it’s worth the £7.50 to get into the village. Otherwise, you can park up and just have a look at the houses. There are toilets and a café which sells locally made hot pies, hot drinks, ice cream and cakes.

Directions: large gravel car park

Parking: large gravel car park.

Time: 10 to 30+ minutes, depending on whether you go in.

Duntulm Castle

Perched high on the cliffs at the northern tip of Skye, Duntulm Castle is an evocative ruin once held by the MacDonalds of Skye. Though the castle is closed to entry due to its fragile structure, it remains an atmospheric stop for photographs and a glimpse into the island’s clan history. There is a small roadside parking area beside the ruins, making it an easy detour as you drive through the Trotternish Peninsula. On a clear day, the views stretch far out to sea, giving a real sense of Skye’s remote northern reaches.

Directions: small roadside parking

Time: 20 to 30+ minutes.

For lunch, you have the option of the up-market Flodigarry hotel (high-quality lunch in a lovely setting), or The Hungry Gull (a popular lunch stop with a range of brunch-style options, coffee & cake).

An Corran Beach

An Corran (the crescent) beach has great views out to Staffin Island, plus dinosaur footprints.

Directions: layby

Parking: a small layby with room for 10 or so vehicles.

Time: 20 minutes

If the history of dinosaurs is of interest, stop off at the Staffin Dinosaur Museum (£5 each). It’s a charming traditional building with lots of dinosaur footprints, fossils & artefacts.

Kilt Rock & Mealt Falls

Kilt rock got its name because the 90m basalt columns resemble the pleats of a Scottish kilt. Mealt falls is a huge waterfall that drops into the Minch (Atlantic).

Directions: Kilt Rock car park

Parking: a large tarmac pay-and-display car park. £3 for 2 hours.

Time: 10-20 minutes.

Lealt Falls

A cantilever viewing platform with views to Lealt Falls. You can also walk down a steep path to the bay with remnants of the old salmon smokehouses and diatomite factory.

Constables Coffee Truck is up at the main car park and does great coffee.

Directions: Lealt Falls car park

Parking: Limited free parking is available in the layby.

Time: 10-20 minutes.

Day Trip 4

HIDDEN GEMS

Spent this morning at Elgol - a hidden gem tucked away at the end of the road. The views on this drive are dramatic, and you’ll want to allow yourself time to pull over at Loch Slapin to soak it all in.

Due to its position in the south, this day is often best done as you leave the island and head for the road bridge; however, it depends on your accommodation (and the weather).

Misty Isle Loch Coruisk boat trip (from Elgol)

The Misty Isle is a small boat that runs regularly from Elgol (a tiny village at the very end of the Elgol road) to hidden Loch Coruisk. Once at the loch, there’s a waterside trail (can be muddy) and spectacular views. You can find timetables and sailings here. There’s a seafood shack just outside the ticket office selling excellent seafood rolls and salads.

On your journey to the boat, you’ll see some of the best views on Skye on this lesser-visited peninsula. Loch Slapin, a secluded bay with phenomenal scenery. And Torrin Pools, a series of waterfalls only a few minutes’ walk from the car park.

Parking: this gravel car park for Loch Slapin viewpoint and Torrin Pools

Eas a' Bhradain waterfall

Heading north (towards Portree) if it’s been raining, Eas a' Bhradain waterfall is worth stopping to see. You pass it on the road, but if it’s not flowing, it’s not worth stopping.

You need to cross the busy road, then walk along it for a short distance. It’s very muddy/boggy if you want to get close, so wear suitable footwear.

Directions: roadside layby

Parking: a large layby just past the waterfall. Be careful, as people turn in at the last minute.

Time: 10-15 minutes.

For coffee or lunch, visit the fantastic Lean To Coffee.

Sligachan Old Bridge

This is one of the most photographed Skye landscapes: the old packhorse bridge with the Cuillin mountains in the background.

Directions: Old Bridge car park

Parking: It’s a tight car park and usually busy. There is also lay-by parking here.