I am planning a long weekend trip (3 nights) to Scotland with my husband in August. We are planning to fly from London to Inverness and then travel by car (rented or hired) to Skye. Should we focus on Skye for the entire time or is it worth staying somewhere else one night? In general we just want to see the beautiful landscape, a few hikes, castles, etc.

Flying up on Friday evening or on Saturday?

We spent two weeks on Skye last year and certainly did not think it was too long! I think you can fill a long weekend there easily without spending a night somewhere else.

We stayed for 2 nites in Portree in the Coolin View Hotel and it certainly was not long enough. This hotel boasts probably the best view of the harbor in Portree and is just a few steps from what we thought was the best restaurant in Portree, the Harbour View.

I spent 5 days driving around the Highlands in May, from Glasgow to Skye and back. The landscape in Skye was beautiful but stark and barren, as opposed to the gentler forested scenery and lakes along most of the route. Your decision depends on your personal preferences for scenery.

We spent one day in Skye in the Carbost area and did two good hikes - Talisker Bay and the Fairy Pools. You can get detailed info about hikes at www.walkhighlands.co.uk

We just made exactly that trip (4 days) in the middle of June. Switching to the other side of the road to drive was not the issue I was afraid it might be and we drove to Skye. For such a short stay I recommend you do it all on Skye. Inverness and environs should be its own trip. We did a full day and two nights in Inverness and just skimmed the surface. For Skye I heartily recommend Ord House and get Bedroom 1 for the superking bed and great bath. Take advantage of Nicola's cooking for at least one dinner (her meals are world class). The views are spectacular and the setting very peaceful. Ord House is on the Sleat Penninsula and not far from Armadale Castle whose gardens and museum are well worth the time to visit at length.

This is great thank you! We will be flying up on Fri to Mon. Any input on driving from Glasgow to Skye vs. from Inverness? The flights are significantly less expensive from London to Glasgow (Edinburgh too) so we are debating driving the 5-6 hours to Skye vs. 3 from Inverness. I have heard it is a very pretty drive though so even though timing will be short could be worth it.

Have you looked at Easyjet from Luton? Glasgow to Mallaig is a right scunner, and the topography doesn't end itself to going to Kyle- except via Inverness!!

If you're coming up on Friday, then I'd suggest you have time to stop somewhere nice on the east side before you cross over. By "nice" I DON'T mean Inverness. Invergarry? Beauly? Fortrose? Rosemarkie? Cromarty?

It's only an hour or so from Inverness to the bridge, so you would still have most of Saturday and all day Sunday and as much of Monday as is available to see Skye.

I shudder to disagree with Sheila, but if you are flying back on Monday, unless your flight is really late in the day, stopping for a day on the way leaves you only a day and a half (part of Saturday and then Sunday) for Skye. Even if you are centrally located on Skye, getting out to some of the different points of interest can take a bit of time because of the roads and topography. I would drive all the way on Friday (regardless of where you fly in) and give yourself the full day on Saturday and Sunday to maximize your Skye options.

There are parts of Skye I would describe as stark and barren, but the scenery is more varied than that. The area around Armadale is very lush, for example, and I second the recommendation of visiting the castle ruins and gardens even if you don't stay down there.

Even a single day on Skye is better than nothing, of course, but we just loved it!

As for the drive, we took the ferry to Mallaig and drove to Edinburgh the day we left, and it was a very pretty drive. It took about 5.5 hours, I think, so it might still be worth the extra money to get closer and spend less time in the car before you get there. Another advantage of flying, if castles are high on the list, would be that it would be easy to visit Eilean Donan and Urquhart as you come and go from Inverness.

Really, you can't go wrong.

We flew into Heathrow then on to Inverness via Edinburgh. Slightly more expensive was to fly into Gatwick then directly to Inverness. The disadvantage to the Edinburgh leg was Flybe has cut its service between Inverness and Edinburgh to only two flights per day. It did allow, however, for easy and stress-free airport transfers and our bags were checked through. Driving a leg from either Glasgow or Edinburgh would eat up so much of your time that good flight planning could win that back for you.
The drive from Inverness to Skye is really nice and the scenery varied. Opportunities to see Urquhart and Eilean Donan castles should definitely be taken advantage of as Barbara suggested. I also loved to poke my head into some of the small shops along the way (how can you go wrong poking around a Clog Making shop!) for more unique items.

Thanks again for all of the input. Despite the long drive, we decided to drive from Glasgow to Isle of Skye and stay the 3 nights there as our flight times are early arrive and late leavign so should work out ok! We are staying in a new B&B near Portree, looking forward to beautiful landscape, walks, etc.

Have a great trip

For anyone who travelled and visited Skye and the Loch Ness/Inverness area - which would you visit if you had to chose between staying at only one of the two?

Also is it possible to do Skye as a day trip from the Loch Ness and Inverness area, taking in E. Donan castle on route, and is it possible to simply drive across the bridge to Skye rather than taking the ferry? Seems like several here have experienced the two areas.

EMM - I wonder what your new B&B is? Have a great trip!!

travelGEEK. You really should start a new thread of your own instead of tacking on to a 4yo one.

Oh - now I see you did start a new thread . . . good.