You can easily take the train from Edinburgh to Mallaig via Glasgow and then ferry to Skye but please note that bus service on Skye is rather limited and not really geared to tourists. I have no idea as to what Pal means when he says “ buses take you all around”. There is bus service on Skye but, as I said, it’s not easy to navigate.

I would recommend doing day trips with Rabbies. They are an excellent and well-rated tour company using small 16 passenger buses/ shuttles. Their guides are the most knowledgeable I’ve come across and very accommodating. They offer various tours from Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness. All places you can easily get to by train. You will see much more than if limiting yourself to trains and especially buses. For several years now I have traveled Scotland by taking tours with Rabbies and by utilizing a few train routes.

Rabbies website, www.rabbies.com

Forgot to add that by taking several tours with a Rabbies you can see a variety of places. Remember that Skye is only one area. There is so much more to see and do in Scotland than just visiting Skye.

I will just point out that on numerous trips to Skye I have frequently run into people waiting for buses that never seemed to show up and if going in my direction I have offered rides. On one trip we were taking a taxi from Kyle of Lochalsh to Eileen Iarmain. A young couple were waiting at same bus stop where we were to meet our taxi. Would have offered them a ride but they were going in different direction. As we left them still waiting for bus, the taxi driver muttered under his breath “ good luck with that”. I know buses do not meet ferries at Armadale. While waiting for my rental car to be delivered, two ferries came and went.A number of tourists were finding out that the bus did not go where they thought it would and one couple had to call a restaurant in Portree to reschedule their booking due to bus delay. A bus finally showed up ( the first one I’d ever seen at Armadale) . It was there for over an hour. Point being that trying to travel Skye by bus is at the very least sketchy. I do have serious doubts that Pal has ever done so. Reading bus schedules is not the same as actually traveling on them. If knowing so much about bus travel on Skye, I would think the correct spelling of Skye’s ferry port would be automatic.

We had a great trip to Scotland without a car in September 2018. Did we miss driving? Of course! But driving on the other side was not too appealing, so we decided against it.

We we skipped Skye, but had taken two wonderful tours with Timberbush: one tour to Loch Lomond, the Trossachs and Stirling and another one to Scottish Borders, Rosslyn Chapel, Melrose Abbey and Glenkinchie Distillery. Both tours were from Edinburgh and both were excellent.

We also took a train to Aviemore and then a bus to Grantown on Spey, which was our base for the Highlands. We hiked in beautiful Anagach woods along the river Spey - it was so lovely.

And there is so much to see in Edinburgh that you will be spoiled for choice.

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