Skye Island
 

We'll be in Skye Island for 2 nights at the end of May. We'll be driving there from Glasgow. We want to drive around and see the sites and enjoy the beautiful scenery. I'm looking for recommendations of for one place to stay for the 2 nights on Skye Island. From Skye Island we'll be driving to Inverness. Thanks!

Sligachan

For such a short visit it is the best located. The Isle of Skye is large and the driving is very slow. So Sligachan is good because it is sort of at the crossroads of all the routes to various parts.

A Lot of people recommend staying in Portree which can make sense because it is really the only town of any sort. And it is closest to the Trotternish Peninsula. But it is farther from other places you will want to see.

And make sure to call it by its name: Isle of Skye. Terminology matters. The Subway in NYC is the local train system, in London it's the underground passages that enable you to cross busy intersections, in much of the USA a "Subway" is a sandwich chain.

You said "Skye Island" four times and the Scots don't call it that - might as well call Rhode Island "Isle of Rhode" or the DFW area the "Fort Worth Dallas Metroplex."

I'll be visiting the Island of Coney this summer and want to know which Sub of the Way I need to take.

Thanks, janis for the suggestion for the ISLE OF SKYE. And thanks, Russ, for the lesson & I do know how important what you say is. I also know it's the Isle of Skye, but was rushing so not really thinking I guess. I was with my Scottish friend last night and she was correcting just about every pronunciation I made.--It's Glasgo (drop the "w") It's NewKEY etc etc etc.

I just did it more subtly . . . ;)

>> The <i>Isle of Skye</i> is large and . . .<<

<<It's Glasgo>>

Or Glesca (see Christopher Brookmyre) or Glezgo or Glesco depending upon accent strength. . .

Much nicer, janisj. Thank you! And look at what spellcheck did to my Glasgow!

I'm really not ideological about slow travel or fast travel, but based on my experience of the Isle of Skye, I would suggest that if you want to get the best of the experience of it that you think less about driving around it than getting out of your car and taking some walks and hikes. If you really don't enjoy rough walking or hiking, and want to try to bomb around the island, then maybe you need to stay pretty much right in the center.

The island is really very beautiful almost everywhere you go, although the towns are more functional than charming destinations. So my recommendation, again, would be that you forego trying to see several different parts of the island and instead set out to enjoy one part of it.

I had a fair amount of time of Skye so I was able to see the northern and southern parts (and the middle and eastern & western coasts at a comfortable pace, with plenty of time for walks, usually twice a day. Were I going back (and I'd love to!), I think would head to the northern end, near the Trotternish, or to any part of the western coast, for the slightly wilder, less developed feel and the sunsets -- but I would suggest you do some detailed research to decide what spot appeals to you (if you like the idea of spending more time out of your car than in it).

>>if you want to get the best of the experience of it that you think less about driving around it than getting out of your car and taking some walks and hikes. <<

I agree -- but generally one needs to <i>drive</i> to various areas/footpaths/hiking trails.

Another thing to take into consideration is the weather. The weather is VERY unpredictable and it is never guaranteed. As I've posted previously, it was my third visit to Skye before I saw a darned thing. That third stay -- was oh so glorious!.

frencharmoire - Our plan is to do both -- some driving and some hiking/walking. "Bombing" around the island was never our plan. Of course we have done research -- how else would we pick, throw a dart? For me the usefulness of this board is the experiences and advice of other travellers. Research online or in books doesnt give you that. We all trael differently. For example I couldnt imagine doing a day trip from Porto to the Duoro Valley -- we spent days in the DV, but to each is own. Thanks for your suggestions.

I'm bewildered by your reply, but will drop it.

We ended up getting a B&B in Portree only because the place we wanted in Sligachan was booked and Portree had many more options for a family of four.

Thanks, paulg-I'm really having a tough time trying to get a place to book. Everything is filled up or very expensive ~$300 a night. Do you recall the names of the places to which you refer?

Well, we haven't had our trip yet (July 2017), so yes, everything is very fresh on my mind or in my email. :)

The Sligachan Hotel was booked and was 210lb/night (can't get the pound sign on my keyboard to work).

In Portree, we got the Drumorell B&B for 160lb/night in 2 rooms and also found accommodation at the Tigh Mo Chridh B&B for 140lb/night in 2 rooms.

Good luck!

paulg: Just a hint - when you can't make a £ sign -- use GBP. Everyone will know what you mean. 160lb could cause - well . . . <i>confusion ;)

Thanks! Sligachan Hotel was also booked during our time. I'll look at the other 2.

Confusion is my middle name.

YT, we just booked two rooms at Cuillin Hills Hotel in Portree ...$233 a night including tax

((H))

Thanks, I had looked at that, also booked. I finally found a little cabin type place outside Portree. I dont know why everything was booked, I'm not even there on a weekend.

yestravel, we began booking in September2015 for our trip in May2016 and found that places were already not available.

>> I dont know why everything was booked, I'm not even there on a weekend.<<

>>at the end of May<< explains it. Middle of the month would have been much easier - practically empty. But at the end of the month is a bank holiday and schools are on break the last week of may/1st week of June.

Ah, so that would be it. I had looked for holidays and school schedule in Scotland and never saw that.

Just to add, we were there on the bank holiday - and it happened to be amazingly beautiful weather. :)

But, although parking at favored hiking places was busy and there were definitely more "holidayers" around than at other places on our Scotland trip, we never felt the effects of crowds. That may be because we are used to much worse here in So Cal, of course. But it never felt intrusive.

Skye is amazing and well worth whatever time you have for it.

Some smaller places don't start taking bookings until after the New Year, but Skye has become extremely popular as a tourist destination, and places do fill up quickly especially at certain times like bank holidays.

We are looking forward to our couple days on Skye. It sounds beautiful and the photos I have seen are gorgeous. Hopefully the weather will cooperate.

Skye absorbs the visitors very well - it is large and the scenery is everywhere - very spread out. So crowds won't be a problem.

But the accommodations can't really handle the busiest times of years -- there simply isn't all that much.

I love Skye! It is simply gorgeous. It was crowded and some of the major sites were quite busy late in the afternoon. We had an interesting time with our booking. The cabin we booked got sold and we lost our reservation . So about 1 month before departure on our trip we were back searching. We were given a FB page, Skye rooms , where you can put your needs on it and owners will get back to you. We got alternate lodging right outside Portree through the FB page.

Everyone who lives on Skye that we talked to lamented the huge number of tourists and the resulting crowds. The infrastructure is just not able to accommodate the crowds.

Interesting. Which "sites" are you talking about? The only time I ever felt "crowded" in Skye was on a walk in the vicinity of the Old Man of Storr -- more tourists than I'd encountered in other parts of the isle -- and maybe when I made the mistake of stepping into a sweet shop two minutes before school let out in Portree. But otherwise it was mainly me and the sheep. However, I was out on one end of the Trotternish, and didn't go to distilleries. Only had lunch in Portree (plus an unforgettably butter bit of shortbread!). That was in September.

Old Man of Storr for sure and the circuit north of there. We did it backwards leaving in the am. By the time we got to Kilt Rock, there was a tour bus, several mini buses and lots of people. We followed that to Portree. We went back to Old Man of Storr one evening and it was blissfully empty.
On another day Sligachen was crowded but not packed. We stopped on a rainy day and talked with a photographer. We were thinking of going to the fairy pools. He mentioned it would be crowded even in the rain. We skipped. It was difficult to get into any restaurants in Portree -all booked up. You could go like 5:30.

This is relative -say compared to Yellowstone in the US, Skye would not be considered crowded. And we plan to go back as it wouldn't be a deterrent to us.

I've been going to Skye for almost 20 years and it is certainly more crowded now than it was then. Several years ago, there was so much traffic at the Fairy Glen cars were double-parked. At Neist Point the people walking out to the light house looked like a trail of ants. I arrived at my hotel about 7:00 and the restaurant was fully booked until 9:00. After trying every every restaurant in Portree, I finally found a place at 8:00. Everyone " loves " Skye and it's fast becoming the most popular place to visit in Scotland. There are still a few quiet, secret places but I'm keeping those to myself. ;)

We spent only a day on magical Skye, with a friend from Inverness who had the use of his uncle's ancient Bentley. It was complete with a leather picnic hamper that included cut-glass whisky glasses and decanters. His mother had packed us a cold lunch of pheasant sandwiches and other delights, which we ate while sitting on the grass looking out at the water. That was a perfect day.

We went over and back on the ferry and had an encounter with Jonathan Livingstone Seagull on the way. A pleasant one, though.

Thanks. We didn't know anything about the Isle of Skye when we went, except maybe that "Local Hero" had been filmed there. So we just booked a cottage in the Trotternish, and then we just hung out there. (First time I'm hearing of "fairy" anything!) When we told people we went out hiking once or twice a day, people kept asking if we'd seen the "Old Man of Storr", so we finally went. But we decided against the distilleries.

I'm not surprised it is drawing ever more tourists, but I feel pretty confident saying that if somebody avoids all the "must sees" (whatever they are) you'll still love the Isle of Skye. With the exception of a few spots with gas stations and other utilitarian necessities, everything we say was charming. Including all the sheep who stood in my way and stared at my car like they had never seen such a thing before. (One of the reasons we didn't go all that far is because sheep slowed us down a lot.)