Hoping to be on the Isle of Skye in mid-October. We promised my late mother and uncle to visit there as my family came from the Isle of Skye. We really want a quaint, romantic B&B but can't afford to splurge due to also going to Paris on this trip. So far we've only found contemporary lodgings.
Any ideas?

travelrene;
It's true that I haven't been to the Isle of Skye since... well let's just say 20 years. However, we did stay at Mrs. MacGregor's B+B. It was cozy. In fact, as I recall accomodations were almost all B+B's and they were all sweet and romantic. I've heard that TIGH-NA-MARA
is lovely. They all average about 20 pounds per persons includes Breakfast which is hardy. Try this web site:
http://tinyurl.com/zha95

Best Regards, Jane

To be honest - there really aren't all that many "quaint, romantic B&B's" on Skye. There MANY in great locations w/ amazing views - but most of them are modern houses.

If you want to keep to a budget - I'd select one w/ the location/food/views you want, and accept less than "period/quaint"

Hi travelrene,

As noted, Skye has lots more modern type properties than it does quaint ones but I think you might find something you like in Alastair Sawday's Special Places to Stay (website) at www.specialplacestostay.com

We stayed at Swordale House near Broadford this Spring. I will say that the website http://www.isleofskye.net/swordalehouse/ doesn't really give a lot of information, but it was a nice comfortable place, nicely furnished, with a good breakfast in the morning. I'm not sure what you mean by 'contemporary', but I would have considered this to be a well-kept farmhouse. It is a little out of the way - a couple of miles maybe from Broadford on the road to Elgol - but not really any problem if you have a car.

You might want to look at Kinloch Lodge, a small hotel in Sleat: http://www.claire-macdonald.com/kinloch-lodge/. The owner, Claire Macdonald, is a famous cook and cookery writer, and her husband is The MacDonald, the head of Clan MacDonald, if I recall correctly.

I thought sleat was a little out of the way. If you are going for 2 days to tour the island...what area is the best to stay at?

any input on the Stein Inn near Portree?

We stayed in a B&B near Elgol for three nights and I really wish we hadn't. It takes a lot longer to get from point A to point B on Skye then you'd think, just looking at the mileage, and we spent a lot of time driving back and forth to the B&B. The scenery on the road between Broadford & Elgol is gorgeous, though, and not to be missed.

Unless you are going to hike in the Cuillins, the best thing to do there is just drive around the Island, there is such a wide variety of beautiful scenery. If you stay in one place the whole time you spend half your time backtracking. If I had it to do again I would stay a different place each night in a different part of the Island - for instance, Staffin 1 night and Broadford or Kyleakin the next.

lawoman, any other recommendations on what to do while in skye?

Kinloch Lodge is wonderful - but IMHO it isn't terribly helpful to recommend a place that charges well over £100 per person to someone who doesn't want to splurge.

And while Sleat is lovely - it is too far from most of the isle for convenient touring.

steviegene -

We really enjoyed this.

http://www.bellajane.co.uk/

What are your interests?

Oh - missed the question about the Stein Inn. It is out on the Waternish penninsula. Not quite as inconvenient a base as Sleat or Elgol, and fairly close to Dunvegan. But again - being pretty far from other points of interest.

Places near Portree/Sligachan/Sconser would be more central and easy to get to any part of the island.

LAwoman, thanks!
That is actually the second recommendation I have gotten for that boating tour. And my husband LOVES boats, so that is definetly on the to-do list. Which tour did you take?
Our interests are seeing beautiful scenery, spending time in towns to get the feel of the place, pubs!, the feeling of "discovering", touring sites - like cathedrals, castles, etc...and the occasional more adventurous activity like boating, hiking, riding, etc.
I would just love to know what you did while there.
Also, janisj....what would your rec. be for skye. And, how out of the way would stein be? It just looks so nice! And it seems more "out of the way" which we like.

wow! duh, I just realized ive overused "out of the way"!
I mean, will it be really inconvenient, because we do like the idea of staying in an unconventional//small village type places. We would like to be around locals, and not feel like we are staying in a super touristy location.

It depends on what you want to see/do on Skye. The entire island is "out of the way" in a sense so you don't have to go to the far corners of the island to get away from it all. But if you want to be able to get around to lots of the scenic bits it is better to be a bit more centrally located.

Somewhere between Broadford and Portree (Sligachan, Sconser, Luib and so on) makes it a lot easier to get to anywhere on the island. Being in a more remote location means it is pretty likely you will be on single track roads.

Now, for a week's cottage rental when you have all the time in the world to tour the island - then stay anywhere. But for a short 1 or 2 night visit it is better to be in a more central area.

any specific place you can recommend?

Can't recommend a specific property - except for the Sligachan Inn which is great but maybe not the type of place you are looking for. Otherwise I've either rented self catering cottages or stayed in a B&B that has since been sold and is now a private residence.

But googling bed and breakfast and any of the places I mentioned (Portree, Sligachan, Sconser, Luib, Broadford, etc) will get you a TON of hits . . . .

Hi travelrene

My husband and I toured the Isle of Skye in September 2003 and stayed in 3 different locations.

The first was the Rosedale Hotel in Portree which we liked very much. It is right on the harbour and we had one of the rooms overlooking the harbour. We ate dinner there one night and it was very good. Their breakfasts were also quite good. Had an excellent meal in a small seafood restaurant at the top of the town can't remember the name but may be able to look it up. We enjoyed Portree's pubs & many shops. A very nice town.

We then went on to Dunvegan and stayed at the Dunvegan hotel. Pleasant but nothing special - had a lovely room though overlooking the loch.

Our last spot was the Flodigarry Hotel in Staffin. This place was very special - lovely romantic rooms, good dining room and outstanding location & views.

Sorry I can't recommend anything else but we did notice many B&B's in Portree and at that time of year you can easily arrive without reservations and choose what you like.

Have a wonderful trip. Scotland is special!

I'm going to check out some of the recommendations and websites. I'd love to stay at Kinloch Lodge, but must save the money for Paris. However, do they have a restaurant or pub open to the public? Maybe we could at least eat there. Also, I've thought about staying in a hostel for a couple of nights and then one night in a special spot. We've not stayed in hostels since college, and believe me that's ages ago . . .so if anyone has tried one lately I'd appreciate the feeback.