North Skye · Trotternish
A guide to the walks, viewpoints, and small places we'd actually send a friend to — not a tourist checklist.
The Trotternish loop
The single-track A855 loops the whole Trotternish peninsula, and almost everything below sits somewhere along it — north through Uig and Kilmuir, round past Duntulm and Staffin, then south again toward the Storr. You could drive the loop in an afternoon; most guests take a week and still don't manage all of it.
Distances below are approximate driving times from the house, on quiet single-track roads — treat them as a rough guide and check a map for your own trip, especially in winter or bad weather.
Miniature grassy cones and hidden pools right on our doorstep — genuinely odd terrain, and a favourite with kids. A single-track road gets you to a small car park; the good stuff is a short walk beyond it.
Please don't build stone spirals or move rocks — the local request is to leave the glen as you found it.
Uig Bay is the working heart of North Skye — a harbour, a handful of shops, and the CalMac ferry that runs on to Tarbert (Harris) and Lochmaddy (North Uist). Even if the Outer Hebrides aren't on your itinerary, it's worth timing a visit for a sailing — the ferry threading out of the bay is a proper sight from the hillside above.
For food and a drink right in the village, the Ferry Inn is a 19th-century pub and restaurant a short walk from the harbour.
A roofless, cliff-edge ruin at Skye's northern tip, once a stronghold of the MacDonalds of Sleat. Free roadside parking and a short path get you there; the drop to the sea is real and unfenced, so mind the edges, especially in wind.
A cluster of thatched croft cottages near Kilmuir showing how North Skye actually lived in the 1800s — a working kitchen, a smithy, a weaver's loom. Flora MacDonald's grave is in the churchyard just up the road, if that means something to you.
Real dinosaur footprints are exposed on An Corran beach at low tide — genuinely worth timing, though they can be hard to spot without local knowledge. The small Staffin Museum nearby has casts and finds if the tide's against you (Mon–Sat, roughly 9:30am–5pm).
A 90-metre sea cliff of basalt columns, pleated like a kilt, with the Mealt Falls dropping 55 metres straight into the sea beside it. A proper viewing platform with barriers sits under a minute's walk from the car park — no hike required for one of Trotternish's best views.
The full loop past the Prison, the Needle, and the Table runs about 6.8km and takes most walkers 2–3 hours, over steep, exposed, sometimes boggy ground — proper boots, not trainers. Don't want the full walk? The roadside viewpoint at the top of the pass gives an extraordinary view for free, no hiking required.
The car park fills early in summer — arrive before mid-morning if you're hiking, or park roadside for the viewpoint.
Skye's most photographed rock — a 48-metre volcanic pinnacle on the Trotternish ridge. The walk to its base is about 1km with a stiff 250m climb, an hour or two return, on ground that gets loose and steep near the top. If a hike isn't the plan, the view from the road at Loch Fada is one of the best on the island, especially when the loch is still enough to reflect it.
Further afield
Skye is bigger than one peninsula. These sit on the other side of the island — further than anything above, on more winding roads — but regularly make guests glad they went.
Skye's oldest working distillery, founded in 1830 on the shore of Loch Harport at Carbost. Guided tours and tastings run through the visitor centre most days — book ahead in summer.
A long-established restaurant with rooms in a converted crofthouse at Colbost, near Dunvegan, known for seafood and Skye produce. It holds Michelin Guide recognition — well worth the drive for a proper night out, but book well ahead.
Near Claigan, north of Dunvegan — the "sand" is actually bleached, crushed maerl (a coralline seaweed), which gives the shoreline its strikingly white, tropical look against turquoise water. An easy farm track from the Claigan car park gets you there in about 40 minutes each way.
A scattered crofting settlement on a working harbour, with what many consider the best view in Scotland of the Cuillin ridge across Loch Scavaig. It's also the usual departure point for boat trips into Loch Coruisk, at the heart of the mountains.
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