North Skye · Trotternish · Uig
Below you will find an overview of some of the more famous attractions and distances to them from the house. Once your booking is confirmed we will share with you our guide to the "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, with so many sights along the way — north through Uig to the Skye Museum of Island Life in Kilmuir, round past Duntulm and past the dinosaur footprints and sea sauna in Staffin, then south again past Kilt Rock and Mealt Falls to The Storr. For the more adventurous, you can drive up the Quiraing Road from Uig to reach the top of the Trotternish Ridge — just keep an eye out for potholes!
Distances below are approximate driving times from the house, usually including some single-track roads — treat them as a rough guide and check a map for your own trip, especially in winter or bad weather.
to learn about the local road rules and how to keep yourself (and others) safe.
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 (remember you pay & display!); 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 (dinner reservations are a must and hard to come by).
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. Grab a warm drink from Ivan or Freya at "Coffee on the Trott", a lovely little family-run mobile coffee van operating out of a converted horsebox.
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.
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. Read more about them and their importance here. The small Staffin Museum nearby has casts and finds if the tide's against you (Mon–Sat, roughly 9:30am–5pm). Also check out the Staffin Sea Sauna followed by a cold plunge into the sea — if you're lucky, you'll be joined for your swim by Neal the Seal. If you need something to warm you up after there is no better place than stopping by Andreas' new Corran Coffee Shop in the harbour, where they also roast their coffee beans.
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. When it gets busy in the summer, walk along the ridge away from the main hiking trails - the climb to the top will offer you stunning views for miles.
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. The sites below are located in other parts of the island — further than anything above, so plan for a slightly longer drive — 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 new 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.
Skye's most photographed lighthouse, perched on a narrow headland at the island's westernmost point near Glendale. A steep, paved path zigzags down from the car park to the lighthouse itself — striking at any time of day, but especially at sunset, when the cliffs glow and the light sweeps out across the Minch. Keep an eye out for dolphins, minke whales and basking sharks offshore in summer.
Drive on the left side of the road at all times on the Isle of Skye.
