Ultimate 3 day itinerary to the Isle of Skye
The Isle of Skye is one of the main attractions of Scotland, which is famous for its breathtaking landscapes, out of this world hikes and various legends and tales that immerse you in the magical world. Who doesn’t want to visit this place? If you are thinking about going to the Isle of Skye, do it! You will not regret it.
But you will definitly need an itinerary to get the most out of your day. This blog post will help you further, wheter you have one, two, three or even four days at the island! Three days were perfect to explore the basis of the island, but I would recommend 4 days to see everything you want and do it relaxed. If you only have one day tho, you can choose your favorite places to go to and visit these instead.
Keep in mind that not everything will go according to plan, because of the weather. Rain, wind and mist are not uncommon on this island and the chances are high that you need to change your plans last minute.
You will need your own car for this itinerary as it’s the easiest to get around. You can travel with the bus, but time will be wasted!
You might also like: The 14 most beautiful castles in Scotland
For your information, all these pictures were taken in July 2022.
Table of Contents
How to get to the Isle of Skye?
The easiest way to reach the Isle of Skye is by the mainland. The island is connected by a bridge, called the Skye Bridge. It takes around 4 hours to reach this bridge from Edinburgh, Glasgow and also Aberdeen with the car.
There is an alternative way to reach the island, which is by ferry. It departs from Mallaig on the mainland of Scotland and arrives in Armadale in the Isle of Skye 30 minutes later. Be aware that there are way less ferries in the winter than in the summer and that you arrive early for check-in. Find the timetables for the winter and the summer here.
Isle of Skye Itinerary Map
Isle of Skye itinerary: Day 1
Total driving distance: 30 mile (47 km)
The first day of this itinerary will start at Portree, the biggest town on the Isle of Skye. It’s the perfect starting base, as there are a lot of hotels, restaurants, gas stations and shops. There is also a big supermarket, Co-op Food, where you should go to get some lunch and snacks.
Be sure to start your day early, as you get to do more in one day! Keep also an eye out for the weather. If it’s raining very badly, maybe it’s better to stay in bed a bit longer.
You will start your day with one of the most iconic places in the Isle of Skye!
1 | The Old Man of Storr
The Old Man of Storr is a large pinnacle rock that was created by a massive landslide. It’s located above the Trotternish Ridge. Because of its immense size of 50 meters (or 180 feet), it can be seen from around the island, even before you get to the car park.
For the best views of the Storr, do the short hike to the top. It’s quite tiresome as it’s only going up with stairs for 1 hour. The whole hike, up and down, will take around 1h30 to 2h.
As this is one of the busiest places in the Isle of Skye, make sure you will come straight here and as early as possible!
The drive from Portree to the Old Man of Storr takes around 15 minutes.
Learn more: The ultimate guide to visit the Old Man of Storr
2 | Kilt Rock and Mealt Falls
Another famous point at the Isle of Skye is called Kilt rock and Mealt falls, but this one doesn’t require any hiking as both sightings are directly next to the car park. As of why you won’t spent too much time here. It can be very crowded, so you have to wait your turn to have the best view. But as this isn’t to far away from the Old Man of Storr and the parking is free, you need to visit this place!
Kilt Rock is a basaltic formation which rises about 35 meters vertically from the sea. The name derives from the fact that these rocks have a kilt-shape. The Mealt falls can be seen directly in front of the Kilt rock. If you’re lucky, you can see that the waterfall meets the ocean.
The drive from the Old Man of Storr car parking to Kilt Rock takes around 15 minutes.
3 | Extra stop: The Brother's Point
Brother’s point or also known as Rubha nam Brathairean (the first name is easier to remember) is a less famous attraction on the Isle of Skye. As the weather started to get bad after our hike to the Old Man of Storr, we didn’t get to hike to this point. Even though we couldn’t do this, doesn’t mean you can’t. The place looks stunning and I would love to do this one day!
The hike is 2.25 miles (3.6 km) and takes around 1.5 – 2h. There is a free car park next to the road.
The drive from Kilt Rock to Brother’s point car parking takes around 5 minutes.
4 | Bride's veil falls
This is just a very short stop as you will probably be tired of all the hiking you did that day. You don’t need to hike to see this waterfall as you can see it already from the car park. Depite it not being the biggest waterfall, I really loved stopping here. Moreover, you can see the Storr from here if you go at the left side of the waterfall. It should be noted that there is a very small car parking and that there might be a chance that you can’t stop here.
The drive from Brother’s point to Bride’s veil falls car parking takes around 15 minutes.
5 | Portree
Time to relax a bit and try to find something to eat! Portree is probably the place where you will rest and recover for the next day!
Following the fact that Portree is the capital of the Isle of Skye, you have everything you need here like a big supermarket (that you probably will visit a lot), gas station, accommodations, restaurants, buses that get you to other attractions and so on.
Don’t forget to visit the photogenetic harbour in the village. The colorful houses make up for great pictures!
The drive from Bride’s veil falls to Portree takes around 12 minutes.
Isle of Skye itinerary: Day 2
Total driving distance: 59 mile (95 km)
Today will be a bit more driving, but that’s because your sleeping base was at Portree, which is the easiest place to find accomodation. Plus, seeing the pretty harbour was a bonus! Make sure as you leave Portree to go to the supermarket for lunch. It’s very important to have enough food before going on big hikes! And that is definitly on the planning for the second day. We’ll start the day with one of the best hikes on the island, in my opinion!
6 | The Quiraing
You’ll want to start this hike early as it takes quite some time to finish. Even if you don’t want to hike this trail, it is one of the most beautiful places to visit in Scotland! The view from the car parking is absolutely stunning and should not be missed! Importantly, don’t hike this trail with low visibility. The first attempt at this hike, we didn’t see anything so we returned back to the car. Finally, after returning the next day, the weather cleared and it was much more safe to hike here.
The hike is 4 miles (6.5 km) and takes around 3.5 – 4h. There is a car parking at the start of the hiking trail, which costs £3 for up to 3h and £5 for up to 6h.
The drive from Portree to the Quiraing’s car parking takes around 40 minutes.
Learn more: The ultimate guide to visit the Needle (coming soon)
7 | The Fairy Glen
The weather was still not the best (raining and low visibility), but we still wanted to visit some places on the Isle of Skye. We thought that the Fairy Glen would be perfect and it turned out to be right! The mist added to the mystery and magic of this place.
Despite the name giving a suggestion that it has something to do with magic, there are no legends involving fairies. Yet the location makes it easy to believe that there was magic involved!
It’s a very small hike of around 10 minutes from the car parking to the famous point. There is a car parking at the start of the hiking trail, which costs £2 for up to 2h and £3 for up to 4h.
The drive from the Quiraing to the Fairy Glens car parking takes around 20 minutes.
Learn more: The ultimate guide to visit the Fairy Glen (coming soon)
8 | Dunvegan Castle
Another perfect place when the weather isn’t the best in Scotland! Since we needed to do the Quiraing again, because of the bad weather, we didn’t have enough time to go inside this castle. Therefore, we found a perfect viewpoint to enjoy the castle from afar. You can find the viewpoint here.
The castle is open daily from 10am – 5.30pm between April and October. The entrance price is £14 for adults (castle and gardens) and £12 for adults (gardens only). Read more about the price and opening hours on their website. The parking is included in the price.
The drive from the Quiraing to the Fairy Glens car parking takes around 40 minutes.
Isle of Skye itinerary: Day 3
Total driving distance: 55 mile (88 km)
This will be your last day on the Isle of Skye. Since your last stop was at the Dunvegan castle, you probably slept in Dunvegan, which is a bigger village on the island. This day will be a bit less hiking and a bit more driving (about the same as the second day), but that’s ok. A reason to let your legs rest a bit.
9 | Neist Point lighthouse
Neist Point is located on the most westerly point of the Isle of Skye. It’s one of the most famous lighthouses of Scotland so don’t miss this place!
The hike is 1.8 miles (3 km) and takes more than 1h to complete. There is a free car parking at the start of the hiking trail, but keep in mind that it’s not the biggest.
After you finished walking all the way to the lighthouse, don’t forget to walk to the viewpoint of the lighthouse. This will give you the best view and the best pictures!
The drive from Dunvegan to Neist point car parking takes around 35 minutes.
10 | The Fairy Pool
The Fairy pools is a long stream with a lot of waterfalls filled with mountain water. If you’re in luck and the sun shines in Scotland, the pools will shine with bright greens and blues. Not like in our visit, were everything was grey and wet. The Fairy pools are also very famous for taking a dip. Don’t except warm temperatures in the summer months.
The hike takes you all the way to the first main waterfall. Since we didn’t know where the biggest waterfall was, we kept walking for more than an hour. Afterwards, we decided to turn around as we didn’t want to hike all the way to the mountain.
The hike is around 1.5 miles (24 km), but you can keep walking all the way to the mountain. It takes around 40 minutes to reach the first main waterfall. There is a car parking at the start of the hiking trail and costs £5 for a whole day. There is a free parking available, but you need to walk for around 10 – 15 minutes to reach the start of the hiking trail.
The drive from Neist Point lighthouse to the Fairy Pools car parking takes around 1 hour and 10 minutes.
11 | Sligachan Old Bridge
This will be the last stop on the Isle of Skye 3-day itinerary. Since you will be driving out of the Isle of Skye (and that still takes a good hour), it will be a short stop. If you have more time, you could also take your time for a nice walk and enjoy your surroundings a bit more.
There is a free car parking right next to the bridge.
The drive from the Fairy Pools to the Sligachan Old Bridge car parking takes around 25 minutes.
How to spend an extra day in the Isle Of Skye?
12 | Loch Coruisk
This is a place that I really regret not seeing. So if you have an extra day, really consider coming here. Loch Coruisk is a hidden loch, which can only be reached by a 45-minute boat tour or a 15 mile (25 km) hike, which takes around 6 to 8 hours to complete. Here you can find more information about the boat tour.
In spite of not being able to visit this place, I would still recommend it! Hopefully, we could one day see this place.
You might also like: 10 must visit places in the Isle of Skye
Other things to do near the Isle of Skye
Read about other places in the other blog posts for more inspiration:
- Top things to see in the Glencoe region (coming soon)
- The 14 most beautiful castles in Scotland
- 5 must see places in the north of Scotland (coming soon)
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Hello, I’m Ellen and welcome to this blog! I’m in love with exploring the world and hopefully I get to inspire you with these blog posts and pictures to feel the same. You will find detailed itineraries, hidden gems, tips and so much more!
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