What to do on the Isle of Skye

If you’re like me, when you’re planning a trip you start to scour Pinterest, maybe even make a specific board like I did! Well, it’s easy to get lost in all the things you see, what’s plausible with the time you have, and what’s really worth it! That’s how I felt when I was researching what to do on the Isle of Skye! I took a lot of time to plan out this itinerary and the order that we would see everything on our list as well. This was my favorite part of Scotland! I hope it helps you discover or decide what’s on your list!

What to do on the Isle of Skye

See a Highland Cow

Can you tell how happy I am?? These creatures are the cutest! I saw a couple more cows in all of Scotland, but saw a lot while on the Isle of Skye! They’re friendly and the cutest animals ever.

Neist Point Lighthouse

We barely made it here before sunset! Just make sure you are wearing boots, even in August it was pretty wet and muddy. If you have the time, walk down to the lighthouse, too!

Dunvegan Castle

The grounds and inside the castle were equally as beautiful. I love museums like this, they have awesome artifacts and stories but it’s more of an experience than just walking through halls!

Claigan Coral Beach

This is a great walk with not a lot of incline if you don’t like hiking! I didn’t quite make it all the way to the sand being six weeks pregnant and hungry and super tired. But I was still glad we went! So you’d have fun even if you don’t make it to the beach!

Fairy Glen

The Fairy Glen was worth the stop! It’s right nearby the Port of Uig. I was first drawn to visit here because a lot of pictures show some “spiral stones” and I thought it was some cool old druid legend about fairies and whatnot. Turns out tourists keep placing the stones in spirals and then the locals take them down — haha!! It was really cool nonetheless. The place is unique with lots of little and big hills and a huge waterfall in the distance. We loved our time here!

Quiraing

The Quiraing was my absolute favorite stop. If you plan your day right, you can cut through the mountains when you’re coming from the other side, instead of driving all the way up the coast and back down. It’s a great shortcut! But the mountains aren’t very scenic and you are on a one-way road the whole time so you end up pulling over for the other cars a lot. But when you come out of the pass, THIS is what you’re greeted with. To say it took my breath away would almost be an understatement. Which is true for a lot of Scotland, by the way. Nowhere is as green as the Isle of Skye, you can barely describe it!

Kilt Rock and Mealt Falls

This was one of the quicker stops we made throughout the day. But you can see some of the rocks look like pleated kilts, where Kilt Rock gets its name! There is not a done to do right here besides take in the beauty.

Old Man of Storr

These jagged rock formations are really amazing to see. If you have the time (or energy in my case) you should go hike around them for sure!

Portree Harbor

This is an awesome stop while road tripping through the Isle of Skye. You’ll find a lot of shops and food here as well. Plus it’s freaking adorable!

Cuillin Mountains

While driving down to the golf course, we spotted this teeny house on the base of the Cuillin Mountains and it stopped me in my tracks. I actually really loved that it was a rainy day. The mountains looked a bit ominous!

Old Sligachan Bridge

This is a really quick stop and it’s close to the Cuillin Mountains as well. The water under the bridge is supposed to have magical properties. I didn’t feel any magic but it was a cool stop and a nice little walk!

Isle of Skye Golf Club

This is the best deal on golf in Scotland we could find! It was pretty wet and boggy, I felt sick, we rented clubs and had crummy conditions, but holy crap, we golfed in Scotland! It was really a dream come true.

Fairy Pools

You will see so many waterfalls all over Scotland, and tons on the Isle of Skye. But none of them are as amazing as the Fairy Pools. Make sure to make a stop here and plan for a lot of time! It takes a while to hike to and there are a lot of other people as well.

If you want to see our mapped out itinerary, see it here!

And to see our full day plans while on the Isle of Skye, see day one, two, and three.