For so long as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, it is clearly not possible for people to visit anywhere on holiday, not least our wonderful island. Everyone's health and security are much more important. In the meantime, please use this site to enjoy planning your next trip to Skye. Everyone here will be looking forward to welcoming you again just as soon as things get back to normal

 

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Dun Beag and Dun Mor, Struan

Dun Beag

Dun Beag

Dun Beag (the small fort) is the best known, the best preserved, and the most accessible of the 50 or so brochs on Skye. Access is from the main Dunvegan - Sligachan road at NG337385, where there is a small car park, a signpost and an information panel. From there a short and easy walk up a slope of sheep-cropped grass takes you to the remains of the broch itself. It has massive walls, still mostly intact to more than 2m high. In them you can find lots of detail, including a gallery, the entranceway, a stairway and a security cell.

Eilean Ban - Gavin Maxwell's Island

Gavin Maxwell's Cottage

Gavin Maxwell, author of 'Ring of Bright Water", conservationist and shark hunter (how did those two work together?), secret agent, aristocrat and artist, lived in the cottage on Eilean Ban for the last two years of his life in the late 1960s. He had already owned the island for five years, having bought it from the lighthouse board in 1963. During his time here he converted the lighthouse keepers' cottages into one home, continued his writing and painting and established a small zoo of native scottish animals.

Trotternish - Loch Sheanta

Loch SheantaOn the east coast of Trotternish, just north of Digg, there is a small parking place at NG469698.  From there, a well constructed path leads downhill to the holy loch - Loch Sheanta. The walk is short, less than 1 km return, and the navigation is easy. Loch Sheanta is quite magical. It is fed by the spouting of two of the purest, clearest springs imaginable, one at each end.  It glows with an electric turquoise colour from its depths, and you can see every detail of the bottom through the almost invisible water. That in itself makes the stroll worthwhile, but there is more to it than that.

Island overview

Northwest from Sgur na Stri

The Isle of Skye lies close to the north-west coast of the Scottish Highlands. It is the largest and the furthest north of the islands in the Inner Hebrides. The name ‘Skye’ is probably from the Norse words Ski (cloud) and Ey (island). In Gaelic it is normally referred to as An t-Eilean Sgitheanach, which translates as The Winged Isle - from the wing-like shape formed by the two northern peninsulas of Waternish and Trotternish. The island is marked on old Roman maps as "Scitis". In English it's sometimes referred to as the "Misty Isle" (Eilean a’ Cheo, in Gaelic). That one seems a wee bit too romantic for my taste. And there’s more…but that’s enough to confuse anyone already.

Skye is a romantic place though. The history, the legends, the scenery, the weather, the music and the poetry combine to produce something very special indeed. It is that peculiar magic that draws visitors to the island from all around the world, and makes it Scotland’s biggest tourist destination after Edinburgh. It has been said that Skye is conclusive proof that, sometimes, God was just showing off.

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