The Fairy Pools – Falls and Clear Pools below the Cuillin
About 1.5 miles on foot.
The Fairy Pools are a chain of waterfalls and clear green pools on a burn, or stream, that comes down from the Black Cuillin into Glen Brittle.
A firm gravel path leads up beside the water from a staffed car park with toilets, and the first and largest fall is about 20 minutes' walk away. It's 2.4 km to that fall and back, and the pools carry on up the burn beyond it.
- Time
- Forty minutes to an hour and a half: 2.4 km there and back to the first and largest fall, about 20 minutes each way, with more pools above it. A short walk on a gravel path, rougher higher up.
- The path
- A wide, firm gravel path with two footbridges to the first fall; a short, steep, rocky stretch after the second bridge and rough tracks above.
- Where to start
- The Fairy Pools car park, Glen Brittle, IV47 8TA, run by the Outdoor Access Trust for Scotland: cars £8, motorbikes £4, campervans and motorhomes £10, by contactless card, Apple Pay or cash. Staffed, one-way, with toilets. No towed caravans; nothing longer than 8 metres.
- When to go
- All year in daylight. From November to January be walking by 2pm.
- Dogs
- On a lead: sheep graze the glen.
- Children
- The path to the first fall is easy; the pools are cold, deep in places and slippery.
- Toilets
- Free toilets at the car park.
- Before you set out
- The water is cold, deep in places and slippery at the edges, and the burn rises after rain. The road from Carbost is single-track.
The walk
Park in the Fairy Pools car park in Glen Brittle, on the single-track road from Carbost. The local community owns it and the Outdoor Access Trust for Scotland runs it: £8 for a car, £4 for a motorbike and £10 for a campervan or motorhome, paid by contactless card, Apple Pay or cash. It's a staffed, one-way site with free toilets. Towed caravans can't use it, and nor can anything longer than 8 metres. The pools themselves are free to visit at any time.
It's 2.4 km there and back to the first and largest fall, about 20 minutes each way on a wide, firm gravel path with two footbridges. Above that the going gets rougher, with a short, steep, rocky stretch after the second bridge, and the pools carry on up the burn. Allow anything from 40 minutes to an hour and a half. The burn is the Allt Coir' a' Mhadaidh, and this is where the MacLeods of Dunvegan and the MacDonalds of Sleat fought the last battle between the two clans. The MacDonalds won, at such a cost that the burn is said to have run red.
The water is cold, deep in places and slippery at the edges. Keep children out of it when the burn is high after rain. Sheep graze the glen, so dogs stay on a lead. Bring what you need to eat and drink: there's no café in the glen from mid-October to the end of March, and the nearest places are over the hill at Carbost. From November to January, be walking by 2pm.
If it rains
The falls are fullest after rain and the gravel path stays firm, but the burn rises quickly and the rocks by the pools turn slippery: look from the path, and keep children well back from the water.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
For further reading, before you go.
Photograph by Zhan Tang via Google