Portree – Bookbug, a Family Swim and Pizza
A few hours.
The route
Portree's Fingal Centre has stories, songs and a swim for the very young, all under one roof.
Bookbug, free rhymes and songs for babies and toddlers, is in the library, and the pool in the same building has a family fun session. Then it's pizza at Gasta, just down the road. It suits families with babies and children under five.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
Book Àrainn Fhinn, the Fingal Centre
Book the Saturday family fun session (11.45am to 12.45pm) at Àrainn Fhinn, the Fingal Centre, online or on 01478 614819 before you go: everyone attending must book, it's on the pool timetable that runs to 11 October, and Bookbug in the library needs no booking.
Book Gasta
Tables can be booked on 01478 613649.
The day
Portree
Songs and rhymes with the little ones in the library, then a splash in the pool in the same building. Lunch is pizza, a few minutes down the road.
About four hours
Àrainn Fhinn, the Fingal Centre
Àrainn Fhinn, the Fingal Centre, is on Viewfield Road beside Portree High School, with a large car park and accessible bays, and Portree Library is in the same building. Bookbug, free stories, songs and rhymes for babies, toddlers and pre-school children, is in the library on Saturdays from 10.15am to 10.45am, with no need to book. Then there's time to change for the pool's family fun session, 11.45am to 12.45pm, booked ahead online or on 01478 614819. A swim costs £9.10 for an adult and £5.50 for a child at the time of writing, and under-3s swim free with a paying adult. Those pool times are on the timetable that runs to 11 October, so check the next one on High Life Highland's page. The centre is level throughout, with accessible toilets, a Changing Places room and private changing that's fully open outside school hours.
5 min by car
Gasta
Lunch
Lunch is at Gasta, 5 minutes' drive south down Viewfield Road, in the Isle of Skye Candle Company's long black timber building, with a car park for customers. It makes Neapolitan-style pizza under a high timber roof, with coffee and cake as well, and it's open every day from 9am to 9pm, with last food orders at 8pm. Tables can be booked on 01478 613649, which helps with a pushchair in tow. There are free toilets in the building, one of them accessible, and the dining room is said to be step-free.
If it rains
All of it is under a roof.
The View Restaurant, bay views, Cuillin Hills Hotel.
Birch, skye's own coffee roasters.
Make it a weekend
More days out in Portree.
Photograph by Arainn Fhinn, The Fingal Centre via Google