Dunvegan – The Seal Boat and the Castle Gardens
A few hours.
The route
Dunvegan Castle has been the MacLeods' home for centuries, and its five acres of water gardens, walled garden and woodland have been made out of bare Skye moorland.
The castle's own little clinker boats take you out to the seal colony on Loch Dunvegan, and lunch is in the café by the car park. It's a lovely half day for families and garden lovers.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
The day
Dunvegan
Out on the loch to the seals first, then a slow wander through the castle gardens and lunch in the café.
About three and a half hours
Dunvegan Castle
An attraction
Dunvegan Castle is a mile north of Dunvegan village. Its car park, opposite the main gate ticket office, is free in the open season, with toilets and baby changing. There's no need to book: buy a gardens ticket at the gate, £15.50 for adults, £10 for children and £13 for seniors and students in 2026, or £17.50, £12 and £15 with the castle. Then walk down to the jetty below the castle for the seal boat, which can't be booked. It sails Monday to Friday from 1 April to 30 September, between 10am and the last trip at 4.30pm, first come first served, sea and weather permitting. The open clinker boats take 25 minutes out to the Loch Dunvegan seal colony to watch the seals at close quarters, though wild seals are never guaranteed. You may see nesting herons, Arctic terns or a sea eagle too, if you are lucky. The trip costs £14 for adults, £10.50 for children and £12.50 for seniors and students, with under-fives free, on top of your ticket. Dogs can't go on the boats. Back ashore, start in the Water Garden, with its pools fed by waterfalls, its bridges and islands. Then find the Round Garden's parterre under a monkey puzzle, and the old Walled Garden with its water lily pond, a 17th-century sundial and the turning marble Dunvegan Pebble. A chief's mother once told Dr Johnson there could never be a good garden here. For children there's the popular Wild Wood Trail, with a playground and a willow tunnel. Dogs are welcome in the gardens on a lead. There's level access from the accessible parking bays, though some garden paths are steep. Lunch is at the castle's own MacLeod Tables Café in the car park, open every day from 10am to 5pm in the season, with hot food from noon to 3.30pm. Expect homemade soup, venison stew, toasties and quiche, with produce from the Walled Garden; the ramp is to the right of the gift shop. In high winds the boats, the gardens and the castle may close at short notice, so check the castle's website and social media before setting out.
If it rains
The boat and the gardens are out in the weather and the boats don't sail in rough conditions; on a wet day the castle itself, its café and its shops are under a roof.
Dunvegan Bakery & Coffee Shop, a café in Dunvegan.