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Skye by Boat – Four Boats

Two days by car, from Portree to Shiel Bridge.

The route

Skye is an island, and these two days see it from the water.

Day one starts in Portree and heads out to Dunvegan, where small open boats leave the castle's jetty for the seals of Loch Dunvegan. Then it's back to Portree for two hours on the Sound of Raasay, and on to Broadford. Day two takes the boat from Elgol to Loch Coruisk, under the Cuillin, then leaves Skye the old way, on the little turntable ferry from Kylerhea to Glenelg. From the south, come over the Skye Bridge, which is free and needs no booking, or, to arrive by boat as well, on CalMac's ferry from Mallaig to Armadale the evening before. The two boats to book, from Portree and Elgol, already sell their 2027 sailings; every other time here is 2026's. No wildlife is promised.

Before you go

  1. Book a bed near Portree the night before

    Day one leaves Portree at a quarter past nine for Dunvegan, so spend the night before in the town. Beds on Skye go early for late May: book once your dates are set.

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  2. Book the ferry from Mallaig to Armadale, if you come by boat

    If you come by boat, book CalMac's 30-minute crossing from Mallaig to Armadale for the evening before: it takes bookings for cars and foot passengers, and says booking is essential on this route, even on foot.

  3. Book Stardust, Portree harbour

    Stardust's 2pm Skye and Raasay cruise: book once your dates are set, as each boat takes 12 passengers.

  4. Book a bed near Broadford

    Day one ends in Broadford at about five, and day two leaves at a quarter past eight for Elgol, 45 minutes away. Book early for late May, and stay in or close to the village: from a bed in Sleat, leave by eight.

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  5. Book Loch Coruisk

    Misty Isle's 9.30am boat: book it once your dates are set, ringing 01471 866288 to avoid the 6% online charge, as not every seat is sold online.

  6. Book supper at the Kintail Lodge Hotel

    The Kintail Lodge Hotel at Shiel Bridge serves bar meals in season, and non-residents must ring ahead to book.

Day one

Dunvegan and Portree

Two boats in the north, one either side of lunch at Dunvegan Castle: the seal boats among the islands off its jetty, then two hours out of Portree on the Sound of Raasay. It's about two hours at the wheel, the last 45 minutes past Sligachan and Sconser to Broadford for supper and the night.

2 hr 5 min at the wheelAbout 71 miles

  1. Dunvegan Castle

    Dunvegan Castle

    An attraction

    Leave Portree at 9.15: it's 40 minutes' drive west, through Edinbane, to Dunvegan Castle as it opens at 10. The seal boats can't be booked: buy a castle or gardens ticket, then walk down to the jetty below the castle and put your names down. The estate's open clinker boats take 25 minutes out among the islands off the castle, where harbour seals usually lie on the rocks. No dogs aboard. For lunch, the castle's café by the car park serves hot food from noon.

    More about Dunvegan Castle

  2. 40 min by car

    Stardust, Portree harbour

    Stardust, Portree harbour

    Leave Dunvegan by a quarter to one for the 40-minute drive back to Portree. Park at Bayfield and check in by a quarter to two for Stardust's 2pm, booked ahead, at the fish and chip shop on the harbour. For two hours Portree shrinks behind you to a line of coloured houses. The skipper picks the way, up Raasay's shore to its Red Caves or down to the seal rocks off Holoman Island. Visitors say the crew often throw a fish to bring a white-tailed eagle down.

If it rains

Rain seldom stops either boat; wind can stop both. Dunvegan's open boats don't sail in a swell, and in high winds the castle may shut its gardens, castle and seal boats at short notice, so look at its website before you set off. The castle itself is the day's roof, open daily 10am to 5.30pm in 2026. If Stardust cancels for weather, it gives a full refund or credit: cross the Sound of Raasay on CalMac's ferry instead, 22 minutes' drive from Portree to the slip at Sconser. It's turn up and go, with no space to reserve: be there 10 minutes before the 3pm, cross on foot and come back on the 3.30pm (2026 times). Broadford is 20 minutes on.

Worth a detour

  1. Sligachan Old Bridge

    On the A87 at Sligachan, 17 minutes out of Portree on the way to Broadford, with no extra driving. Thomas Telford's old stone bridge stands beside the new road, with the Black Cuillin rising up the glen behind it. A quarter of an hour stretches the legs after two boats.

Day two

Elgol and Kylerhea

The south's two boats: a morning under the Cuillin on the boat from Elgol into Loch Coruisk, then the little turntable ferry off the island at Kylerhea. It's about two and a half hours at the wheel, ending over the hairpins of Mam Ratagan at Shiel Bridge, 10 minutes from Eilean Donan and an hour and a quarter from Fort William.

2 hr 22 min at the wheelAbout 51 miles

  1. 45 min by car

    Loch Coruisk

    Loch Coruisk

    An attraction

    Fill up and buy a picnic in Broadford, as there's no fuel on the way to Elgol. Leave by a quarter past eight: it's 45 minutes' drive past the roofless church at Cill Chriosd and Torrin to Elgol, and Misty Isle asks you to be there half an hour before its 9.30 Standard trip. Until about 1959 Elgol had no jetty, and passengers were rowed out to the launches. Out on Loch Scavaig, seals usually lie on the skerries. Then it's metal steps up from the boat, past a climbers' hut built in 1959, and ten minutes over wet rock to the loch, so wear boots and waterproofs.

    More about Loch Coruisk

  2. 1 hr 10 min by car

    The Glenelg Ferry

    The Glenelg Ferry

    An attraction

    After a picnic, or lunch at Café Elgol by the village hall, it's 70 minutes' drive back past Broadford and over the hill to the slip at Kylerhea, the last stretch steep and single track, no road for a caravan. There's no booking: queue and pay aboard. Drovers once swam their cattle over these narrows, where a spring tide can race at 8 knots. A row over the landing charge has raised fears for the ferry's future, though her operators say she isn't in danger. Check she's sailing in 2027. The crossing takes 15 minutes at most, and from the Glenelg slip it's 27 minutes on to Shiel Bridge.

    More about The Glenelg Ferry

If it rains

Every boat on this day is at the mercy of the wind. Misty Isle aims to tell you at least 12 hours ahead if it cancels, and Bella Jane, Elgol's other boat to Loch Coruisk, opens its phones at 7.30am. If one firm sails and the other doesn't, take the one that does. If nothing sails from Elgol, drive 20 minutes from Broadford over the Skye Bridge to Kyle of Lochalsh for Seaprobe Atlantis, a glass-bottomed boat in the shelter of Loch Alsh, whose times follow the tide: ring ahead. From Kyle it's 28 minutes' drive back to the Kylerhea slip for the Glenelg ferry. If the ferry isn't sailing, signs at the road junctions say so: leave by the Skye Bridge instead, Broadford to Kyle 20 minutes, then 27 minutes on to Shiel Bridge, passing Eilean Donan Castle at Dornie, a roof for a wet hour.

Worth a detour

  1. Torrin Pools

    On the way back from Elgol, at the head of Loch Slapin just before Torrin, a burn drops in small falls and clear pools to the loch, with Blà Bheinn across the water. Park on the gravel and give it 15 minutes; the ferry runs till six.

  2. Kylerhea Otter Haven

    The Forestry car park is on the road down to the ferry, 2 minutes above the slip. Its path to the hide over Kyle Rhea is 2.1 km there and back, about 45 minutes. With the Coruisk boat back by 12.30, there's time before the ferry's last sailing at six. Forestry work on the car park had no end date in September 2026, though the site stays open: follow the signs.

  3. Dun Telve and Dun Troddan

    Off the ferry, turn south into Glenelg instead of up the hill: it's 20 minutes' drive round the bay and up Gleann Beag to Dun Telve and Dun Troddan, two Iron Age brochs 500 metres apart, Dun Telve still more than 10 metres high in places. Give them half an hour. Shiel Bridge is then 36 minutes on, about half an hour more at the wheel than the straight road over Mam Ratagan.

  4. Ratagan Pass viewpoint

    Over the top of Mam Ratagan, 21 minutes' drive from the Glenelg slip, a car park looks over the head of Loch Duich to the Five Sisters of Kintail, with no extra driving on the way to Shiel Bridge.

Where to eat

Shore Station Café, a café in Glenelg.

Glenelg Inn, the village inn at Glenelg.