Skye in Winter – Cliffs, Falls and a Distillery
Two days by car, from Portree and back.
The route
In winter Skye's car parks are quiet, there's often snow on the Cuillin, and the sun stays low all day.
This two-day trip from Portree is planned round that short light. Day one follows the Trotternish coast north, from the Old Man of Storr at sunrise by Kilt Rock and the Quiraing to Staffin, then round by Duntulm and Kilmuir to the Fairy Glen above Uig. Day two belongs to the Cuillin: the old bridge at Sligachan, the Fairy Pools, the sand at Talisker Bay and a distillery tour at Carbost. Wrap up warm, bring a flask, and you'll have some of the island's best-loved places almost to yourself.
Before you go
Book three nights near Portree
The night before day one and the nights after both days. Marmalade shuts from 14 November to 19 February, and the Bosville from 24 to 27 December and for some weeks after New Year. The Portree Hotel and the Cuillin Hills Hotel stay open all winter.
PortreeThe BosvilleA hotel
PortreeMarmalade HotelA hotel
PortreeCuillin Hills HotelA hotel
CamustianavaigThe Crofter's HouseSleeps 2
Skeabost BridgeSkeabost House HotelA hotel
CulnacnocHalf of OneSleeps 8
HarloshHarlosh Black hSleeps 2
UigThe Cowshed Boutique BunkhouseSleeps 1
DunveganThe DunveganA place to stay
LinicroMonkstadt 1745A place to stay
ColbostThe Three ChimneysA place to stay
17 miles awayLochviewSleeps 4
ColbostTigh an TobairSleeps 8
AshaigLusa BothySleeps 2
ElgolCoruisk HouseSleeps 4
GlendaleBlack Box CabinSleeps 4
HeastaBothan BeileagSleeps 2
HeastaBothan BuidheagSleeps 2
ShieldaigRhuroinSleeps 3
DrumfearnStonechat BothySleeps 2
Lower MilovaigHarlosh Wood hSleeps 6
MilovaigMilovaig HouseSleeps 4
SleatKinloch LodgeA place to stay
IsleornsayEilean Sionnach Lighthouse CottageSleeps 8Book the Distillery Tour and Tasting online for about half past two, or from late November to January from half past ten, after Sligachan, and note there are no children under 8 on tours.
Book a last night near Broadford instead, if you leave Skye after day two
Broadford is 37 minutes from Carbost and 15 from the bridge, and the Broadford Hotel stays open through the winter; check any other bed is open for your dates. Elgol's sunset is on the way (day two's detours), and Gasta serves food from 12 to 9 every day.
Day one
Trotternish
A day round Trotternish, Skye's long northern arm, leaving Portree at half past six to climb to the Old Man of Storr in the half-dark for the sunrise over Raasay. Then the coast road runs north past Kilt Rock and up to the Quiraing, and round the top of the island by Duntulm and Flora MacDonald's grave to the Fairy Glen above Uig.
1 hr 58 min at the wheelAbout 59 miles
The Old Man of Storr
An attraction
Set off at half past six with a head torch: it's 15 minutes' drive north to the Storr's car park, with free loos; parking is charged from 8am, £6 for up to six hours. The steep made path climbs 1.8 km to the Old Man, and the sun comes up over Raasay behind you at a quarter past seven. After a frost the upper path turns icy: turn back where it does. At midwinter the sun rises at 9.05, after breakfast. Bring a flask for the top.
15 min by car
Kilt Rock
An attraction
Kilt Rock is 15 minutes' drive up the coast, past the gorge at Lealt, and parking is £3 for up to two hours, day and night. After a wet week Mealt Falls pours white off the cliff beside the rock's dark columns. After a frost the railed viewpoint can be sheet ice: if it's glassy, stay at the car park end. By the car park, Sùil nam Brà, the eye of the quern stone, remembers the Staffin crofters who stood up to the landlord who banned their hand mills.
13 min by car
The Quiraing
An attraction
Only if the road is clear: it's 13 minutes' drive on through Staffin and up from Brògaig round the hairpins to the summit car park, £3 for up to three hours. The road is off the gritting routes, and the council shuts it in snow and ice. Walk towards the rock called the Prison only on a calm, clear day with no ice, as ice and rock fall from the cliffs above the path. Then come back down. If the road's shut, or at midwinter, see the Quiraing from the A855 at Flodigarry.
8 min by car
Staffin
The hall in the middle of Staffin is 8 minutes' drive back down, with free loos and Staffin Stores, open Monday to Saturday. Columba 1400 serves coffee from 10 and lunch from 12 on weekdays, and the Hungry Gull opens Tuesday to Saturday, but neither publishes its winter days, so pack a picnic in case. Heading north, MacKenzie Stores at Stenscholl, just before the Quiraing turn, sells the only fuel before Uig. The dinosaur museum is shut until Easter.
15 min by car
Duntulm Castle
An attraction
It's 15 minutes' drive north past Flodigarry, where Flora MacDonald lived after her marriage, and round by Kilmaluag to the roadside parking on the bend at Duntulm. A short path, steep at first and muddy in winter, leads along the cliff to the fence round the MacDonalds' old castle, which is slowly falling into the sea. Stay behind the fence, and leave it altogether in a gale. On a clear day the hills of Harris stand across the Minch to the north-west.
4 min by car
Kilmuir Cemetery
An attraction
It's 4 minutes' drive south to Kilmuir. The Skye Museum of Island Life below the graveyard is shut until Easter, and its toilets with it: the nearest may be in the ferry terminal on Uig pier, if it's open, or else back in Staffin. The graves are open at all hours. Climb the lane to the old burial ground, where a tall granite cross stands over Flora MacDonald, who took Bonnie Prince Charlie over the sea to Skye in 1746, dressed as her maid.
4 min by car
Kilvaxter Souterrain
An attraction
At Kilvaxter, 4 minutes' drive on, a grass path from a small roadside car park crosses a field to a souterrain: a stone-lined underground passage from the Iron Age, uncovered in 2000. It's free and open at all hours, and on a raw afternoon it takes you out of the wind. Take a torch, and boots for the mud; inside it's dark and cramped, with a low entrance. At midwinter, leave it out and go straight on to the Fairy Glen.
15 min by car
Fairy Glen
An attraction
It's 15 minutes' drive into Uig, where the pottery is open until five on weekdays, then up the lane beside the hotel towards Balnaknock to the car park, £3 for up to four hours. The glen's small green cones and lochans are at their best in the low afternoon sun, though snow can hide their shapes; at midwinter, be here by half past two. The lane is gritted by day. Then drive the A87 home by Kensaleyre, 30 minutes, while it's still light.
If it rains
In rain or low cloud the Storr and the Quiraing vanish into the murk: skip the climb. Keep to Kilt Rock's falls, which are best in the wet, lunch in Staffin, the roof of the souterrain at Kilvaxter and Uig Pottery. Then walk up to the Rha falls in Uig, 200 metres from the A855 in the Woodland Trust's wood. In snow, the A855 is gritted from six in the morning, but the Quiraing road is off the gritting routes and the council shuts it: look at the landslip from the A855 at Flodigarry, and go round by Duntulm. After a hard frost the Storr's upper path and the Kilt Rock platform can be sheet ice: turn back where it starts.
Worth a detour
- Lealt Falls
On the A855 between the Storr and Kilt Rock, with no extra driving: a short walk from the free car park to railed platforms over a gorge, where the burn drops towards the sea, loudest after a wet week. After a frost the platforms can ice: look from the top, and go no further than the viewpoint. No loos. Ten minutes.
- Brothers' Point
At Culnacnoc, just past Lealt: a walk down to the shore and out along the headland of Rubha nam Bràithrean, with dinosaur prints in the rocks. It takes two hours or more and the last stretch is steep above sheer drops, so in winter it fits only on a dry, calm day, in place of the Quiraing.
- An Corran Beach
Just north of Staffin, the lane signed for the beach and the slipway runs down to An Corran, the only sand on the day. Look for the dinosaur footprints on the rock shelf below the ramp at mid-tide or after a winter storm, and take care: the shelf is very slippery. Loos in the harbour building at the road end. Half an hour.
- Rha Waterfall
In Uig, on the way to the Fairy Glen: a short walk up the wooded glen of the River Rha, in the Woodland Trust's Uig Wood. The fall drops in two stages into a dark pool, loudest after rain. The steps and rocks are slippery in the wet. Twenty to thirty minutes there and back.
- Trumpan, Waternish
The Dark Sky Discovery Site by the old church at Trumpan looks north over the Minch, well away from any streetlight. The last miles are single track that isn't gritted. The clear, still nights that show the stars best are the ones that freeze, so it's for a mild clear spell; on a frosty night, look north from the dark edge of Portree instead. The northern lights are never certain, and to the eye usually a pale arch; a phone camera sees the colour.
Day two
Cuillin
A day under the Cuillin, Skye's great black ridge, leaving Portree at eight. It opens at the old bridge at Sligachan with the peaks lit from the side, then climbs beside the clear pools of Glen Brittle and walks out to the black sand of Talisker Bay. It ends by the fire in Carbost, after a tour of Talisker's distillery.
1 hr 59 min at the wheelAbout 52 miles
17 min by car
Sligachan Old Bridge
An attraction
Leave Portree at eight: it's 17 minutes' drive south to the old stone bridge at Sligachan, where a statue of Collie and Mackenzie, the climber and the guide who opened up the Cuillin, looks towards the ridge. The sun lights the Black Cuillin from the side all morning; by early afternoon it's round behind the peaks from here, and their faces go dark. There are no loos at the bridge. From late November to January, come at about half past nine, then go on to a morning tour at Talisker.
24 min by car
Fairy Pools
An attraction
Glen Brittle is 24 minutes' drive by Drynoch, on single track off the gritting routes: with frost or snow on it, turn for Carbost instead. Parking is £8, with toilets. A path drops to the burn, the stream, and climbs beside it, past clear green pools, to the first large waterfall 1.2 km on, the Cuillin ahead. Wear boots that grip on cold, wet rock. At midwinter, come after the tour and only after a night without frost: in the ridge's shadow the road can stay icy all day.
35 min by car
Talisker Bay
An attraction
It's 35 minutes' drive back out of the glen and through Carbost, then along the Talisker road, also off the gritting routes, to a pull-in near its end. A farm track, with gates to close behind you, leads to the shore in about 30 minutes. Near low water the black sand runs out towards the sea stack, and the fall off the northern cliffs is fullest after rain; head back before the tide turns. At midwinter, leave it for a longer day.
12 min by car
Talisker Distillery
An attraction
It's 12 minutes' drive back to Carbost for lunch. The Old Inn has open fires and food from noon every day; the Three Chimneys at Talisker serves lunch from 12 to 3, except on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Then take the booked Distillery Tour and Tasting, an hour long, with no children under 8. Talisker is open 10 to 5 in March and 10 to 4.30 from November to February, and drivers can ask to take their drams away. Portree is half an hour home by Sligachan.
If it rains
Talisker is the day's roof, open 10 to 5 in March and 10 to 4.30 from November to February, but it can shut at short notice in bad winter weather, so check its Google listing before you set off. After heavy rain the Fairy Pools' burn rises fast and brown and the path's rocks are slippery: look from the path and turn back. In snow, leave Glen Brittle and the Talisker Bay road, which are off the gritting routes; the A87 is a trunk road, and the road to Carbost is gritted between six and six.
Worth a detour
- The Battle of the Braes cairn
South of Portree on the B883, a council gritting route by day. The cairn by the road at Gedintailor marks the crofters' stand against the police at the Braes in 1882, another of Skye's stands against its landlords, with the Sound of Raasay below. The only space beside it is a passing place: leave the car at the Braes hall, a kilometre back up the road, and walk down. Open at all hours.
- Glen Brittle Beach
Nine minutes on from the Fairy Pools, where the Glen Brittle road ends: black sand at the head of Loch Brittle with the Cuillin behind. Only when the road is already clear enough for the Pools, and the campsite and its café are shut until April.
- Elgol
Elgol is 65 minutes on from Carbost, by Broadford and down the B8083, one of the council's first gritting routes. From the shore the Cuillin rise across Loch Scavaig, lit from the side as the sun goes down just after six in early March. Then Broadford is 28 minutes back for supper and a bed, booked before you go. At midwinter the sun has set before the tour ends.
Photographs by Michelle Michaud via Google; hamishmorrison