Isle of Raasay Distillery – Ferry, Tasting and a Cuillin View
A day, from Somerled Square, Portree and back.
The route
The Isle of Raasay Distillery stands in a Victorian house above the island's ferry pier, and its tour ends in a tasting room looking straight across the Sound to the Cuillin.
Getting there is a 25-minute crossing from Sconser and a short walk up from the pier, and lunch is in the distillery's own bar or at Raasay House.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
Book Isle of Raasay Distillery
Book the Isle of Raasay Distillery's Tour and Tasting online before you cross, for the first tour after a late-morning ferry lands: tours run every day from March to October, take no more than 10, and cost £22 for adults and £8 for ages 8 to 17, each child with an adult.
The day
Raasay
A day just across the water from Portree: a short sail with the Cuillin behind you, a distillery tour with a famous view, and an unhurried island lunch before the boat home.
About four and a half hours1 hr 17 min at the wheelAbout 28 miles by carAbout 1 mile on foot
The ferry from Sconser to Raasay
It's 23 minutes' drive from Portree to the ferry slip at Sconser, on Loch Sligachan. Leave the car in the free car park and cross on foot. There's no booking for the boat: be at the slip at least 10 minutes before it sails, and buy your ticket before you travel, online, by phone or at the port. Take a late-morning sailing and book a tour that starts after it lands, as the distillery times its tours to the ferry. Check CalMac's timetable for the season, and its service status on the morning, as wind can stop the boat. On Sundays only three boats run each way.
25 min by boat
Isle of Raasay Distillery
An attraction
It's a 25-minute crossing, then about 10 minutes' walk up from Raasay's pier, keeping right at the fork, to Borodale House and the distillery. The Distillery Tour and Tasting takes 45 minutes to an hour, past the copper stills, and ends with three drams: the Draam, the sherry-cask Dùn Cana and the Chinkapin. It's £22 for adults and £8 for ages 8 to 17, and tours run every day from March to October.
The bar at the Isle of Raasay Distillery
Lunch
Lunch is in the distillery's own bar, a glass-fronted dining room above the loch, with walk-in bar food from 1pm to 5pm, Thursday to Monday, from March to October. Only guide dogs may come inside. The bar serves no food on Tuesdays and Wednesdays: then eat at Raasay House, a few minutes' walk away, which serves lunch from noon to 3pm from April to October. The old walled garden behind it is free and open every day.
10 min on foot
The ferry from Raasay to Sconser
It's the same 10 minutes' walk back down to the pier: be at the slip 10 minutes before the boat. From Sconser it's the road home. In winter the last boat back from Raasay is at 6pm Monday to Saturday, with a 7.30pm boat on Saturdays by request, and 4.30pm on Sundays. On a Sunday the only morning boat over leaves Sconser at 10.30am. Miss the last one and nothing sails until the next morning. Whoever drives home from Sconser should skip the drams. If nobody wants to skip them, leave the car in Portree and take Citylink's 917 or 915 coach to the Sconser road end, about 20 minutes, a short walk from the slip; check their times, as there are only a few each day.
If it rains
Rain changes little: the tour and lunch are indoors, and only the crossing and the 10-minute walks are out in it. Wind, not rain, stops the Raasay ferry: check CalMac's service status for Sconser to Raasay before leaving Portree.