Trotternish: the Storr to the Quiraing
A day by car, from Portree and back.
The route
The east side of Trotternish holds two of the walks most people come to Skye for, round the Old Man of Storr and through the Quiraing, and this day walks both in full.
It leaves Portree early, to park at the Storr before the crowds, and goes on round behind the Old Man to the viewpoint beyond him. Then it heads north up the A855 through Staffin's crofting townships, to the gorge at Lealt, Kilt Rock and the dinosaur museum at Ellishadder. After lunch by the hall come the footprints on the shore at An Corran. The afternoon is the Quiraing circuit, from the car park on the pass, and the way home runs on over the top to Uig and back to Portree by the A87. That's about 11.5 km on foot and 700 metres of climbing: a day for fit walkers.
Before you go
Book it well ahead for late May, when the island is busy: Portree has more beds and places to eat than anywhere else on Skye. Staffin, below the Quiraing, has B&Bs and cottages of its own if you would rather wake up nearer the hill.
The day
Trotternish
The peninsula's two great landslips, both walked in full, with the coast of Staffin in between. Leave Portree by ten past seven, with food and water for the afternoon on the hill, and lunch too on a Sunday, when Staffin's cafés and shop are shut. Look up the day's tides at Staffin: An Corran and lunch are 3 minutes apart, so swap them to be on the shore at mid-tide.
1 hr 29 min at the wheelAbout 44 miles
The Old Man of Storr
An attraction
It's 15 minutes' drive north, past Loch Fada and Loch Leathan, to the Storr. Park by half past seven, before the crowds, and never on the peat verges; six hours cost £6 in 2026 (check the current charge), and the toilets are free. The made path climbs to the Old Man, a 50-metre pinnacle first climbed in 1955. Go round behind him and the Cathedral rock to a col, where a knoll gives the view back: 5 km and 340 metres of climbing, two to two and a half hours.
9 min by car
Lealt Falls
An attraction
It's 9 minutes' drive on, through Rigg and Tote, to the community's free car park at Lealt, and a short path to platforms over the gorge and its falls. At the river mouth below stand the ruins of a salmon fishing bothy and of a works for diatomite, a white powder dug inland at Loch Cuithir and brought down the glen by a narrow railway. Stay at the platforms, as the Staffin community asks: the path to the shore is steep, and people have been hurt on it.
6 min by car
Kilt Rock
An attraction
The Kilt Rock car park at Ellishadder is 6 minutes' drive north, past Culnacnoc: £3 for up to two hours in 2026 (check the current charge). From the level viewpoint you look along a sea cliff whose upright columns are said to resemble the pleats of a kilt, while Mealt Falls drops sheer to the shore. Beside the car park stands Sùil nam Brà, the community's memorial to the Staffin crofters who rose against their landlord in the 1880s, opened in October 2025.
2 min by car
Staffin Dinosaur Museum
An attraction
Just 2 minutes' drive further on, still in Ellishadder, is the Staffin Dinosaur Museum. Dugald Ross opened it in 1976, when he was nineteen, and he found almost everything in it along this coast; the dinosaurs he identified here include Stegosaurus and Megalosaurus. He died in October 2025. The museum opens from April to October; check before you go. Give it 40 minutes.
3 min by car
Staffin
Staffin, An Taobh Sear in Gaelic, is not one village but a run of crofting townships along this coast, from Rigg to Flodigarry; its middle is 3 minutes' drive on. Its community built the Skye Ecomuseum, whose panels stand at Lealt, Kilt Rock, An Corran and the Quiraing. The hall, Talla Stafainn, has toilets, Staffin Stores and the Hungry Gull, which serves lunch Tuesday to Saturday; Columba 1400's café nearby serves it on weekdays. On a Sunday all three are shut, so bring food.
3 min by car
An Corran Beach
An attraction
It's 3 minutes' drive down the slipway road to An Corran, where footprints in the rock shelf were made some 166 million years ago by a large meat-eater akin to Megalosaurus. They are best at mid-tide; sand and weed often hide them, and the rocks are very slippery. Every fossil stays where it lies. Out in the bay lies Staffin Island (Stenscholl Island), where a crofter used to swim his cattle across for the winter. At the road end, the harbour building has toilets, open all year, and Corran Coffee.
9 min by car
The Quiraing
An attraction
It's 9 minutes' drive past Brògaig and up the single-track hairpins to the car park on the pass. The circuit needs the six-hour ticket, £6 in 2026 (check the current charge); if the car park is full, use the roadside bays towards Uig, never the hairpins. The path runs under the cliffs, across a rocky gully, to the Prison and the Needle, then back along the escarpment's edge: 6.5 km, three to four hours. Home is 40 minutes' drive by Uig.
If it rains
In rain and low cloud both walks lose their views. The Storr path is made most of the way, but after heavy rain keep off the rockfall ground behind the Old Man and turn round at the pinnacle. On the Quiraing, the way back along the cliff edge is no place to be in wind or mist: walk out under the cliffs to the Prison and back the same way, or keep the hill for a clearer day. Kilt Rock is seen from the railings in any weather, and the dinosaur museum at Ellishadder and a long lunch in Staffin fill the middle of the day (not on a Sunday, when the cafés and the shop are shut).
Worth a detour
- Brothers' Point
A walk of 3.5 km, one to two hours with 238 metres of climbing. It goes from the lay-by at Culnacnoc down to the shore and out to Rubha nam Brathairean, the easternmost point of Trotternish. The last stretch is a steep path above sheer drops. On this day it only fits in place of one of the two long walks.
PortreeAntlers Bar & GrillPub grub, Portree Hotel
PortreeDulse and BroseSkye and Highland larder
PortreeThe View RestaurantBay views, Cuillin Hills Hotel
PortreeScorrybreac RestaurantSeasonal Skye produce
StaffinColumba 1400Charity café under Trotternish
PortreeBirchSkye's own coffee roasters
StaffinThe Hungry GullBrunch café
PortreeThe Bar at ScorrybreacCocktails above the harbour
UigThe Ferry Inn RestaurantCosy inn at the head of Uig Bay
EarlishThe Galley CaféA caféMake it a weekend
