Hidden Scotland
Sign in

Museums and history
on Skye.

It’s 22:09 on Skye.
Isle of Skye

Crofts, giants and old graves.

Skye's past is close to the surface, and you don't have to look far to find it. There are Iron Age brochs standing on knolls above the lochs, thatched cottages showing how crofting families lived, and a museum to a giant born in the Hebrides. There's the graveyard where Flora MacDonald, who helped Bonnie Prince Charlie escape, is buried under a tall cross. Fossils and dinosaur footprints take the story back millions of years. Most are small, and they make the perfect stop on a showery day.

Giant MacAskill Museum→
Dun Beag Broch→
Skye Museum of Island Life→
The Grave of Flora MacDonald→
Staffin Dinosaur Museum→
Place of the day20 hours ago

Staffin Dinosaur Museum.

A small museum in an old schoolhouse at Ellishadder, by Kilt Rock, holding the best collection of Skye's dinosaur fossils.

Read about it
Newly discovered18 hours agoBroadford and SurroundsShore Station CaféCafeBroadford and SurroundsOtter HideWalkTrotternishThe Galley CaféCafeRaasaySt Moluag's ChapelAttractionSleatDuisdale HouseRestaurantLochalshBernera BarracksAttraction

Some good places to go, newly added to the site.

The newest places on our pages on Skye.

Browse everywhere to go
From our guide17 hours ago

Flora MacDonald: The Unlikely Jacobite Heroine.

Flora MacDonald has become one of the most famous figures from the 1745 Jacobite rising, famous for smuggling Bonnie Prince Charlie over the sea to Skye. This unlikely heroine lived on Benbecula when Charles arrived at her door as a hunted man. He had been leading the government troops on a merry dance across the Highlands for months after the Battle of Culloden.

See the place
Lunch15 hours agoIsle of SkyeDunvegan Bakery & Coffee Shop600 yardsWaternish, Dunvegan and DuirinishCafe Lephin4.9 milesIsle of SkyeYURTea&Coffee5.8 miles

Lunch near Giant MacAskill Museum.

The three good places closest to it: Dunvegan Bakery & Coffee Shop, Cafe Lephin and YURTea&Coffee.

See Giant MacAskill Museum
From our guide12 hours ago

Legends From The Old Man of Storr.

The Old Man of Storr is one of Skye's most iconic landmarks and most popular hikes. It’s no surprise that more than one folk story has grown around this uniquely shaped pinnacle of rock. The most popular legend tells us that Skye was once a land of Giants.

See the place
From our guide10 hours ago

Skye Museum of Island Life.

Sitting close to the island’s northernmost point is this cluster of traditional thatched cottages, which serve to showcase the realities of 19th century crofting. It’s a fascinating attraction, where old tools, peat fires and oil lamps help conjure a tangible sense of island life as it used to be.

See the place
From our guide8 hours ago

The Fairy Flag of Dunvegan Castle.

The foreboding Dunvegan Castle on the Isle of Skye has been home to Clan Macleod for the last 800 years. Throughout those turbulent centuries, this fortress has guarded the clan’s most valuable treasure. It might look like just a faded, battered bit of cloth with a few strange markings but this is the famous Fairy Flag of Dunvegan.

See the place
From our guide3 hours ago

Isle of Skye Dinosaur Footprints.

Skye’s been popular with visitors for ages – around 170 million years, in fact. Up on the Trotternish Peninsula, jutting into the sea is a nose of land known as Brothers' Point, or Rubha nam Brathairean, and it’s here that researchers have found dinosaur footprints dating back to the Middle Jurassic period. The headland’s ancient coastal mudflats hold evidence of around 50 different footprints, including those of a stegosaurus-type dinosaur and the three-toed imprints of meat-eating theropods. The whole landscape looked radically different back then, of course – there were far fewer cafes, for a start – but when people talk about Skye’s wildlife being something special, you can reflect on the fact that it’s always been this way.

See the place
From our guide1 hour ago

Dun Beag Broch.

This crumbling Iron Age tower, a circular fortification from a long-lost age, looks out across Loch Bracadale and the Cuillin Hills. Despite being built more than 2,000 years ago, excavations have turned up archaeological finds from more recent eras too, showing that this strategic – and dramatic – spot was occupied for many centuries.

See the place
From our guide9 minutes ago

The Magical Waters By The Sligachan Bridge.

Sligachan on the Isle of Skye is a magical place. It’s not just the iconic Sligachan Bridge with its spectacular views of the Cuillin Hills, the real magic is in the water that flows beneath. The River Sligachan has been enchanted by the fairies.

See the place

You are up to date.

That is everything for today. Tomorrow's first posts go up in the morning. Or have the best of it in your inbox each morning in the Daily.