Isle of Skye

A Rainy Day on Skye – A Castle, a Pottery and a Distillery

A day by car, from Portree and back.

The route

A wet day on Skye can still be a good one, spent where the island is at its best under a roof, and beside the water that rain makes louder.

Leave the Old Man of Storr, the Quiraing, the Fairy Pools and Neist Point for a dry day. In cloud their views are gone. Rain makes each one worse: the ground behind the Old Man is prone to rockfall after heavy rain, the Quiraing's way back runs along a cliff edge, the Fairy Pools' burn rises fast, and Neist's cliffs are unfenced. Instead, this day loops west from Portree to the pottery at Edinbane and Dunvegan Castle at opening, then down by Struan to a waterfall above Carbost, on Loch Harport, and an afternoon tour at Talisker. The way home passes the river at Sligachan and ends in Portree at the Candle Co, with pizza in the same building.

Before you go

Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
PortreeThe BosvilleA hotel PortreeMarmalade HotelA hotel PortreeCuillin Hills HotelA hotel Skeabost BridgeSkeabost House HotelA hotel
Book Talisker Distillery
Book the tour at about 2.30pm, the one that leaves time for the falls and lunch first, weeks ahead in summer.
Book lunch at the Three Chimneys at Talisker
Book a table for 1.30pm on its website, as it advises in season, so lunch is done by the 2.30 tour.

The day

Dunvegan and Carbost

A wet day's loop round the west from Portree: a pottery and Dunvegan Castle in the morning, a waterfall running loud above Carbost, and an afternoon tour at Talisker. The way home passes the river at Sligachan and ends among the candles in Portree, just under two hours at the wheel in all.

1 hr 46 min at the wheelAbout 63 miles

Edinbane Pottery
A shop
Leave Portree at nine, with a full tank: it's 24 minutes' drive west on the A850 by Bernisdale to Edinbane, where the pottery stands among trees at the head of Loch Greshornish. It opens at 9am, so it's a warm, dry place to start while you wait for the castle. You're welcome to watch the potters at work in the workshop, then browse the gallery. The pots are wood-fired or salt-glazed, and the salt picks out every edge and pressed pattern. Twenty minutes is plenty, and there are no public loos here.
More about Edinbane Pottery
16 min by car
Dunvegan Castle
An attraction
Dunvegan Castle is 16 minutes' drive on: be at the gate as it opens at 10am. Later in the morning it gets busy and entry can be staggered, so see the castle first, then the gardens. The rain's reward is the Water Garden, where waterfalls and streams feed its pools. Give it two hours, with a coffee at the MacLeod Tables Café by the car park if you need one, and keep lunch for Carbost. It opens daily from April to mid-October, with no need to book.
More about Dunvegan Castle
4 min by car
Dunvegan
Drive 4 minutes back down to the village, where the A850 meets the main street. Park by the council's toilets, which are open all year. The coffee shop at The Dunvegan, at that junction, is the place to dry off. It opens Tuesday to Saturday, 11 to 3, from February to October; on other days, try Waystone Books, a bookshop with coffee, shut Tuesdays. The little Giant Angus MacAskill Museum publishes no hours: if the door is open, go in. Top up the tank at the filling station, too.
32 min by car
Carbost Burn Waterfall
An attraction
It's 32 minutes' drive south on the A863, past Bog Myrtle's café at Struan, to Carbost, on Loch Harport. The last stretch from Drynoch is single track, and after rain its soft verges hide ditches. Just short of the village, the single-track road signed for the beaches goes off to the left. It crosses the Carbost Burn at the top of its waterfall: look down into the gorge, loud after rain. The fall shows best from below, on the left of the steep road up from the distillery. There's no car park: stop only on hard standing, never on a soft verge or in a passing place.
More about Carbost Burn Waterfall
5 min by car
Talisker Distillery
An attraction
Talisker Distillery is on the shore in Carbost, 5 minutes' drive on. Book the tour for about 2.30pm, after the falls and lunch. Eat first, beside the distillery at the Three Chimneys at Talisker (shut Wednesdays and Thursdays; book a table for 1.30), or along the shore at the Old Inn, first come, first served. Be there 15 minutes before the tour. It lasts an hour, with three drams and a drivers' pack to take away. Under-eights can't go, so one adult tours while the others browse the shop.
More about Talisker Distillery
15 min by car
Sligachan
An attraction
It's 15 minutes' drive round Loch Harport and up Glen Drynoch to Sligachan. After rain the river is the show: from the old bridge by the car park, watch it pour out of the glen, the Cuillin often lost in cloud behind. The story goes that seven seconds with your face in the river under the bridge buys eternal beauty. Leave that for a dry spell, and hold small hands, as the water runs fast. The loos are the hotel's, for customers of Seumas' Bar, with food until 8.30pm.
More about Sligachan
5 min by car
Isle of Skye Candle Co
An attraction
Head 12 minutes north on the A87 to Portree and the Isle of Skye Candle Co, in the old Aros Centre on Viewfield Road. The shop stays open until 8pm, and on weekdays a window looks onto the workshop where candles are poured by hand, though pouring may be over by late afternoon. Gasta, in the same building, serves pizza until 8pm. With children, Portree's pool at the Fingal Centre is 5 minutes' drive on along Viewfield Road, with open swims most weekday evenings: check its timetable.
More about Isle of Skye Candle Co

If it clears

One side of the island can be dry while the other is in cloud. If it clears by lunchtime, the Coral Beach at Claigan is 12 minutes' drive on from Dunvegan, a 4 km walk there and back: wait until the burns across the track have dropped. Neist Point is 24 minutes from Dunvegan, but go only once the wind has dropped too, as its cliffs are unfenced. Keep the Storr and the Quiraing for the next dry morning.

Worth a detour

Skyeskyns
At the Fairy Bridge, 9 minutes short of the castle, the B886 turns off to Waternish and Skyeskyns, 8 minutes up it: a working sheepskin tannery with free tours through the day and nothing to book. It adds about 15 minutes at the wheel and an hour or more to the day, so you reach the castle after the coaches. On a second wet day, or once the castle shuts in mid-October, it's the better morning.