Birch, Portree – Brunch, Island Coffee and a Runrig Mural
A few hours, from Somerled Square, Portree and back.
The route
Birch is a local favourite for coffee and brunch, a bright little café a few steps from Somerled Square that roasts its own beans on the island and cooks from Highland produce.
Straight across the road is a long wall painted with an island landscape by Donnie Munro, Runrig's first singer, who did it for his son, the man behind Birch.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
The day
Portree
A slow breakfast in the middle of Portree: good coffee, something hot from the kitchen, and a painted island to look at across the street before the day begins.
About an hour and a half
Birch
Breakfast
It's a 2-minute walk from Somerled Square to Birch on Bayfield Road, open every day from 8am to 5pm. It roasts its own coffee on Skye, so the beans change as new ones come in, and brunch comes from a short menu of sourdough, eggs and seasonal dishes, with the day's bakes on the counter. It's busiest in summer, when tables fill by mid-morning. Park in the Somerled Square car park, £3 for up to 2 hours, the longest stay, or at Bayfield, a few minutes' walk, £3 for up to 3 hours.
The Donnie Munro mural in Portree
An attraction
Straight across Bayfield Road from Birch is the mural: a clifftop path out to a lighthouse and a run of jagged hills, painted along the wall by Donnie Munro over four days. He trained as an art teacher before Runrig, and his son Niall runs Birch. It's on the street, free to look at any time.
If it rains
Birch is the shelter, and the mural is only across the road: a wet morning changes nothing.
Birch, skye's own coffee roasters.