Skye Without a Car – Eight Bus Rides, Two Walks and a Castle
Three days, based in Portree.
The route
Skye is easier without a car than most people expect, as long as the day is planned round the buses.
These three days are based in Portree, where every bus and coach on this route calls at Somerled Square, and they're done on the Stagecoach buses and on foot. You arrive by the Kyle line train and the coach over the Skye Bridge, then walk out round Portree's Scorrybreac headland. Next day the 57A takes you round the top of the island to the Skye Museum of Island Life at Kilmuir, then back to Staffin for lunch and An Corran's dinosaur footprints as the tide goes out. On the last, it's the Old Man of Storr in the morning and Dunvegan Castle in the afternoon. The Quiraing, Kilt Rock, the Fairy Pools and Neist Point are left out on purpose, as no bus stops close enough to walk to them safely. The minibus day tours from Portree take in most of them: Tour Skye's Best of Skye leaves Somerled Square at 8.45am, Wednesday to Sunday, and is back about 6pm, and BW's Taxi runs tours too. Every time here comes from the operators' 2026 summer timetables, so check the 2027 ones before you go.
Before you go
Book three nights near Portree
Book the bed before anything else: every bus and coach on this route calls at Somerled Square, so stay in Portree itself, within a walk of the square.
Book the coach from Kyle to Portree
The 12:00 from Kyle is the Glasgow coach, and Citylink says its coaches may be full of people who booked ahead, so buy your seat online when you book the train.
Book the train from Inverness to Kyle
No seat reservation is needed on the Kyle line, but buying the ticket ahead is cheaper than on the day.
When you book the coach in, book the 09:00 Citylink from Somerled Square for the morning after day three too: it reaches Inverness at 12:26, or Kyle at 10:08 for the 12:06 train.
Day one
Portree
An easy first day, by train and coach over the sea to Skye. The Kyle line runs from Inverness across the hills and down Loch Carron by Plockton, and the coach from Kyle crosses the bridge to Portree in time for lunch. The afternoon is yours for the harbour's painted houses and a walk out round the Scorrybreac headland.
Portree
An attraction
Take the 08:53 from Inverness, in at Kyle at 11:31, for the 12:00 Citylink coach from the Old Slipway, a few minutes' walk from the station; from Glasgow, the same coach leaves Buchanan Street at 06:40. It crosses the Skye Bridge, calls at Broadford, then at Sligachan at 12:50, where the old bridge sits under the Cuillin, and pulls into Somerled Square at 13:05. Drop your bags and find some lunch, then wander down to the harbour, a 4-minute walk below the square, with its row of painted houses along the quay. Thomas Telford built the harbour in the early 1800s. Above it rises the Lump, a wooded hill with the Apothecary's Tower on top, looking out over the bay.
17 min on foot
Scorrybreac Circuit
An attraction
It's a 17-minute walk from Somerled Square to the shore at the foot of Scorrybreck Road and the start of Scorrybreac, a 3-kilometre loop round the headland on the north side of Portree Bay. This is the old homeland of the Clan Nicolson, bought by clan members from all over the world. The path is well made at first, then rough and stony, with a steep zigzag climb and 164 metres of ascent in all. Allow one to two hours, and rest on the stone seat at the point.
If it rains
Scorrybreac's zigzags turn slippery in heavy rain, so in a downpour keep to the harbour and the town. The Isle of Skye Candle Co. on Viewfield Road, a 25-minute walk south of the square, has a window onto the workshop where the candles are poured by hand, and in the same building Gasta for pizza and Las Port Righ, the cinema. The walk will keep for a dry evening: it's light until late in June.
Day two
Trotternish
A day round the top of Trotternish by bus, with the Storr and the ridge out of the left-hand window. The morning is for the thatched cottages of the Skye Museum of Island Life at Kilmuir, then it's lunch back at Staffin and An Corran's dinosaur footprints as the tide goes out. Set off on the 09:10 57A from Somerled Square.
1 hr by bus, 2 min on foot
Skye Museum of Island Life
An attraction
It's a 60-minute bus ride from Somerled Square, past the Storr and Staffin and round the north end by Flodigarry and Duntulm, to the Museum road end at about 10:10, then 2 minutes' walk up the lane. Buy a Skye DayRider on the bus or in the Stagecoach app: it covers every ride today. The Skye Museum of Island Life is eight thatched cottages showing how Skye lived a century ago. It opens at 10am, and the 57C back to Staffin leaves from across the road at 11:00. For longer there and Flora MacDonald's grave, 6 minutes on up the lane, bring a picnic and stay for the 14:10, which reaches the An Corran lane at 14:44.
35 min by bus, 1 min on foot
Staffin
It's a 35-minute bus ride back to Staffin Stores at 11:35, then a 1-minute walk across the road to the hall, under the Trotternish ridge. The Hungry Gull in the hall serves lunch from noon, Tuesday to Saturday, and the shop sells picnic food. The main road on has no pavement, so take the 57A north at 12:40 from outside the hall, one stop to the An Corran lane end. Miss it, and the next is the 16:20, in time for low water; home is the 18:49 or 19:09.
1 min by bus, 16 min on foot
An Corran Beach
An attraction
It's a 1-minute bus ride to the Staffin slipway road end, then 16 minutes' walk: cross the road and follow the lane signed To the beach down to An Corran, a sandy beach under basalt cliffs. Dinosaur footprints show in the slippery rocks from mid-tide to low water, so check a Staffin tide table: this day is timed for a mid-morning high tide and a late-afternoon low. The harbour at the lane's end has toilets and Corran Coffee. The 57C home stops at the top of the lane at 14:44, 17:10, 18:49 and 19:09, the last bus, in Portree at 15:25, 17:43, 19:20 and 19:40.
If it rains
An Corran's rocks are no place in heavy rain. Keep the museum, whose cottages are under a roof, and lunch at Staffin, then go home on the 57C from across the road from the hall at 14:45, in Portree at 15:25. Or swap days two and three: Dunvegan Castle is indoors.
The Hungry Gull, brunch café in Staffin.
Columba 1400, charity café under Trotternish.
Day three
The Storr and Dunvegan
The two big sights either side of Portree, by bus there and back. The morning climbs to the Old Man of Storr, the black pinnacle under the Storr's cliffs, and after lunch in Portree the road runs west to Dunvegan Castle, home of the MacLeod chiefs, and its seals. Set off on the 09:10 57A from Somerled Square.
The Old Man of Storr
An attraction
The bus from Somerled Square takes 15 minutes to the Storr car park, which has free toilets. The path climbs about 300 metres to the Old Man, the black pinnacle below the Storr's cliffs, on gravel and rougher near the top. Allow at least two hours there and back, and start straight away, as it is busy by mid-morning. The 57C back leaves from across the road at 12:00, in Somerled Square at 12:15; if you miss it, the next is at 15:10.
44 min by bus, 4 min on foot
Dunvegan Castle
An attraction
It's a 44-minute bus ride on the 56 from Somerled Square at 13:20, by Skeabost, Bernisdale, Edinbane and the Fairy Bridge to the castle stop at 14:04, then 4 minutes' walk to Dunvegan Castle, home of the MacLeod chiefs for 800 years. On weekdays to the end of September, boats leave the jetty below for 25-minute trips to the seals, first come first served. Go to the jetty first: a boat after 4pm is not back for the 16:48, the last bus to Portree. Then the castle, the Fairy Flag and five acres of gardens.
If it rains
The Storr's path is steep and the Old Man disappears in cloud, so on a wet morning go to Dunvegan early instead: the 56 at 10:15 reaches the castle at 10:59, and buses back leave at 14:28 (Portree 15:10) and 16:48 (Portree 17:27). The castle is indoors; the gardens and the seal boats can shut at short notice in high wind.