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Wild Skye – Otters, Sea Eagles and Seals

Two days by car, from Broadford to Portree.

The route

Skye's wild animals keep their own hours and their own places, and the way to see them is to be in the right spot at the right time, then wait.

These two days go where each one lives. The first starts in Broadford with the otter hide at Kylerhea, then takes an afternoon boat from Elgol out to Canna, and ends in Portree. The second sails from Portree for sea eagles, visits the seals on Loch Dunvegan and finishes at Neist Point, watching the sea from the rocks below the lighthouse. Nothing is certain with wild animals. Follow the Scottish Marine Wildlife Watching Code and the Scottish Outdoor Access Code: stay well away from nests, pups and seal shores, keep dogs close, and let binoculars bring things near.

Before you go

  1. Book a bed near Broadford the night before

    Day one leaves Broadford at twenty to seven for the otter hide, so book a bed in or near Broadford for the night before.

    Kinloch Lodge6 miles awayKinloch LodgeA place to stayEilean Sionnach Lighthouse Cottage8 miles awayEilean Sionnach Lighthouse CottageSleeps 8Coruisk HouseElgolCoruisk HouseSleeps 4Raasay House Hotel10 miles awayRaasay House HotelA hotelSligachan Blackhouse10 miles awaySligachan BlackhouseSleeps 6Sligachan Campsite11 miles awaySligachan CampsiteA place to stayGlenbrittle Campsite15 miles awayGlenbrittle CampsiteA place to stayThe BosvillePortreeThe BosvilleA hotelCuillin Hills HotelPortreeCuillin Hills HotelA hotelMarmalade HotelPortreeMarmalade HotelA hotelSkyewalker Hostel20 miles awaySkyewalker HostelSleeps 1Skeabost House HotelSkeabost BridgeSkeabost House HotelA hotelRhuroin22 miles awayRhuroinSleeps 3The Net StoreArdheslaigThe Net StoreSleeps 4

  2. Book two nights near Portree

    You reach Portree at about six after the Canna boat, the next morning starts with a walk down to the harbour, and day two ends back in Portree at about half past six, so stay in the town itself for both nights. Book early for June.

    The BosvillePortreeThe BosvilleA hotelMarmalade HotelPortreeMarmalade HotelA hotelCuillin Hills HotelPortreeCuillin Hills HotelA hotelSkeabost House HotelSkeabost BridgeSkeabost House HotelA hotelRaasay House Hotel6 miles awayRaasay House HotelA hotelSligachan Campsite8 miles awaySligachan CampsiteA place to staySligachan Blackhouse9 miles awaySligachan BlackhouseSleeps 6Skyewalker Hostel10 miles awaySkyewalker HostelSleeps 1Half of One12 miles awayHalf of OneSleeps 8The Cowshed Boutique Bunkhouse13 miles awayThe Cowshed Boutique BunkhouseSleeps 1The Dunvegan14 miles awayThe DunveganA place to stayGlenbrittle Campsite15 miles awayGlenbrittle CampsiteA place to stayMonkstadt 1745LinicroMonkstadt 1745A place to stayThe Three ChimneysColbostThe Three ChimneysA place to stayLochview17 miles awayLochviewSleeps 4Tigh an TobairSouth ClunesTigh an TobairSleeps 8Coruisk HouseElgolCoruisk HouseSleeps 4Black Box CabinGlendaleBlack Box CabinSleeps 4Bothan BeileagHeastBothan BeileagSleeps 2Bothan BuidheagHeastBothan BuidheagSleeps 2The Net StoreArdheslaigThe Net StoreSleeps 4Rhuroin21 miles awayRhuroinSleeps 3Milovaig HouseMilovaigMilovaig HouseSleeps 4Kinloch Lodge22 miles awayKinloch LodgeA place to stayEilean Sionnach Lighthouse Cottage24 miles awayEilean Sionnach Lighthouse CottageSleeps 8

  3. Book the boat from Elgol to Canna

    Book online, or by phone on 0800 731 3089 or 01471 866244 from 7.30am; for the same day, phone.

  4. Book Stardust's sea eagle cruise from Portree

    Book once your dates are set: each boat takes 12 passengers.

Day one

Kylerhea and Elgol

Skye's south at its two best times: the quiet of early morning in the otter hide at Kylerhea, then an afternoon at sea among the Small Isles, before the evening drive up to Portree. Keep binoculars on the front seat all day, as golden or white-tailed eagles can turn up over almost any road.

2 hr 31 min at the wheelAbout 76 miles

  1. Kylerhea Otter Haven

    Kylerhea Otter Haven

    An attraction

    Leave Broadford at twenty to seven: it's 27 minutes' drive, east on the A87, then over the hill on a steep, narrow road to the Forestry's car park above Kylerhea. Take the hill slowly, as deer are on the road first thing, and bring midge repellent. The hide is just over a kilometre on, along a forest track. Below it the tide pours through Kyle Rhea, and otters hunt along the shore. Move only while an otter is under water. Seals are the likelier sight, in the narrows below the hide, porpoises sometimes pass through, and white-tailed eagles are seen here too.

    More about Kylerhea Otter Haven

  2. 57 min by car

    The boat from Elgol to Canna

    The boat from Elgol to Canna

    Elgol is 57 minutes' drive, with breakfast on the way at Lean To Coffee, a croft café at Ashaig, 18 minutes back along the A87: granola until 11, sourdough toasties. AquaXplore's Canna trip sailed at 12.30 in 2026, three and a half to four hours, with no food on board: bring lunch, or book Café Canna for the hour ashore. Pack waterproofs, warm layers and seasickness tablets if you need them. It passes Soay, where the writer Gavin Maxwell hunted basking sharks, and the cliffs of Canna, where puffins nest from April to July. Watch for minkes, dolphins and basking sharks.

If it rains

Rain is no reason to miss the hide, which has a roof, but wind can stop the Canna boat. The skippers decide on the day: AquaXplore's phones open at 7.30, so ring once you're back at the car. If they cancel, you're refunded less a £5 fee. For seals, drive 20 minutes from Broadford over the Skye Bridge to Kyle of Lochalsh for Seaprobe Atlantis, a glass-bottomed boat that goes out under the bridge to the seals on Seal Island; its times follow the tide, so ring ahead. For puffins, book SkyeXplorer's 90-minute puffin cruise from Uig to the Ascrib Islands for the next afternoon, in place of Neist: Uig is 50 minutes' drive from Dunvegan Castle and 31 from Portree. It sails only in fair weather too, so ring for its times.

Kylerhea Otter Haven

Worth a detour

  1. Waterloo Beach

    On the way back from the hide, a short side road just east of Broadford runs down to Waterloo's shore on Broadford Bay, with Pabay out on the water and the Red Hills behind the village. Ten minutes on the tideline before breakfast costs only a minute more at the wheel.

  2. Sligachan Old Bridge

    Beside the A87 on the way up to Portree, with no extra driving: Thomas Telford's old bridge over the River Sligachan, built between 1810 and 1818, with the Cuillin rising straight up behind it. Give it fifteen minutes in the evening light.

Day two

Portree to Neist

A morning on the Sound of Raasay with the sea eagles, Loch Dunvegan's seals at lunchtime and a long afternoon watching the open sea from the rocks at Neist Point. It starts with a walk down to Portree harbour for the 9.30 boat.

2 hr 4 min at the wheelAbout 67 miles by carAbout 0.5 miles on foot

  1. 6 min on foot

    Stardust's sea eagle cruise from Portree

    Stardust's sea eagle cruise from Portree

    A 6-minute walk from the middle of Portree takes you down to the harbour for Stardust's 9.30 cruise on the Sound of Raasay: two hours, booked ahead, binoculars on board. The skipper throws fish near the Raasay cliffs to bring the eagles down, and they take it from the surface in their talons; Stardust says it rarely misses one. The white-tailed eagle is the UK's biggest bird of prey. The last in Scotland was shot in 1918; young eagles from Norway were first released on Rùm in 1975.

  2. 41 min by car

    Dunvegan Castle

    Dunvegan Castle

    An attraction

    Back at the car, it's 41 minutes' drive west by Skeabost and Edinbane to Dunvegan Castle. Buy a garden ticket, which the boat needs, then go straight to the Seal Boat Ticket Office: there's no booking ahead, so you may wait over lunch. The 25-minute trip visits the islands at the head of Loch Dunvegan, where harbour seals haul out, protected as a Special Area of Conservation. They know the boat, which sails Monday to Friday. Pups arrive in June and July: from the shore, keep well back.

    More about Dunvegan Castle

  3. 27 min by car

    Neist Point

    Neist Point

    An attraction

    Neist is 27 minutes' drive on, through Colbost and Glendale to the road's end. Glendale's own website calls Neist Skye's finest place for whales and dolphins, and names the rocks between the lighthouse and the end of the point, down steep steps from the cliff top, as the place to watch. On a calm day, find a rock with a view both ways and wait. Minkes feed where seabirds gather, and basking sharks use the coves in summer. It's 142 metres back up. Portree is 56 minutes' drive home.

    More about Neist Point

If it rains

Stardust sails only when the weather allows, and gives a full refund or credit when it cancels for weather: ring on the morning. Dunvegan's seal boats, and at times the castle and gardens, also stop in high winds. If the boat is off, walk the Scorrybreac path round the headland across the bay from Portree harbour and watch the Sound of Raasay from there. The castle is the day's roof, open every day from 1 April to 15 October, 10am to 5.30pm, in 2026. Keep off Neist's unfenced cliff tops in a strong wind or mist.

Worth a detour

  1. St Columba's Isle

    Just off the A850 at Skeabost, 18 minutes out of Portree, a wooden footbridge crosses the River Snizort to a wooded island of old graves and ruined chapels, the seat of the Bishops of the Isles by the 14th century. Twenty minutes is plenty.

  2. Fairy Bridge

    On the A850 where the Waternish road turns off, 9 minutes short of the castle, with a layby and no extra driving. The story goes that a MacLeod chief parted from his fairy wife at this low stone bridge, and she left him the Fairy Flag that hangs in Dunvegan Castle. Corncrakes are back up the Waternish road in small numbers until about late August, calling mostly at night: if you hear that rasping double note from long grass, listen from the road and never walk into the fields.

Where to eat

Photograph by Slavomir Koval via Google