Isle of Skye landscape
Skye & the West
ISLE OF SKYE
ISLANDS
COAST
WILDERNESS
Six nights on Skye and the mainland coast opposite, with a private guide who can find you Cuillin views without the car parks and Trotternish ridges without the queues. A boat day to the Small Isles, a supper at a chef-owned restaurant in a converted boathouse, and two final nights at a lodge no one drives past by accident.
A sense of the days
ARRIVAL — INVERNESS
Met at Inverness airport by your driver. West through the Great Glen, with a stop at Loch Ness for the view that isn't a car park. A first hotel near Glencoe or Fort William by evening. The road to Skye is for tomorrow.
1
NORTH TO SKYE
Across the bridge to Skye in the late morning when the early traffic has cleared by then. Lunch in Broadford. Afternoon at Sligachan, looking up at the Cuillins. A small hotel in the south of the island by evening.
2
TROTTERNISH
The north peninsula day includes the Quiraing, the Old Man of Storr, Kilt Rock. Start early where you have the road to yourselves until ten. Lunch at a small place in Uig that the ferry-watchers know. Back to the hotel for the afternoon, walking nearby.
3
SOUTH SKYE AND ELGOL
A slower day. The road to Elgol. Slow because the road is single-track, slow because you do not want to rush it. The view of the Cuillins from the beach is the one in everyone's photographs. Lunch at a small place down at the harbour. Back via Armadale.
4
MAINLAND DAY — PLOCKTON AND APPLECROSS
Back across the bridge for the day. Plockton - the village with palm trees that doesn't quite make sense. Lunch on the harbour. Afternoon over the Bealach na Bà to Applecross which is the highest road in Britain, white-knuckle on the climb, the long view at the top.
5
EILEAN DONAN AND THE LOOP BACK
Eilean Donan early, before the tour buses. The drive back to Inverness via Loch Ness. A second night near the airport if it's an early departure.
6
Departure
Driver to the airport.