- Where
- Inner Hebrides, off Scotland’s
north-west coast - Coordinates
- 57.30° N
6.35° W - Area
- 1,656 km²
Scotland’s second-largest island - Highest point
- Sgùrr Alasdair, 993 m
the highest on any Scottish island - People
- 10,496 (2022)
main town Portree - Linked
- Skye Bridge, opened 1995
toll-free since 2004 - Getting there
- By road over the Skye Bridge,
or ferry Mallaig–Armadale - Best visited
- May to September; May is the sunniest month
It rained sideways all morning and then stopped as if a tap had been turned, and the ridge rose clear of the cloud: towers of dark rock, green slopes tipping toward the sea, sheep grazing where no sheep should manage. A coachful of anoraks gasped at once. Then the mist came back, politely, and took it all away again.
The short answer
The Isle of Skye is the largest and northernmost of the major islands of the Inner Hebrides, off the north-west coast of Scotland. At 1,656 square kilometres it is Scotland’s second-largest island, after Lewis and Harris, and some 100 kilometres long; fifteen major sea lochs cut so far into it that no point is more than eight kilometres from the sea, Wikipedia records. Its highest point, Sgùrr Alasdair in the Cuillin, at 993 metres, is the highest mountain on any Scottish island. In 2022 it had 10,496 people; the largest town is Portree. Its Gaelic name is An t-Eilean Sgitheanach, and a poetic one is Eilean a’ Cheò, “island of the mist”.
Why it's worth knowing
The Cuillin. The Black Cuillin, mainly basalt and gabbro, include twelve Munros and make demands of the hill walker that exceed any others in Scotland, Wikipedia records: the Inaccessible Pinnacle is the only Scottish peak whose summit needs technical rock climbing, and a full traverse of the ridge may take 15 to 20 hours. East of them the granite Red Hills weather into rounder slopes of scree.
A ridge that slid. The Trotternish peninsula is underlain by basalt, and the Trotternish landslip is the longest such feature in Great Britain, by Wikipedia’s account. Below the Storr’s cliffs stands the rock pillar of the Old Man of Storr; to the north the Quiraing is a hollow ringed by rock, holding a flat plateau called the Table, a pinnacle called the Needle and a keep-like mass called the Prison. The Victorian poet Alexander Smith called it “a nightmare of nature”. On the east coast, the cliffs of Kilt Rock, about 70 metres high, are named for their pleated columns.
The field notes
Footprints on the shore
Trotternish’s Middle Jurassic rocks, about 174 to 166 million years old, hold dinosaur footprints and bones, Wikipedia records. The first footprint to be scientifically described was found in 1982; tracks of large theropods, sauropods and armoured thyreophorans have since been recorded in place at Brother’s Point, An Corran on Staffin Bay, and Duntulm. A selection is shown at the Staffin Museum at Ellishadder, and since the Skye Nature Conservation Order of 2019 all dinosaur and vertebrate fossils on Skye are protected by law.
The bridge and the turntable ferry
The Skye Bridge opened in 1995 under a private finance initiative, and its tolls, £5.70 each way for summer visitors, met wide opposition; on 21 December 2004 the Scottish Executive bought the bridge and the tolls were removed, Wikipedia records. Across the narrow strait of Kyle Rhea, between Kylerhea and Glenelg, the MV Glenachulish still sails as the last turntable ferry in the world, the BBC reported.
Whose island
Skye has been lived on since the late Upper Palaeolithic; it was under Norwegian rule until the Treaty of Perth in 1266, and was long the country of the MacLeods and the MacDonalds. After the Jacobite risings the clan system broke up, and the Clearances replaced whole communities with sheep farms, some of them by forced emigration; the population fell from over 20,000 in the early nineteenth century to just under 9,000 by the 1990s, Wikipedia records. About a third of residents spoke Gaelic in 2001, and students come from around the world to the Gaelic college, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, in Sleat. Crofting goes on: there are about 2,000 crofts on Skye.
The Quiraing landslip, with lochans on the moor below, July 2014.
Photograph: Guillaume.R-B. · CC BY-SA 4.0
Loch Coruisk under the jagged ridge of the Black Cuillin, June 2013.
Photograph: Nessy-Pic · Loch Coruisk Black Cuillin · CC BY-SA 3.0
The Fairy Pools on the River Brittle, July 2020.
Photograph: MPerkowski · CC BY-SA 4.0
The pale “coral” beach at Claigan, June 2013.
Photograph: Joachim Kohler · CC BY-SA 4.0 · cropped
A thatched cottage at Kilmuir that serves as the Skye Museum of Island Life’s visitor reception, June 2016.
Photograph: DeFacto · CC BY-SA 4.0 · cropped
- Pack for four seasons in one afternoon, and expect to wear most of them.
- Stick to the worn path among the rock towers. The ground beside it is wearing thin.
- Allow an hour per item on this list. The mist will want to approve each one.
- Some of these empty valleys were once full of homes. Pass the old stones quietly.
- Pull into the passing places to let others by, and wave when they return the favour.
A dinosaur footprint at An Corran. One of the Middle Jurassic tracks pressed into the shore rock at Staffin Bay on the Trotternish peninsula, some 170 million years old. It is looked at where it lies, and left there: since 2019 every dinosaur fossil on Skye has been protected by law.
Tally, in the marginI had stepped over that rock shelf twice, hunting for shells, without a glance at it. Something enormous had walked this shore before me, and I stood very still for a moment, in case it meant to return.
Getting there
How to get there. By road over the Skye Bridge from Kyle of Lochalsh, which also has trains from Inverness; Scottish Citylink’s 917 bus runs from Inverness to Portree in about three hours twenty minutes, bus timetables show. Or by train from Glasgow to Mallaig and the CalMac ferry to Armadale, a crossing of about 30 to 45 minutes depending on the ship, Undiscovered Scotland reports; the small turntable ferry also crosses from Glenelg to Kylerhea. The A87 crosses the island from the bridge to Uig, and many of its other roads are single-track, Wikipedia records.
When to go. May to September. The climate is mild, wet and windy, with 1,500 to 2,000 millimetres of rain a year and more in the Cuillin; May is the sunniest month, Wikipedia records.
What to arrange ahead. A bed, booked early for summer, and a car or the bus timetable; waterproofs; for the Cuillin, experience, a map and the weather forecast.
Safety. The State Department has the United Kingdom at Level 2, exercise increased caution, due to terrorism (advisory dated 8 May 2025 in its feed, read 5 October 2026). The hazards on Skye are its own: mountain weather, the Cuillin’s scrambling, cliff edges and winds that have reached 128 km/h. The Highland Council restricts traffic on the Skye Bridge in high winds.
Mark this place
Common questions
Where is the Isle of Skye?
The Isle of Skye is off the north-west coast of Scotland, the largest and northernmost of the major islands of the Inner Hebrides. It is in the Highland council area, and its largest town is Portree.
How big is the Isle of Skye?
The Isle of Skye covers 1,656 square kilometres, making it Scotland’s second-largest island after Lewis and Harris. It is about 100 kilometres long, and its sea lochs cut so deep that nowhere is more than eight kilometres from the sea.
How do you get to the Isle of Skye?
By road over the Skye Bridge from Kyle of Lochalsh, or by CalMac ferry from Mallaig to Armadale, about 30 to 45 minutes. Scottish Citylink’s 917 bus runs from Inverness to Portree in about three hours twenty minutes.
Is the Skye Bridge free?
Yes. The Skye Bridge opened in 1995 as a toll bridge under a private finance initiative; after years of opposition, the Scottish Executive bought it on 21 December 2004 and the tolls were removed at once.
What is the highest mountain on Skye?
Sgùrr Alasdair in the Black Cuillin, at 993 metres, the highest mountain on any Scottish island. Nearby, the Inaccessible Pinnacle is the only Scottish peak that needs technical rock climbing to reach its summit.
What is the Quiraing on the Isle of Skye?
The Quiraing is a landform on the Trotternish ridge of Skye: a hollow ringed by rock, holding a plateau called the Table, a pinnacle called the Needle and a rock mass called the Prison, all left by landslides beneath a basalt cliff.
Are there dinosaur footprints on the Isle of Skye?
Yes. Middle Jurassic rocks on Skye’s Trotternish peninsula hold footprints of theropods, sauropods and thyreophorans at Brother’s Point, An Corran on Staffin Bay, and Duntulm; all dinosaur fossils on Skye have been protected by law since 2019.
Is Gaelic spoken on the Isle of Skye?
Yes. About a third of Skye’s residents spoke Scottish Gaelic in 2001, and the Gaelic college Sabhal Mòr Ostaig is in Sleat. The island’s Gaelic name is An t-Eilean Sgitheanach.