Five Lies You've Been Told about Visiting the Isle of Skye
- heatherfifi
- 6 days ago
- 5 min read
If you're planning a trip to the beautiful Isle of Skye and start looking online to find out information on planning your trip, you're likely to find some very conflicting information. Since the boom in tourism to the island, everyone and their granny have taken their oppurtunity to share their experience about visiting this part of the Scottish Highlands.
If you've come across this page, I'm hoping my credientials will mean that you can trust my opinion. I've been living in the Lochalsh area of the Scottish Highlands for the last five years, meaning I live only 30 minutes from the island. I've written a bunch of blogposts about the island over the years, hoping to bring a fair balance to what it really looks like to visit the island. So onto debunking some of the lies you've been told about visiting the Isle of Skye.
"The Old Man of Storr is an easy hike"
This is the lie about visiting the island that led me to write this blogpost. One thing I see all over the internet is that the Old Man of Storr is an easy hike, that you can easily spend an hour doing this hike and everyone should do it on their visit to the island.
I visited and hiked the Old Man of Storr in April 2022, almost 18 months after moving here. I really wanted the oppurtunity to share my point of a view hiking this well known path from a local's point of view. We visited on what was a fairly mild April Saturday. It wasn't raining. It ended up taking us an hour to hike to the base of the Old Man and we didn't manage to get to the viewpoint above the Old Man. This is becuase we were being battered by the strong winds on this side of the Trotternish Peninsula, so much so that we ended up heading down before we reached the top viewpoint because the walk was no longer fun.
If you are desperate to hike this walk on your trip to the Isle of Skye, I would recommend only doing this if you have suitable hiking shoes or boots on and you have brought plenty of warm/waterproof layers. The social media pages for The Storr visitor centre are updated daily with weather conditions on the hill, so be sure to check those out if you are in need of some updates.
"The Fairy Pools are quiet and secluded"
There's an image that's been floating around for years now of the Fairy Pools looking vividly turquoise with the Cuillin hills behind looking ominous and no one around. Unfortunately this image of the Fairy Pools is no longer true. The Fairy Pools are probably one of Skye's busiest tourist attractions, with hundreds of thousands of visitors making the visit there every year.
You've probably noticed I've never actually shared a blogpost on here about visiting the Fairy Pools. After visiting them for the first time 8 years ago, on one of my first visits to the Isle of Skye, I realised that I'm not sure that kind of overtourism can be good for a natural beauty like the Fairy Pools. I haven't been back to the Fairy Pools since moving here, and I've become fairly sceptical that you will ever be able to see this part of Skye as a quiet and secluded spot again.
"Skye can easily be visited in one day"
I've shared a blogpost all about this topic before, but honestly, I don't think you can "do Skye" in a day. One thing people don't realise about Skye before visiting is the vast size of the island. Many of the big highlights on the island are more than an hour from the bigger villages of Portree and Broadford, and if you factor in driving on single track roads and being stuck behind traffic, it could take even longer.
As I've said, I've lived half an hour from Skye for the last five years. Even still, there are still TONS of Skye that I haven't visited yet. The Trotternish Peninsula in the north of the island is one I've only visited a handful of times over the last five years. I haven't managed to do half of the walks I have on my Skye bucket list. There are a bunch of foodie spots I haven't visited yet.
My big recommendation if you are planning a trip to Skye is to make a list of the key spots you want to visit and plan accordingly, with at least one nights stay on the island. I think this is the best way to be able to see as many of the things you want to see, whilst also getting a real feel for the place and without spending hours driving in the car. Staying on the island for a bit longer also allows space to discover new things you might not have found prior to planning your trip. You never know what you might find on the Isle of Skye!
"Its always raining on Skye"
I must caveat this one by saying that this one is partly true. Unfortunately (especially for someone like me who lives here) it does rain a lot of the time in the Scottish Highlands, and this is very true for somewhere like Skye.
However, this might be one of the biggest lies you've heard about visiting the Isle of Skye. Even with the rain, though, there are still plenty of incredible things to see and do on the island. I love having a morning coffee or brunch in a cosy coffee shop (you can find some of my favourite spots for coffee on the island here) or spending a couple of hours mooching around the shops in Portree (you can find my recommendations for that here). I've shared a whole blogpost about how I would spend a rainy day on the Isle of Skye, so hopefully that will have some good recommendations on how to spend a day here, even when the rain is pouring.
"Skye is too busy to visit"
This is another one that I would say is partly true. Skye is a busy part of the Scottish Highlands and it doesn't feel like it's going to get any quieter anytime soon. There are some places, such as popular restuarants and some self-catering cottages or hotels, that you will have to book months (or possibly a year) in advance.
What I will say though is Skye is a destination for a reason. People have been visiting from all over the world now for a number of years, and for good reason. Skye is a beautiful place and there are some incredible sights to see on the island. If crowds are something you are keen to avoid, I'd recommend avoiding visiting during the busy summer season or staying somewhere away from the main road. You could even make the effort to visit the busy tourist spots early or late in the day, whcih will also help you avoid the big crowds.
No matter when you choose to visit the Isle of Skye, there are plenty of incredible things to see and do. A trip to the Isle of Skye really is what you make it. If you are looking for any more recommendations for planning your trip to Skye, check out these blogposts.
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