The first thing I did when I found out that I’ll be moving to Dundee was to make a list of all the places I could visit nearby. Scottish Highlands were one of them; right near the very top! This is my experience of travelling around the Isle of Skye over a weekend, and some things I’d do differently when I plan my next trip!

 

The Party:

First of all, you’d need to decide who you want to go with. You want someone who is willing to keep traveling without being tired or bored. Nobody wants a companion who wants to rest and go back after 3 spots. Secondly, you need a driver. A driver who is willing to drive even for 8 or 9 hours in a day. We had both! You will also need a navigator (that was me!) who is awake and entertaining the driver with amazing music, stopping them from falling asleep. And, you probably need a good photographer (me, again!) to make sure you get those amazing portraits and landscapes that Skye has to offer.

 

The Logistics:

The most important thing you’d need would be a car. If you’re going to Skye, there is a lot to see. Not just the famous touristy points, but we must’ve stopped about 10 times just to soak in the beauty of the island. You could find a lot of places renting you a car for as low as £15 per day. You would also need a place to stay. We chose an AirBnB near Inverness as it was just over 2 hours away from Skye and also the cheapest. We were going to stay from Friday to Sunday, and it cost us £20 each, in total.

 

The Trip:

So, it was Friday. We had the car. And then we started! Skye is a long drive away. Driving from Dundee to Skye is about 5 and a half hours. Whilst it’s easily doable, we decided that we would have our overnight stay near Inverness. We reached our destination by 5 PM.

The place was absolutely fantastic! It was a small rustic cottage with beautiful interiors. They had board games too! Our host was amazing as well! Her two dogs and a cat had already become our friends! We spent the evening walking around that small town.

We woke up at 6 and were on our way to Skye by 7. Skye was 2 and a half hours away from our stay. It was a majestic journey as we kept stopping every so often to click pictures. It was totally worth it!

 

Portree was our first destination. It is a small little Scottish harbour town. The colourful houses on the harbour where the ships and vessels docked were too cute to miss!

Next up, it was Kilt Rock and the waterfall. On our way there, we took a fair few halts because everything was just too good to miss. We even climbed next to a waterfall just because it looked really pretty! We went to a beach-side, on the rocks and just tried to take in as much of Skye as we could! When we reached Kilt rock, it was something spectacular! The huge rocks resembled the folds of a Kilt. The wind was incredible as well!

Next was Quiraing. We were already running late on our schedule so we decided that we would just drive through Quiraing instead of the 2 hour hike. But, even then, it was one of the best drives on our trip! Through the mountains with the ‘Game of Thrones’ title track on full volume. It genuinely felt like “Winter is Coming” and we were on our way to Winterfell.

Our next halts were the Claigan Coral Beach and the Dunvegan Castle. Both of which were failures. The beach was a 45 minutes walk from the car-park. We were already late and didn’t want to miss the sunset at our next point, whilst the castle was closed till Easter.

But then, we made it to Neist Point, which for me, was the highlight of the whole trip! It is one of those places that just will forever be in your memories. The shades of grey, green, and blue; from the skies, the grass, and the ocean… just WOW! There is something really unexplainable that happens to me when I’m around such places. The clarity, the sanity, the peace… whatever you want to call it, it was all there!

Then, we made our way back home for the night. We were all really tired but we still had Sunday to explore!

We started our Sunday by going to Loch Ness. Trust me, we tried looking, but Nessie wasn’t in the mood for showing itself. The lake, however, is incredible! It’s over 22 miles long and over a mile and a half wide. It’s gorgeous and the road alongside it is one of the most scenic ones there is.

We were then at Glenfinnan Viaduct, more popular as the “Harry Potter” bridge. It was marvellous as well! The whole place had those vibes which really can’t be described unless you’ve been there yourself!

 

And then, that was that! We made our way back to Dundee and got back to our usual routines but with a lot of scenic sights and wonderful memories!

Things I’d recommend:

• Go during autumn. There are so many shades of leaves that you would lose count of them!
• Carry different types of footwear as there’s a whole lot of adventure out there
• Go for more than one day. You cannot see the whole of Skye in one day, no matter how efficient your planning is.
• Don’t hesitate to deviate from your plan. The place is so wonderful, be open to unplanned stops.
• Have Fun! I’ve been to Skye just 10 days ago and I already cant wait to go again!

 

If you have any questions/advice about anything I’ve written, or want to look at more pictures from this trip or any other, you can follow me on Instagram!

 

‘Til next time! 😀