Skye
Isle of Skye tours from Edinburgh: why it takes three days
Skye is 230 miles from Edinburgh — five to six hours of driving each way. That single number is why there is no day trip on this page that reaches it, and why the tour that does takes three days and two nights.
Quick answer
The Isle of Skye tour from Edinburgh runs three days and two nights and costs from $229. Skye is 230 miles from Edinburgh, so a day trip is not realistic. The route north takes in Glencoe, Fort William and often the Glenfinnan viaduct, spends a full day on Skye itself, and returns down the Great Glen past Loch Ness. Accommodation is normally booked separately — check the listing.
Three days to Skye, at a glance
- Length
- 3 days, 2 nightsEdinburgh to Edinburgh
- Distance to Skye
- ~230 miles367 km from Edinburgh
- Driving each way
- 5–6 hourswithout stops
- Price from
- $229the only multi-day tour here
- Rating
- 4.8the joint highest on this site
- Reviews
- 2,936a large sample for a multi-day trip
- On the way north
- Glencoeand often the viaduct
- On the way back
- Loch Nessdown the Great Glen
- Accommodation
- Check the listingoften booked separately
- Cancellation
- Free to 24 has with every tour here
The distance
Why a day trip to Skye does not work
Two hundred and thirty miles each way. There is no clever way round it.
People ask this constantly, so here is the arithmetic.
Edinburgh to the Skye Bridge is about 230 miles by the fastest route, and the last hundred of those miles are single-carriageway Highland road with passing places, coaches, sheep and no realistic way to hurry. Five hours is a good run. Six is normal.
Doubled, that is ten to twelve hours of driving. A day trip would have to be sixteen hours long to give you two hours on the island, and those two hours would be spent in the car park at one viewpoint on the eastern side, not at any of the places people go to Skye for.
Skye is also bigger than visitors expect: fifty miles long, with the Quiraing, the Old Man of Storr, Neist Point and the Fairy Pools spread right across it and an hour of driving between several of them.
The three-day tour is the honest answer. Day one gets you north through Glencoe and Fort William with proper stops. Day two is Skye itself, with a full day to move around the island. Day three comes back down the Great Glen past Loch Ness, which means the trip also covers the landmark most people wanted from the day tour.
If three days is more than you have, the twelve-hour northern day trip reaches Loch Ness and Glencoe and comes home the same night.
The classic day trip→On the island
What a full day on Skye normally covers
Exact stops vary with weather and the guide, but this is the standard shape.
- The Old Man of Storr
A 50-metre rock pinnacle on a ridge above the sea, and the most recognisable thing on the island. The full walk up takes about ninety minutes return; tours usually photograph it from below.
- The Quiraing
A landslip on the Trotternish ridge that produced a landscape of towers and hidden plateaus. The single-track road across it is spectacular and slow.
- Kilt Rock and Mealt Falls
A basalt cliff with vertical columns and a waterfall dropping straight into the sea. A ten-minute stop, and one of the easiest big views on Skye.
- Portree
The island’s main town, with a harbour of painted houses. Where lunch normally happens.
- The Fairy Pools
Clear pools and small falls under the Cuillin at Glenbrittle. A twenty-minute walk on rough ground from the car park, and it is genuinely muddy after rain.
- The Cuillin
The black gabbro ridge in the south of the island, and the most serious mountain range in Britain. Tours look at it. Climbing it is a different holiday.
The road there
What the two travelling days actually give you
Three days that quietly contain three of the day trips.
The mistake is to read days one and three as dead time. They are not: the route to Skye runs through the best road scenery in Britain, and the tour stops in it.
Day one goes up past Loch Lomond, across Rannoch Moor — fifty square miles of peat, lochans and nothing else — and down through Glencoe with the Three Sisters directly above the road. Then Fort William, under Ben Nevis, and on most itineraries the Glenfinnan viaduct before the last run west to the bridge.
Day three comes back a different way, down the Great Glen: Loch Ness on your left for twenty-three miles, the Caledonian Canal beside the road, and usually a stop at the loch itself. That stop is the reason this trip quietly replaces the day tour rather than competing with it — you get the landmark without a separate twelve-hour day.
Put together, the three days cover Glencoe, Fort William, the viaduct, Skye and Loch Ness. The day trips on this page each cover one or two of those.
Practical
Five things to sort before a three-day tour
Multi-day tours are booked differently from day trips, and these are the differences that catch people out.
- Check whether beds are included
Some multi-day Highland tours quote transport and guiding only and hand you a list of places to book. That can be cheaper, but it is not the same price you are comparing.
- Pack for one bag, not three days
Coach storage on these trips is real but not generous, and you will be moving it in and out of two different guesthouses. One soft bag each is the norm.
- Assume weather, not forecast
Skye gets rain on roughly two days in three across the year. A waterproof jacket and shoes that survive a muddy path are the difference between the Fairy Pools and the car park.
- Bring the midge repellent from June to September
Still, damp evenings on the west coast are when they appear. It is a five-pound problem with a five-pound solution.
- Book earlier than you would a day trip
There are far fewer three-day departures than day tours, and in July and August they fill weeks ahead. The 24-hour free cancellation means booking early costs you nothing.
Common questions
Isle of Skye tours from Edinburgh, answered
Can you do the Isle of Skye as a day trip from Edinburgh?
Not realistically. Skye is 230 miles from Edinburgh, five to six hours of driving each way, so a day trip would be almost entirely road with minutes on the island.
How long does the Isle of Skye tour from Edinburgh take?
Three days and two nights. Day one runs north through Glencoe and Fort William, day two is on the island, and day three returns past Loch Ness.
How much is the Isle of Skye tour?
From $229 for three days. It is rated 4.8 across 2,936 reviews, the joint highest score on this site.
Is accommodation included?
Not always. Several multi-day Highland tours quote transport and guiding and let you book your own beds, so check that line on the listing before you compare prices.
What do you see on Skye itself?
Usually the Old Man of Storr, the Quiraing, Kilt Rock, Portree and often the Fairy Pools. The exact list depends on the weather and the guide.
Does the Skye tour include Loch Ness?
Yes, on the return leg down the Great Glen, which is one reason the three-day trip is better value than it first appears.
When is the best time to go to Skye?
May, June and September. Long daylight, the driest months of a wet year, and fewer midges than July and August at dusk.
Go deeper
More on the Scottish Highlands
The classic day trip
Twenty thousand reviews, and what the twelve hours contain.
Loch NessLoch Ness tours
What the loch is, and what the cruise costs on the day.
GlencoeGlencoe
The valley every tour stops at, and why the road is the point.
The viaductThe Glenfinnan viaduct
Twenty-one arches, a steam train and the 1745 rising.
All day tripsDay tours from Edinburgh
Every direction, compared, from nine hours to three days.
OutlanderOutlander locations
Midhope, Culross and which tours go inside.
