JANUARY 2022
We absolutely loved our visit to Isle of Skye in Scotland, but I must admit that I was surprised at some of our experiences. There are some practical difficulties when visiting Isle of Skye, but if you prepare accordingly this does not have to be an issue at all! I wrote this little guide to make sure you have the best experience at Isle of Skye and you set your expectations right!
Not all campsites are kid friendly
We are not used to doing extensive research on whether a campsite is baby friendly or not, we usually just discover that everything is well arranged. And that is how we ended up at Portree Campsite, which had no baby changing facilities, separated showers and no playing area. Not a big problem, but we wish we had done better research instead.
Prebook campsites & hotels
If you are visiting in the summer season you must book campsites and hotels well in advance. Especially when staying in hotels, you cannot expect to find a spontaneous room. When driving around the island, we noted that all the hotels had a sign that indicated they were completely booked up. We booked our campsite a few weeks in advance, which was early enough.
Single roads everywhere
If you want to visit a touristic sight, you probably have to venture off the main roads and will end up on a single road. Every few hundred meters there would be a bigger part, where you could cross oncoming traffic. I personally loved this as it added a sense of adventure and sometimes created comic situations. We visited with our campervan and sometimes it got a bit icky and if you are scared of driving this is not the place to be.
Every campsite is scenic
I did a lot of research on the best location and the best views of campsites, but to be honest you cannot really go wrong with this. All the campsites on Isle of Skye are incredibly scenic and they feature lots of sheep. The campsites aren’t that big, so you can really enjoy that feeling of being in nature.
Limited number of restaurants
I found the number and type of restaurants on Isle of Skye incredibly limited. For being such a touristic place, it doesn’t offer enough good food. Popular restaurants get booked days in advance, creating no room for a spontaneous visit. Restaurants also close in between lunch and dinner, so you don’t want to be late. In the evening there are queues at most restaurants, exactly when they open up at 6. So if you are not there are 6, you have to wait for a second shift (if the kitchen is still open). Many restaurants are glorified fish and chips joints and they have not been maintained well. We got lucky in Portree and had dinner in Pier Hotel Restaurant, which didn’t look very well, but which had lovely staff. We had a simple, tasty and expensive dinner over here, if you like fresh fish I would recommend it. Another evening we ended up at the Isles Inn in Portree, which I found very atmospheric and the (unhealthy) food was very good too. The other night that we were in Skye we couldn’t find anything and got pizza from Pizzaway which we ate in the carpark.
Culture seems non existent
I found the nature on Isle of Skye breathtaking, but I found it hard to enjoy the culture. We hardly spoke to any locals, so we didn’t get a feel for this. I expected Isle of Skye to be like Patagonia, where you could hike during the day and really enjoy the gastronomy at night with local meals and drinks and kind waiters. But, the restaurant scene on Skye was a bit weird and many activities on Skye were unstaffed, so we did not feel like we could get to know the culture on Isle of Skye. Apparently, Scotland really suffered because of Brexit and COVID restrictions, causing many hard workers to leave, so it could just be a consequence of that. The villages seemed very run down and the people were not upbeat. I think this picture sums up how close you can get to the locals.
