Northern Skye Scenic Drive

OVERVIEW

Be dazzled by Northern Skye’s spectacular beauty and learn about its agricultural past on a drive that circles the rugged Trotternish Peninsula. It’s a journey that captures outstanding scenery from start to finish, with your guide providing fascinating geological and social history of the Isle of Skye along the way. Regular stops will allow you to soak up – and photograph – some truly breathtaking settings. Several of the highlights you’ll encounter are intensely scenic – like Kilt Rock, a dramatic 200-foot sea cliff clad in a tartan-like pattern of rock striations and bathed in the roar of its waterfall that plunges straight down to the pebbles below. Others are more curious, like the high coastal rock monolith known as the Old Man of Storr, part of a coastal ridge visible for miles around and often enveloped in mist. You’ll pass the village of Staffin, an outlying crafting community overlooking a broad bay Staffin, and hear tales of Skye’s myths and legends as you round the far northern tip of Skye. At the tiny settlement of Kilmuir you’ll stop to in to learn a bit about the Highlands’ traditional small-plot farming method – known as crofting – at the charming Museum of Island Life.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Enjoy a guided panoramic survey of Northern Skye’s famously dramatic Trotternish Peninsula.
• Stop for photo ops and atmosphere appreciation all along this highly scenic route.
• See world-famous natural landmarks including Kilt Rock and Mealt Falls, and the Old Man of Storr.
• Visit a charming little Museum of Island Life in the remote hamlet where wunderkind British clothing designer Alexander McQueen is buried among his clan’s ancestors.
• Pass though many another remote village as you circle the landmass that forms Skye’s far northern tip.

HELPFUL HINTS

• Wear weather-appropriate clothing; include a light raincoat or umbrella.
• Flat, comfortable walking shoes are recommended.
• Bring a hat, sunglasses and sunscreen as needed.