Ten days from Edinburgh: the Jacobite steam train over Glenfinnan, three nights on Skye, then Applecross and Torridon.
Isle of Skye & the Road to the Isles is a 10-day self-drive tour designed by Alison at The Kilted Unicorn, a local Scotland agency in Edinburgh. Most tours give Skye two nights. This one gives it three, arrives the old way by the Road to the Isles and the Mallaig ferry, and leaves over the bridge for Applecross and Torridon, the coast most visitors never reach.
It is about 845 miles from Edinburgh and back. The second day is long, the price of going in by Glencoe and Glenfinnan; after that, no day runs over three and a half hours at the wheel. We book every night, the car, the ferry, your seats on the Jacobite and the entry fees.
Arrive and settle in. There is no car yet: you collect it tomorrow morning on your way out of town. Walk up the Royal Mile, take in the view from Calton Hill, and go to bed early: tomorrow is the long day of the trip.
The longest drive of the trip, and the best reason for it. Collect the car at Edinburgh Airport, cross Rannoch Moor and drop into Glencoe for lunch. At Glenfinnan, walk up to the viewpoint over the viaduct and the monument on Loch Shiel, then follow the Road to the Isles to Arisaig and its white beaches.
Drive to Fort William for the morning departure of the Jacobite, the steam train that crosses the Glenfinnan Viaduct on its way to Mallaig. Lunch by the harbour, then the train back in the afternoon. Before the steam season, or if the train is full, we book a boat from Mallaig to Knoydart instead, a peninsula with no road in.
The CalMac ferry from Mallaig lands you in Sleat, the green south of Skye. Take the single-track road to Elgol, where the Cuillin rise straight out of Loch Scavaig: a boat to Loch Coruisk leaves from the jetty if you want to go closer. Then north to Portree for three nights.
Start early: the Storr path climbs to the Old Man in about an hour, and the car park fills by mid-morning. Then the headland walk at Rubha nam Brathairean, Kilt Rock, the Quiraing and the Skye Museum of Island Life at Kilmuir, where thatched cottages show how crofters lived here.
The west of the island. Dunvegan Castle, home of the MacLeod chiefs for some 800 years, and its gardens on the loch. Neist Point, the lighthouse at the end of Skye, then Talisker at Carbost, the island's oldest working distillery. Stay late at Neist Point in June for the sunset.
Leave over the Skye Bridge for Plockton, a fishing village with palm trees on the shore. Then the Bealach na Bà, which climbs to 626 metres in tight hairpins before dropping to Applecross; in cloud, your travel book gives the lower road. The coast road north brings you round to Torridon.
A day among the oldest mountains in Britain. Beinn Eighe was Britain's first National Nature Reserve, and its woodland trail starts by Loch Maree. Continue to Gairloch for the beach, or walk the glen behind Torridon village. The evening light on the red sandstone is the reason for the second night.
East through Achnasheen to Inverness, then south on the A9 over the Drumochter Pass. Break the journey wherever it suits: Culloden is a few minutes off the road. In Pitlochry, the salmon ladder at the dam is a short walk from the high street.
A short last drive. Stop at Dunkeld for its cathedral on the Tay, then return the car at Edinburgh Airport by lunchtime, in time for an afternoon flight, or add a night in Edinburgh.
The route as driven, numbered by overnight stop. Coastline from Natural Earth, roads from OpenStreetMap. Hover a day to find it on the map.
Distances and times come from OpenStreetMap routing and leave out stops. Day 4 includes the ferry crossing. On single-track roads, allow a little more.
Accommodation is 4-star boutique as standard, with restored manors and castle hotels on the upper tiers. Every address is in your travel book rather than on this page: these are small places, and we book them for you. Skye and Torridon have few rooms, so for July and August we book those nights as early as we can.
| Stop | Nights | What to expect |
|---|---|---|
| Edinburgh | 1 night | Boutique hotel or guest house in the centre |
| Arisaig | 2 nights | Country house or B&B by the sea |
| Portree, Skye | 3 nights | Harbour guest house or small hotel |
| Torridon | 2 nights | Country house or inn on the loch |
| Pitlochry | 1 night | Victorian country house or guest house |
June to September, when the Jacobite runs, the days are longest and every ferry keeps its summer timetable. Late May and early October work too, with the Knoydart boat in place of the train if the steam season has not started or has ended.
July and August are the busiest months on Skye. Rooms go months ahead, and the Storr, the Fairy Pools and the Quiraing are best before nine or after five. Outside those hours, the island is a different place.
Two full days is the minimum to see the Trotternish, Dunvegan and Neist Point without rushing, and three nights gives you that plus the evening light. This tour spends three nights in Portree, with Elgol on the way in and Plockton and Applecross on the way out.
Yes. We book your return seats on the morning Jacobite from Fort William to Mallaig and back, and the ticket is in the price. The train runs from early summer to October; before or after the steam season, or if the train is full, we book a boat from Mallaig to Knoydart instead.
By road over the Skye Bridge, about five hours without stops, or by the Road to the Isles and the CalMac ferry from Mallaig to Armadale, which is how this tour arrives. We book the ferry for the car and its passengers, and the fare is in the price.
Yes, for a careful driver in good weather. It is a single-track pass that climbs to 626 metres with tight hairpins and steep gradients, and it is not suitable for large vehicles. When it is in cloud or the wind is strong, we route you round by the coast road instead.
If the Mallaig to Armadale sailing is cancelled for weather, you drive round to Skye over the bridge, which adds about two hours on that day. Your travel book has the alternative route, and we are on the phone and WhatsApp seven days a week to rebook anything that moves.
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