Isle of Skye

The weather in Scotland is said to be so erratic that it's possible to encounter four seasons in a day since it is located so close to the Atlantic Ocean. More often than not the weather sucks for a vacation around Scotland, the Highlands and Isle of Skye, but when the sun is out, this has got to be one of the most beautiful places in the world. Talk about untouched beauty. Isle of Skye is also a hiker's paradise as there are so many trails, the longest one being 7 days!

Isle of Skye is a place northwest of Edinburgh and you can easily spend at least 2 days on this island. On the way to the island you can tour the Highlands, which is essentially north of Edinburgh. There is the Stirling castle, Glencoe region, Loch Ness, Urquhart castle, Plockton and Eilean Donah Castle, seen from the photos below respectively. If you are a Harry Potter fan, you can even check out the Hogwart's Express rail!

Places on Isle of Skye that you can consider staying are Kyleakin, Broadford and Portree. Kyleakin is the first town that you see once you cross the Skye bridge, while Broadford is about 10 mins drive from Kyleakin. Portree is further up, about an hour's drive and is said to be the capital of Skye. As Isle of Skye is pretty huge, you want to stay at Portree for at least a night to minimize driving time. However, accommodation is expensive in Scotland, and the cheapest one that I found in Portree was £18 a night. For meals, most of the time we just buy from the Co-op supermarket and cook at the hostel or we buy these sandwich spreads for lunch.

Here are some of the sights that I went. The photos do not do justice to the sights as they are so beautiful and not because I suck at photography (well, I guess I am partially at fault here). Feel free to see my other posts where I just put photos of the places that I went.

Allt Dearg Mor, a river:

We also went to places like Old Man of Storr and Staffin Bay. Old Man of Storr requires a lot of hiking to get good pictures (3 hours) and Staffin Bay was just smelly. Skip it!

Last but no least, animals!