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Accommodations in Isle of Skye/Portree already booked up

Hello,

My wife and two kids (14 & 10) are headed to Scotland in June and hoped to visit the Isle of Skye from June 19th-21st. However, we obviously started way too late, as we can't find any accommodations in Portree, where Rick Steves seems to indicate you should stay. I wanted to see if anyone had any recommendations on where we could stay on Skye that might still be available? Otherwise, we may skip Skye altogether and stay two nights in Inverness to see Culloden, Clava Cairns, Urquhart Castle, etc. Originally, we had only planned to spend a day visiting Culloden, etc before heading south for our flight back to the US on June 22nd.

Thanks for any help you can provide!

Posted by
1212 posts

Flodigarry hostel has 4 and 6 bed dorm rooms available for two night stays just looked.The 4 bed had sea views.

I forgot to check as there are a double ensuite and twin rooms.
Theres very good costal walks up to Rubha Hunish on the Skye trail.
Flodigarry is within a couple of miles of Staffin where the famous dinosaur footprints are .
The Old Man of Stoer is also a short drive ,the ruins of Duntulm castle are a little way further north.
I have spent 2 recent midsummers days staring out at the view from Rubha Hunish its incredible.
I can imagine it would be weekly booking but the " wigwams" up at Shulista croft might be worth a look.
If you go, tell em a chatty Yorkshireman recommended them ,they will know its me.

Portree,sort of amounts to 3 streets and you can easily have a wander round in an hour visting The Lump and the harbour and then leave the queueing for everything crowds behind

Posted by
1117 posts

No particular reason to stay in Portree - Broadford, Dunvegan, Edinbane or Carbost would all be fine. In fact at this point I would take whatever you can get. There is a facebook group called Skye Rooms that aims to match B&Bs with rooms to people looking for specific dates. Maybe try there or call the Visit Scotland information centre in Portree for help.

Posted by
1605 posts

If you can’t find any lodgings on Skye, and you decide to spend 2 nights elsewhere, instead of Inverness, I would stay in Nairn. It’s about 20 minutes from Inverness, and is a lovely seaside village. Inverness is a busy commercial center, not that attractive. From Nairn, we visited Elgin Cathedral, Culloden Battlefield, Cawdor Castle, and Urquhart Castle.

Posted by
150 posts

We had 10 days in Scotland last spring, and spent 3 nights in Portree. It is a cute town and has a good number of restaurants and accommodation. But, traveling around, we discovered there are lots of equally cute, centrally located, and well-served towns throughout the island- which seemed much less hectic. I liked Portree but would stay elsewhere next time, as there are so many options on the island.

Posted by
439 posts

Yes Portree is nice but not among the top places to visit on Skye IMHO. Handy for groceries and laundry etc. We don't often eat in restaurants so don't know about that.
I would suggest if RS suggests a smaller place to stay unless you book months in advance look elsewhere. Limited options in a place the size of Portree and many will be prebooked by RS followers.

Posted by
5758 posts

There are also a couple of hostels availabl at Kyleakin- just on the Skye side of the Bridge. One, Saucy Mary's, has a private room for two with bunk beds.
I like Kyleakin as a place- the old ferry port from Kyle of Lochalsh

Posted by
1644 posts

Booking.com has a few places on Skye for that time, mainly self catering, not in Portree, and some are steep in price.

Posted by
1117 posts

Airbnb has a few options for 2 adults and 2 kids for your dates. There's a 2 bedroom cabin in Breakish (near Broadford) that stands out but nothing is cheap at that time of year! Broadford has a good pizza place (Cafe Sia) as well as a fish and chip shop and a couple of other restaurants. Nice views across Broadford Bay.

Posted by
608 posts

We found that Grenitote B&B (in Portree) had space even though Booking.com claimed they didn't. It just took a quick email conversation to reserve two rooms. Walking the short couple of blocks from the B&B to the town center, there were a few B&Bs that weren't listed on booking.com - I've resorted to walking the streets with Google Map's Streetview to find signs, and a Google search usually produces and email. That actually produced results on a trip to Oban two years ago.

Posted by
27 posts

I am having the same issue for the first week in September but will be on a tour and not have a vehicle. Suggestions would be appreciated.