Day Trip: Inverness to the Isle of Skye

A few years ago I did a one day trip to Skye from Inverness with Rabbies.

The tour was excellent. The weather was amazing with virtually no clouds in the sky--or over Skye. Because of it, our guide took us to the top of one of the mountains and we could see clear over to the mainland.

Rabbies is a well-established company that has gotten lots of great reviews on this forum. You really can't go wrong with any of their tours.

Skye Tours picks you up at the Kyle off the morning train, and gets you back there for the evening train. The train is more scenic and roomy than spending the first 2 hours of the day on a minibus, so that is certainly a pretty good option.
Another way to mix it up is train to the Kyle one way, and the full sized Citylink service bus the other way.
The service bus goes south from the Kyle to Fort Augustus then along Loch Ness, so different scenery.

So Rick is making a very good reccomendation.

Any day trip from Inverness to Skye will be rushed, an overnight would be better, but if a day is all you have...

We chose WOW tours Isle of Skye tour because it goes to the Fairy Pools. It makes photo stops at the Eilean Donan Castle rather than wasting an hour touring the castle. This, and other short photo stops. allows more time at Isle of Skye. Check to see if they still have a no cancellation policy. It was nice to know we wouldn't be scrambling at the last minute to find another tour.

I can’t endorse the recommendation for WOW. They use large coaches that are totally unsuitable for our single track roads, churning up the edges of roads simply not designed for large coaches. They bring nothing of value to the community, unlike Rabbies and other small tour operators who use locally owned hotels and B&Bs and who use smaller mini buses that can be accommodated on our roads.

I met a guy who runs Wullies tours in Broadford.
He is hugely knowledgable and great company

I agree with Skyegirl. You are much better off going with a tour company that uses smaller coaches.

Rabbies uses 16 passenger vans. If we were are on large coach we wouldn't have been able to take the back roads up one of the mountains.

What is the date of your Heart of Scotland tour? I'm going on the August 2-9 tour. Thinking about a day trip to Skye but I would have to change my air reservation to arrive one day earlier. Don't know if the tour hotel in Inverness would have an available room for a day earlier. It looks like there are fun things to do in Inverness so...I have to remember I can't do everything.

Maybe go to the Isle of Skye on a return trip - if I return.

Judy B: our trip runs from Oct. 4 - 11. We tried to book a room 2 days before the start of the tour - and the hotel was fully booked. We chose the Inverness Central Hotel - 5 minute walk from our Steves' hotel. Good luck with your trip and, if you don't mind, put a review on the forum so we can get your 2 cents.

OP, if that is your real email address I would suggest changing your user name to prevent you from getting spammed.

Have a great trip in Scotland!