If looking for B&B in Skye or Glencoe 2 recommendations

Thank you for your helpful recommendations. We are planning a trip to Scotland for June 2023, and we will be on Skye. We want to stay in Portree or near Portree so I will check out the Roses.

Quick question. When you say you spent 4 days on the Isle of Skye, do you mean 4 nights or 5 nights? The way I plan trips, 4 nights gives us 3 full days, and 5 nights gives us 4 full days. I am debating between 3 nights or 4 nights. I assume you found plenty to do while you were on Skye.

We were at Glencoe for 4 nights, 3 days and left for Skye giving us 3.5 days there and 4 nights. We found plenty to do on Skye, the half day was spent around Sligachan, the next day was rainy so we went to Fairy Pools and walking/shopping in Portree, third day was Old Man of Storr, Neist Point and Dunvegan Castle, last day was Quiraing, Fairy Glen and driving the Trotternish Peninsula.

Jeff, thank you very much for your description of what you did on the Isle of Skye. Makes me lean towards 4 nights there instead of 3 nights.

You are welcome, one thing I forgot to mention was we had a boat trip with Misty Isles out of Elgol cancelled because of high wind, might want to check that out. We were going to do that our first half day. Since you are going in June if you are doing any hiking for sure be prepared for the midges, one reason we went in October,

Do you think the midges will be a problem in early June? I chose June because according to my guidebook, that is still a good month to travel and to avoid the midges. Supposedly July and August are the worse months for midges.

I’m not an expert on midges, but they were still around on our trip in October. Not enough to bother you but you would see them every once in a while. Our host at the Roses told us that another benefit of wearing a mask was less midge attraction because they are attracted to your exhaled carbon dioxide. Their summer was warmer than usual this year too so midge season maybe getting longer. Just didn’t want you to be unaware.

Thanks for your post Jeff!

We have 7 nights for Glencoe, Skye, Inverness... What would you recommend the breakdown to be?

I kinda wanted to take the Harry Potter Train ride from Ft. William to Mallaig and back..it's a bit pricey but I love trains and the high tea on board seems like a fun experience. We will have a rental car so I know we can drive and see the Finnian aqueduct from the road..anyways, I know that would be a good 1/2 day commitment.

Thanks for your advise!

Help me by sharing your thinking on where you are starting, Edinburgh, Glasgow, or London? You are renting a car, where do you plan on getting the car, same place you are starting from? And where do you want to end?
I’m asking because my original plans changed after I got some advice in this forum. We started in Edinburgh and and planned on getting a car there and drop off in Inverness where we would join a Rick Steves tour. The advice I got was to take the train to Inverness, rent the car there, drive to Glen Coe, then Skye and drive back to Inverness and drop off the the car. That is ultimately what we did. The cost of renting a car from the Edinburgh airport was so much more than getting it at Inverness. Then adding charges for returning to a different spot made it even more expensive. We rented from Arnold Clark (again based on advice I saw on this forum) and they were fantastic to work with.
Our plans were challenged when there was a rail strike on the one day we needed a train. I only discovered that because I (yes) checked this forum regularly and was barely able to get a bus ticket for that day, only after checking with Arnold Clark if they could stay open if our bus was late since our arrival time was close to closing time. Our bus was late and I was emailing frantically for them to stay open and they were great.
Also, besides Glenfinnan are there any other must do things you are thinking about? How does Inverness fit in your plans? Not much there besides Culloden.
Always a lot to think about.

Hi, kmkwoo,

Midges are around from mid-May to mid-September, no matter what the guidebooks tell you. They tend to be at their worst on cloudy days with no wind. However, you should not let midges deter you from outdoor activities while you're in Scotland. You can buy a one size fits all midge hat at any of the outdoor shops in Scotland. They run around twelve pounds. They pack up small (ask the shop clerk how to pack them - it's a science!), and are very light. Okay, a midge hat looks silly, but you'll be glad of it!

As far as other exposed portions of your body, it's best to wear a long sleeved shirt, but if you don't, some sort of insect repellent will come in handy. I use Repel, which smells bad, but is effective. If you don't want to pack repellent in your luggage (double wrap it in baggies), you can get Smidge at all outdoor shops in Scotland, as well as most shops on the Islands.

If there is a threat of midges, don't wear shorts, unless you apply a liberal dose of repellent to your legs. And definitely don't wear a kilt!

With any luck, you won't encounter any midges. But it's always best to be prepared! If you're going out to Rum, you will definitely encounter midges!

Best wishes for midge-free travels!

Mike (Auchterless)

Mike, thank you very much for your detailed explanation about the midges. We will most likely buy the insect repellant when we get to Scotland. And the hats, too!

We have decided 3 full days on Skye. We will have a rental car but would like to hire a tour for one day...what area of the island is more"challenging" to drive? What is the easier parts of the island to drive? Thanks for your recommendations!

The A87 is very nice two lane highway from Skye Bridge through Broadford, Sligachan, Portree to Uig. The A850 and A863 are also 2 lane roads that get you to Dunvegan from either Portree or Sligachan. Basically everything else is one lane roads with passing places (except for some of the way to Old Man of Storr and points north) and is what you will be using to get to the most of the scenic places on the island at some point. Others who are regulars on this forum may correct me, but that was our experience.

By the time we got to Skye I was used to driving on the wrong side and did some driving on one lane roads in Glencoe, so it wasn’t that big of a deal. We visited in October which I would guess means we didn’t have to deal with the traffic during the warmer months so you have to consider that. You just get used to meeting cars coming the other direction, whoever is closest to the passing place on “their” side pulls over and lets the other pass and you wave to each other. And you do it over and over again, just the way it is. It isn’t necessarily difficult, just a way of life there.

With that in mind for us the most difficult one lane road was traveling to Neist Point. Seemed like fewer passing places and there were some points where you had to choose at a fork that wasn’t signed. We made at least one wrong turn and had to turn around, which thanks to having not a large car wasn’t as difficult as it could have been. We didn’t spend a lot of time there, the drive from Portree took a while and we spent the rest of the day around Dunvegan and the castle there (which if you go there I would recommend including the gardens).

I hope this helps you, if you find a tour that catches your attention I’d go with that. It is such a beautiful place and you will need every bit of the 3 days.

Jeff from KC, what size car did you have? I am in the process of researching car rentals now. There will be 4 of us and our luggage. We are considering a Peugeot 3008 or similar. What car rental company did you rent from? Thanks!

I mentioned our car rental experience on this thread earlier. We rented from Arnold Clark based on recommendations on this forum. Our experience with them was fantastic and navigation system was no charge.

I’m trying to remember what size car I picked on their site, but I think it was intermediate size. We ended up with a Nissan Juke which worked for us with two people. Not sure if that would work for 4 people of normal size. I’m 6’5 and had the seat as far back as it would go and pretty sure no one could sit behind me. It was a hatchback and plenty of room for our 2 carry on luggage bags, 4 carry on bags could probably fit but not much more. Loved the car though, auto wipers (which was nice with rain almost every day), lights, and got great mileage which was nice with petro at 2.63 a liter.

Didn’t see a lot of larger cars on Skye and having a smaller car made getting around the one lane roads easier. That said, a larger car shouldn’t cause any major issues on the road and I would get the size that you would be comfortable in. Where you may notice an issue is parking in a lot in Portree. The one in the center of town and close to shops and restaurants has really small spots. There is a large lot with plenty of larger spots as you come into town from the south though.

Speaking of parking lots, if you are not aware for the most part parking is not free in Portree or any of the major sites. Be ready to get your chip credit card out each time you park. It is 2-3 pounds each time, you’ll collect a lot of white square receipts.

Jeff from KC, thank you for your detailed reply. The Peugeot 3008 or similar that I am considering is from Arnold Clark Rental. I must have gotten their name from you. I don't think the car you rented would be comfortable for the 4 of us and our luggage. I use a 24-inch suitcase. My husband usually packs less than I do and lately his back-pack style carry-on has been big enough for him. I have to find our from our friends what size luggage they use. We are traveling with another couple. My friend's husband is a big guy. I think we will need to rent the Peugeot 3008 or similar.

I have never stayed at the B&Bs you are talking about, but if need recommendations for your next trip, I would definitely recommend Highland Croft B&B because it gives you stunning views out over the entire Glencoe Valley. I read about it in this list of the top accommodations in Scotland and after working my way through all of them, I must say the Highland Croft B&B is certainly my favorite.