Isle of Sky or Taagan?

I’m not familiar with Taagan, but Skye deserves at least three nights. It will also make your trip more relaxing not to add another stop.

Hi, jon242,

I have checked my Scottish Gazetteer and several maps, but I cannot find any reference to a town or village called Taagan. Can you check your references and provide us with the correct name?

As Carroll pointed out, Skye deserves at least three full days (and two nights). You can visit the Isle of Mull while you're in Oban, or Kerrera, which is another small island off the coast near Oban. If you're travelling on to Skye, you can cut out a bit of driving by taking the ferry from Tobermory on Mull to Kilchoan on the mainland. From there it's a shorter (and scenic) drive to Skye.

Portree on Skye to Inverness is about three hours, if you take the most direct route, so there would really be no need to stop somewhere between Skye and Inverness unless you really want to. However, if you want a more scenic route, you could travel to Inverness via Plockton and Lochcarron.

Whichever route you take, you are going to love Scotland!

Best wishes for your travels, and Happy Holidays!

Mike (Auchterless)

Taagan is a small hamlet in Wester Ross at the head of Loch Maree near Torridon. Relatively isolated, and by small, it is small. Only a couple of houses by the images on GSV.

Thanks, MC,

Found it on my Ordnance Survey Landranger map number 19 (Gairloch and Ullapool). My goodness, that is a small place! According to the map, there are two buildings and a campsite.

The nearest lodging, other than the campground, appears to be the Kinlochewe Hotel, although there are a couple of bed and breakfasts in Kinlochewe as well.

Taagan can definitely be visited on the way from Skye to Inverness, although it's a bit out of the way. Actually, driving to Taagan (or Kinlochewe) would be a very scenic route, especially if Plockton is included. That route could also include the Bealach-na-ba, which would make for a wonderful day's drive.

Perhaps our original poster (jon242) can let us know why he chose Taagan as an option for an overnight stop. It's certainly in a spectacular area.

Best wishes to all for a happy holiday season!

Mike (Auchterless)

I'm probably confusing Taagan with another town in that area. Really, the question is whether to spend a day in Wester Ross and overnight in that area, or add another day to Isle of Sky. It sounds like, based on the feedback, that another day in Isle of Sky would be better.

Thank you for the input, Mike! That is exactly why I was thinking of going this roundabout way to Inverness rather than the more direct path.

Mike, sometimes the map makers can be a bit creative on what goes on the map. Depending on the scale Taagan could be the same size as a lot of other places in Wester Ross. So unless you are aware of the area and have a better scale map, you won't be aware.

Hi again, MC,

I looked Taagan up in my Scottish Gazetteer (second edition, 1958), which has the name of every city, town, village, hamlet, loch, river, mountain, and hilltop in Scotland, and Taagan was not in there. I forgot about the internet! My OS map is in 1:50,000 scale, and was published in 2013. I can see why Taagan isn't on most maps.

I just looked up Taagan on Google Maps, and it appears to be a farm with outbuildings.

Mike (Auchterless)

Hi once again, jon242,

There are several indirect routes from Skye to Inverness, all of them scenic. If you have a full travel day to spare, travelling by way of Plockton, Lochcarron, the Bealach-na-ba, Shieldaig, Glen Torridon, and Kinlochewe would certainly give you a feeling for Wester Ross. You could even drive on to Gairloch, spend the night there, then travel to Inverness by way of Ullapool.

Whichever route you travel, you'll be passing through some of the most beautiful scenery in the world.

If this is your first time visiting Scotland, I envy you! You are in for a treat!

Best wishes, and Happy Holidays!

Mike (Auchterless)

Mike's above post is highly recommended.
If you are heading Gairloch way ,I believe the lighthouse up at Rhu Reidh still does accommodation.
Oban is fine ,but think of trading it for more time in the north ,Applecross ,Torridon ,Assynt are awesome .Ullapool would make a good " town night" spectacular setting and rather excellent fish and chips
I was up in Scotland for a few months this summer
Oh and a shout for the Inn at Baddachro too ,fell on it by fluke ..I could spend many happy a time there next summer

Taagan has a free campsite run by the National Trust for Scotland, thier vistor centre for Being Eighe is a few miles off and worth a pitstop

Hi, Richard,

The lighthouse at Rua Reidh is still open for accommodation, thankfully under new management since the last time we were there! I'm afraid that my review on Trip Advisor caused quite a stushie!

Mike (Auchterless)

As I am a " book nothing" guy the 3 times I have been there it was booked out ,was a while back.
I had a nosey round the accomdation up at Cape Wrath lighthouse this summer.
A lighthouse is on my " want to" list

I'm afraid that my review on Trip Advisor caused quite a stushie!

I don't think anyone came out of that very well.

I forgot about the internet!

Mike, such heresy!!! 🤣 I have to admit that the internet is the first place I look (but I was a divorce attorney, so it's second nature to jump online and look for public records). :) I did find out that the name 'Taagan' comes from the Norse for "the in-fields".

Hi, sownack,

My review of the Rua Reidh lighthouse goes back to August, 2016. I don't think that Tracy and Roger appreciated my comments, but they were truthful and heartfelt. Apparently Tracy and Roger were at odds with the people of Melvaig, as they labelled the road out to the lighthouse a private road, for their use and their guests' use only. They harangued anyone who dared to encroach on their territory, and a public spat involving the local council went on for years.

From what I've read, the new owners are much more accommodating. However, I still don't think I'd return. It's a beautiful, albeit isolated location, but there are still so many places in Scotland that I haven't been.

My very best wishes to you and yours for a Happy Christmas!

Mike (Auchterless)

Yes, I read about the spat on Facebook. I think there was a particular FB group involved at the time but it was a few years ago in the pre-Covid world and such a lot has happened since then ................

The drive over Bealach na Ba is good fun. We camped a night at Torridon, free camp but I think we paid to shower. Torridon is stunning. We stopped at the visitor centre near Beinn Eighe which was informative.