Skye Indecision

Well, as you said, that's a very subjective topic. I really loved Skye, but did not like all the crowds—and I was there in May. As Skyegirl will probably tell you, your chances of crowds diminish if you steer away from the more popular (honey-pot) sites and find some outlying ones. And there are plenty more. I'm sure she will give you some details.

You could also take a quick break from Skye and visit the Isle of Raasay, which is a 15 minute ferry ride from Skye and a wonderful place. I went there for almost a whole day and loved it. It's tiny but there are lots of places to go and hike. You can stop at the interesting community store, get a dram at the distillery and have lunch at the Raasay House Hotel. Then disappear into the island and probably have most of it to yourself.

And I must admit that I have a special fondness for Mull. It's lovely and has so many wonderful things to see and do there. But given that your trip is coming up soon, it would probably be difficult to get lodging there. You could certainly try, though.

Another option would be the Isle of Arran, which is south of the above two, and is frequently called "Scotland in Miniature" because it has all the wonders of Scotland—mountains, beaches, history, whisky, castles and ruins—contained on one small island. I loved my time here as well.

Whatever you choose, I'm sure you will have a wonderful trip. Scotland is one of my favorite places to visit!

I loved Skye. I did get lucky with fabulous weather. I also got up super early in the morning to go to some of the honeypot sites to avoid crowds.

The roads are bad, particularly to the fairy pools.

My favourites were the Old Mann of the Storr, Quirang and Fairy Glen.

On Skye, if you totally want to escape the crowds and do something a bit special for your anniversary you could take a boat trip from Portree to the Isle of Rona. That is the island to the North of Raasay.
On Mull you could go to the Isle of Ulva. I think you can even stay on Ulva. And that island has a frequent (private) ferry to Mull so is a workable base for Mull and Iona.
In fact you can even stay on Rona!!

We loved Skye, and it was one of two favorites in Scotland, the other one is Glencoe. (We loved every place we visited in Scotland, but I would rank Skye and Glencoe as the top two.)

I don't know what people mean by bad roads. Yes, the roads are narrow, but drive with caution, don't speed. Pull over in one of the many "pull out" spots on the road when someone is coming towards you. We were there in June 2023, and we encountered very few, if any, potholes. We loved, loved the Fairy Pools. Honestly, we didn't think the crowds were that bad in June. The Old Man of Storr was very crowded, but after that, as you continue driving, the crowds thin out.

We visited the Trumpan Church on the Waternish Peninsula; no crowds at all. Hardly anyone there. The drive there is so pretty, bucolic, and pastoral scenery. This is the only place we saw the hairy coos!

The Fairy Pools are beautiful and stunning with the majestic Cuillin Mountains as a backdrop. The parking lot was crowded but it's also large so no problem getting a parking spot. As you set out on the trail, the crowds thin out.

We were also very lucky with the weather. Spent 2.5 weeks in Scotland, and we had sunshine every day except for one misty morning on Skye. I know that every year is not the same. And maybe crowds will be worse in July.

Thought I would include this blog. We followed it for our roadtrip around Skye.
https://www.ontheluce.com/isle-of-skye-itinerary/

I was there in May 2024 and there were potholes everywhere and bad ones. Trying to avoid them on narrow and single track roads was challenging. The worst road for these was the one to Fairypools.

Hopefully, skyegirl can update the OP on the road conditions. I guess it's different every year depending on how bad the winter was. We were lucky.

Oh thank you all for the responses and advice. I do love the RS forums! After going back and forth all day, we did decide to stick with Skye. I just knew the whole trip I'd be feeling that pull to give it a try, crowds, potholes, and midges be damned! :)

One thing that helped is that we actually (and miraculously!) changed our lodging to 3 nights at a beautiful, scenic cabin that will in itself feel like a retreat so that if even the crowds or the weather get in the way, where we are staying will still feel like an escape.

Our updated rough itinerary is below. While there are SO many places we'll have to check out on our next trip, I think timewise we'll need to focus on Skye as I know it already isn't nearly enough time.

July 8: Drive from Edinburgh northwest. Hit Glencoe, Glennfinnan viaduct, and Eilean Donan on the way. Arrive on Skye late that day/night.
July 9 & 10: Isle of Skye highlights, must dos-Storr, Quirang and Fairy Glen
July 11: Drive back to Edinburgh, include some scenic stops on the way to break it up.

I know there are tons of posts here already on the Skye highlights, so I'll check those out, but feel free to share any of the non-honeypot gems we should check out. Oh, and kmkwoo, thank you for your reassurance about the roads and the trip in general. And you had me at Hairy Coos! We'll definitely need a sighting.

Oh, lastly, scenic romantic restaurants for our anniversary---or at least as romantic as we can get with our two kids in tow! Did book Three Chimneys to secure a spot, but open to suggestions.

megjoy18, I am happy to hear that you have decided to keep Skye in your itinerary. You won't be disappointed. I am like you. When I was planning our trip, several people tried to convince me to skip Skye (because of crowds, weather) and go to Mull instead. But I just knew I wanted to see Skye, and I knew I would be wondering the whole time if we should have included Skye. I have no regrets. Skye was one of the highlights of our trip (along with Glencoe). In case you don't have lodgings yet in the Glencoe area, we stayed at the Glencoe Inn and were very happy with our stay here. It's across the street from Loch Leven, and has an excellent restaurant, The Gathering.

Sorry for the delay in picking this up - I have been away for the weekend.

I sound like a broken record, but if you avoid the honey pots of Old Man of Storr, Quiraing, Neist Point, Coral Beach and Fairly Pools you will have an amazing time and not see much in the way of crowds. If you want specific site tips then you can message me. I do not want to advertise my favourites here for fear of creating new honey pots! But also you can just use Walk Highlands to pick some hikes and really anything you choose will be amazing. Of course people say they loved the Old Man of Storr, Fairy Pools and Quiraing, because that's probably all they really did in the way of hikes when they were here. But you can choose from many, many other equally great hikes.

Raasay and Rona are great shouts. Also the day trip from Elgol to Canna is fabulous.

As for the roads. There are some horrendous pot holes right now, but the road crews are gradually carrying out some significant resurfacing. However, painting new lines on the roads is not happening as Highland Council can't get any contractor to take on the contract to come all the way to the island to paint new lines. This has obviously safety issues! I am already encountering tourists driving down the middle of two lane roads instead of staying on the left! They clearly think 'this road isn't wide enough for 2 cars'. Au contraire - it's the widest road we have and is actually wide enough for 2 logging trucks. Joking apart it can't be long before we get a serious head on collision. So remember - drive on the left.

Also some of the single track sections of road (where both directions of traffic share one lane with passing places) still have very deep potholes even on 'fast' stretches of road, so keep your wits about you. Also on single tracks try to avoid creating a convoy. You can't fit more than 2 cars in a passing place. If you try to then you will create chaos. You need to be prepared to reverse if necessary (i.e. if you are closer than the oncoming traffic to a passing place). It's a bit like the safety briefing on a plane - 'bear in mind that the nearest usable passing place may be behind you'.

Hope that helps and enjoy Skye!
Jacqui

We had a very crowd-free visit to Skye in June of last year. Skipped all the must see sights and instead enjoyed our fabulous cottage and found some off the beaten track beaches and hikes which were all lovely. Sounds like you are on track to do the same. Enjoy!