My wife and I are familiar with Scotland but need a suggestion on where to stay one night close to Isle of Skye after coming down from Ullapool. Any suggestion on perhaps an overlooked and interesting town?
Thanks
Posted by
Mountains of S. Oregon
1139 posts
We've spent the night in Lochcarron (2 years ago) and Applecross (30 years ago), both very small waterfront towns. The drive from Applecross to Skye includes a nice windy road to test your driving. The route through Poolewe is much more fun than the A835.
Posted by
Isle of Skye, Scotland
1638 posts
Maybe a little pedantic, but it’s important to get the terminology right as I don’t think the word “town” is used in the same way in the UK as in the USA. One can disappear down an internet rabbit hole trying to find an official definition of a town in the UK (a definition that doesn’t exist), but most sources agree that a town has a few thousand residents, services including supermarkets, banks, a high school, medical centre and an administrative body such as a town council. A village probably has less than a couple of thousand residents and lacks the shops, services and administrative body, maybe having or being part of a community council and probably having a church.
So this means there are no towns on the route between Ullapool and Skye. It’s even debatable whether Portree is a town. Locals call it the village (same for Broadford and Dunvegan) with every other place in Skye just being called a “settlement” or “township” (confusing I know).
In terms of places to stay, Plockton or Dornie could be decent options for you. Plockton is a waterside village with a decent pub. Between Plockton and Skye you could pass through Duirinish which has a very good cafe called The Croft Cafe and you are also likely to see Highland Cattle wandering the road through the village.