Isle of Skye

Skye has striking shores but no real beach vacation. The Atlantic and the Inner Sound stay cold all year, around 13°C at best in late summer, and the weather often keeps even a walk on the sand short. Swimming here is a brief, bracing dip rather than an afternoon in the water.

The beaches that are worth the trip are the white coral-sand beach at Claigan near Dunvegan, which turns turquoise in sunshine, and the black-sand bays of Talisker and Staffin. Wild swimmers also head for the clear, icy pools of the Fairy Pools in Glen Brittle. Anyone who wants warm water and long days on the sand should plan that for another vacation.

Skye eats well for a remote island, as long as you plan ahead. Its strength is what comes out of the surrounding lochs: langoustines, scallops, crab, mussels and oysters from Loch Harport, along with hill lamb and venison. A few small country restaurants out on the peninsulas, especially around Dunvegan and Sleat, are known well beyond Scotland and are worth the drive. The island's old distillery at Carbost and its gin and beer makers round out a drinking trip.

The weakness is depth. Portree has most of the everyday choice, which runs to pub meals, fish and chips by the harbour and a few cafés. Outside the town, places are spread out and close early, and in summer you need to book even ordinary tables. Many close for winter.

Skye's history is about clans, crofting and Gaelic, and you meet it at a handful of scattered sites rather than in any historic town. Dunvegan Castle, the seat of the MacLeods for centuries, is the main sight, with its gardens on the loch. At Armadale in Sleat, the ruined castle of the Clan Donald stands among woodland gardens beside the Museum of the Isles.

In the north, the Skye Museum of Island Life keeps a group of thatched crofters' cottages at Kilmuir, close to Flora MacDonald's grave. Ruined brochs, old chapels and the cleared townships tell the rest of the story for anyone who goes looking. Portree is a pretty harbour town with painted houses, but it is not a place for sightseeing. Two days covers what Skye offers here.

Evenings on Skye end in a pub. Portree has a handful of bars around the square and the harbour, which fill with walkers, climbers and locals on long summer nights. Outside the town, the night out is the bar of the nearest inn or hotel, often at Sligachan, Carbost or Dunvegan after a day on the hills, with a dram from the island's whisky over a map of tomorrow's route. There are no clubs and no late scene. Most places are quiet well before midnight, and in winter many village bars keep short hours or close altogether.

This is why people come to Skye. The Black Cuillin rise straight out of the sea in jagged gabbro, and their ridge is the most serious mountaineering in Britain, while the rounded Red Cuillin and the walks into Glen Sligachan and Coruisk suit lesser legs. On the Trotternish peninsula in the north, the Old Man of Storr and the landslip pinnacles of the Quiraing make some of the strangest scenery in Europe, and the walk to the lighthouse at Neist Point ends at sheer cliffs on the western edge.

The coast adds sea kayaking, boat trips from Elgol into Loch Coruisk, sea eagles, otters, seals and, in summer, minke whales and dolphins. The weather is the price you pay: rain, wind and cloud on the tops are common, and midges are fierce from June to August. May and September usually bring the best balance of light, weather and quiet.

Day trips from Skye mean ferries and small places. Over the bridge at Kyleakin, Eilean Donan Castle sits on its islet about an hour from Portree, and the palm-lined harbour village of Plockton is close by. A short crossing from Sconser takes you to Raasay, a quiet island with a distillery, trails and views back to the Cuillin.

From Armadale, the ferry crosses to Mallaig, where the West Highland line and the Glenfinnan viaduct lie beyond. From Uig, a crossing of about an hour and forty minutes reaches Tarbert on Harris, a long but rewarding day for its tweed weavers and white beaches. There is no sizeable town within easy reach, and every outing depends on the weather and the ferries.

Skye suits families who like being outdoors and do not mind the rain. Children can hunt for dinosaur footprints on the shore at Staffin and An Corran, scramble around the Fairy Pools, spot seals and eagles from a boat out of Portree or Elgol, and walk easy trails at Coral Beach or Neist Point. The island is safe and unhurried.

There is very little made for children, though: no aquarium, no play attractions of any size, and the sea is too cold for a day of paddling. Many of the famous walks are muddy, steep or on cliff edges, the drives between sights are long, and summer midges make picnics a trial. A self-catering cottage and a flexible plan work best.

You need a car on Skye. The island is joined to the mainland by the bridge at Kyle of Lochalsh, and Portree has a few bus routes to Uig, Dunvegan and the south, but buses are too sparse to take you to trailheads at a sensible pace. Distances look short on the map, yet many roads are single-track with passing places, so driving them is slow, needs some patience and can be nerve-racking on narrow bends.

In summer, traffic queues build on the Trotternish loop and the Fairy Pools road, and car parks at the famous viewpoints fill early in the day. Starting early, or travelling in spring or autumn, makes a real difference. Portree itself is small and easy to walk, but nothing else on the island is.

Shopping on Skye means craft studios down farm tracks and gift shops in Portree. Island potters, silversmiths, knitters and weavers sell from their workshops, and small galleries around Waternish, Dunvegan and Sleat show local painting and photography. Tweed, knitwear, soap and whisky make the obvious things to take home. Portree has a few outdoor-gear and gift shops, but there is no high street to speak of and nothing in the way of fashion or department stores.

Skye costs more than you might expect for a rural island. Accommodation is scarce, and in summer even simple rooms and cottages are expensive and book up long in advance. Eating out is at full UK prices, with few cheap options outside Portree, and a hire car plus fuel adds up quickly.

The good news is that the island's main attraction, its landscape, costs nothing, and campsites, hostels and self-catering cottages shared between a group bring the cost down. Spring and autumn are noticeably easier on a budget.

Skye's live culture is Gaelic song and traditional music, and you meet it in small rooms. In summer, Portree pubs host fiddle, accordion and pipe sessions, village halls around the island put on ceilidhs with dancing that visitors are welcome to join, and occasional concerts of traditional music are staged in the town. Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, the Gaelic college in Sleat, is a centre for the language and its music, and its summer courses and concerts are the most serious place to hear it. The Highland Games in Portree each August bring piping competitions to the showground.

There is no theatre, opera or concert season, though. Outside summer it is often a matter of chance whether anything is on, so check local noticeboards once you arrive.

Skye has no bathing tradition and very few spas, a handful of country-house hotels with treatment rooms and the occasional sauna on the shore. What it offers for rest is quiet: a cottage on a sea loch in Waternish or Sleat, long light evenings in early summer, and little to do after dark but watch the weather move across the hills. Away from the crowded viewpoints the pace is slow, and that is the island's restorative side.