r/Skye • u/kenn_adamzz • 8d ago

Skye without car

Hi, I'm coming to Skye this weekend for a solo trip, and I've booked a room in Broadford. I heard there are buses that travel through the main spots. Could you tell me a bit about them? I love hiking and walking, so could you also suggest the main spots I should visit?

0 Upvotes

33% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

13

u/Fine-Nail-7080 8d ago edited 8d ago

lol at planning a trip to Skye without doing any research, knowing any of the spots to visit or how to get around. And then asking others to fill you in. Some simple Googling would answer your questions. 🙄

Anyway, I'll humour you on the bus situation...

There is a bus network on Skye, operated by Stagecoach and Citylink. But it's very basic and limited - even more so on weekends. 

Most buses operate out of Portree. For most of the main attractions, public transport will not get you all the way there. It might get you in the rough vicinity, but then you'll have to walk a bit for the final few miles.

Fairy Glen is a good example. The bus can drop you off at the end of the road, then you have about a mile walk up the road to the Fairy Glen, and back again to the bus stop.

The problem is that buses are infrequent. The "main" routes (primarily the North End and Dunvegan routes from Portree) only operate 3 or 4 times a day. The less popular routes (Sleat, Minginish, Carbost etc) may only operate once or twice. This means that you can have gaps of 3, 4 or more hours between each bus. As a result, you can only really pick one thing to do and one place to go each day. You take an early bus, go and see that one place, then get a later bus back to your accommodation. You can't do multiple things in one day. You can't for example, get a bus to the Storr, then the next bus up to, say, Lealt Falls, then another up to Kilt Rock. Because there simply aren't enough buses.

You will probably be able to visit a few places by bus but it will be very tedious and time consuming. You won't really maximise your time on the island if you don't have a car.

4

u/quixote_1989 7d ago

Started off mean (but fair) and then turned it around.

2

u/SimonTheRunner 8d ago

This is all correct. ⏫

3

u/HoneydewMurky1832 7d ago

Just spent 4 days in Skye. Would’ve been really annoying to not have a car, based on what I could tell. Wouldn’t have been able to do several of the best things I did there.

2

u/curly-camper 8d ago

If you end up staying just in the Broadford area and not getting buses, there’s still some decent walks. Look into the marble path, the Torrin area, the skinidin loop, and towards Breakish and ashaig beach. There’s a couple of nice coffee shops you could stop by (coffaidh hut, market kitchen, coffee bothy and lean to) on these walks too. Could be a nice slower pace rather than trying to navigate the public transport.

1

u/Nutisbak2 7d ago

Relying on busses probably not going to be the best.

You could still hire a car though.

1

u/aaronw22 7d ago

Buses are very infrequent on Skye. You’d have to plan your whole itinerary around the schedule.

https://tiscon-maps-stagecoachbus.s3.amazonaws.com/RouteMaps/North%20Scotland/Isle-of-Skye_Map-WEB%20Route%20map.pdf

These routes have basically at most 4-5 trips per day. The timetables are at https://www.stagecoachbus.com/timetables

1

u/Meliciraptor 7d ago

Here to point out that not everyone can drive and rent a car. I did a lot of research on this because I can’t drive due to health issues, but I still want to visit Skye one day. The best solution I came up with was staying in Portree and either do a guided van tour from there or to really take your time, stay a few days and use the bus network. Several people already pointed out that there are only few buses so you’ll need to be ready to spend some time at the different spots until the next one arrives.

1

u/Mister2112 2d ago

If you only have a weekend, spending a full day doing the TourSkye "Best of Skye" tour isn't a bad idea.

It leaves from Portree but I think it waits for the morning CityLink from Broadford, and Michael was an entertaining guide. Long day, but you'll see many things with appropriate time for most and have opportunities for very generous strolls at the Fairy Pools and Dunvegan.

There is also an option to remain on your own at the Old Man of Storr at the end and find an alternative way back if you want to do additional hiking, but that seems a bit extreme.

I know this because I did it today.

EDIT: Welp, sorry. I just realized this is five days old and you've already done what you're going to do.