Something we wanted to do so badly when we visited Scotland was go to the Isle of Syke. It’s a gorgeous part of the country, famous for its unique beauty. While we would’ve loved to have spent more than a day there, we didn’t have a lot of time available. We also didn’t have the ability to get a car to look around ourselves, which we would’ve wanted to do. As a result, we decided to book a tour so we could easily see the area without hassle. We went on Get Your Guide and ended up choosing the Isle of Skye and Eilean Donan Castle Day Trip from Inverness.
When looking for tours, we use the amount of reviews and the star rating to decide which ones to choose. Because of this, we’ve decided to write this review so you can make the most informed decision about whether this tour is the right choice for you!
Tour Overview
The Isle of Skye and Eilean Donan Castle Day Trip leaves in the middle of Inverness at the main bus station. Firstly, you’ll drive along Loch Ness, stopping for a short coffee break at Invermoriston. However when we did this tour back in 2023, our coffee break was a little different. Our tour guide stopped to give us a close encounter with two highland cows and even had vegetables for us to feed them. Hopefully they’re still doing that when you go on your tour! From there you’ll drive to Eilean Donan Castle where you can pay to go inside and look around. However, you don’t have to pay and can also wander around outside the castle for free.
After that you’ll head into the beautiful Isle of Skye. You stop at Portree for lunch which is the capital of the island. There’s lots of time to wander around and explore the shops, get some food and take photos of the colourful buildings. After lunch, you’ll hop back on the bus and head back to Inverness. On the way you stop by some amazing natural landmarks like the Old Man of Storr, Lealt Falls and Strome Viewpoint (if your tour is between April to October). The whole tour takes about 12 hours, depending on traffic.
Cost & Inclusions
There is only one option for the Isle of Skye and Eilean Donan Castle Day Trip. However the price changes based on when in the year you’re going:
- Inverness: Isle of Skye and Eilean Donan Castle Day Trip: This tour starts at 8am and runs for 12 hours. It changes price depending on the season but costs anywhere between £59 and £85. It includes the drive to and from Skye with a tour guide who provides commentary during the trip. Keep in mind that it doesn’t include any food, drink or entry tickets.
Highlights
The main thing we loved about this Isle of Skye tour was how easy it was to see and explore Skye. While you can get to Portree on public transport, it is on a public bus that takes over 3 hours and has 35 stops each way. Apart from taking a long time, this also makes it hard to stop and see anything else along the way. We loved being able to meet some highland cows, see Eilean Donan Castle, and see the beauty of Skye with commentary from our tour guide. We also thought our tour guide was amazing and while you may not have the same person, we really can recommend the company, Timberbush Tours.
Our favourite stop of the tour was Portree, with it’s gorgeous coloured buildings. We had a great amount of time to wander around, get some food and explore the cute shops. We also thought the tour was a great use of a day and was worth the price. If you don’t have the time to make your own way up through the Isle of Skye, the tour fits a lot of sightseeing in in one day. It really is just a great way to see some gorgeous places in a short amount of time.
Lowlights
We really don’t have many lowlights for this tour, it was one of our favourites we did on our entire 15-month world trip. If we had to pick anything, we’d say it was a lot of driving and is a very long day. The drive from Inverness to Portree is 2 hours 45 minutes, so with the stops it’s a lot of driving. We found the bus comfortable but if you don’t like being in cramped spaces for a long time, you might get a bit uncomfortable. We personally thought it was worth the 12 hour day, but this may not be the right choice for everyone.
Would We Recommend It?
While it is a long day, we really recommend the Isle of Skye and Eilean Donan Castle Day Trip from Inverness. Firstly the ease of getting to and exploring the Isle of Skye was great. We loved our tour guide, he kept things really fun, played good music on the bus, and gave us great commentary as we drove. Eilean Donan Castle was great even though we didn’t pay to go in. It’s in such a beautiful area that just walking around and getting photos was really enjoyable for us. Portree was also so beautiful, and we loved seeing the natural landmarks too like the Old Man of Storr.
It really is a gorgeous day trip that we recommend to anyone wanting to see the Isle of Skye in a day!
To see everything we got up to on this day trip as well as the rest of our time in the Scottish Highlands, watch our vlog: