Portree: what to see, where to stay and how to get around
The northern peninsula of Skye is one huge landslip: lava flows piled on softer rock that gave way and slid towards the sea, leaving towers, cliffs and hollows behind. A single road circles it, about 80 km from Portree and back. Most of it is fine two-lane road, but the cut over the Quiraing is single-track with passing places, so allow a full day. Start early on the east side, before the Storr car park fills.
A short history of Portree
Portree is the largest town on the Isle of Skye, with about 2,500 inhabitants. According to popular tradition the name means "King's Harbour", after a visit by King James V in 1540, but scholars disagree about this. In 1746, after the defeat at Culloden, Prince Charles Edward Stuart parted here from Flora MacDonald, who had smuggled him to the island, at an inn that stood on the site of today's hotel. In the 19th century many of Skye's inhabitants left the island in the Highland Clearances. In 1995 the Skye Bridge opened, and since then it has been possible to drive here directly from the mainland.
The ten best sights in Portree
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1Portree Harbour
The painted houses face west; come in the evening light for the photo
2The Lump and Apothecary's TowerTen minutes uphill from the square for the best view over the bay
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3Royal Hotel
Bonnie Prince Charlie said goodbye to Flora MacDonald on this spot in 1746
4Dunvegan CastleSeat of the MacLeod chiefs for some 800 years; closed in winter
5Skye Museum of Island LifeThatched crofters' cottages at the top of Trotternish; open Easter to September
6Flora MacDonald's GraveA short walk up from the museum car park, worth the stop
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7Talisker Distillery
Tours sell out; book online, and the driver gets a dram to take away
8Armadale CastleClan Donald's ruined house and gardens, five minutes from the ferry
9Eilean Donan CastleOn the mainland just before the bridge; go early, coaches arrive by eleven
10Old Man of StorrPaid car park fills by mid-morning; the climb is steep, about an hour up
Scan with your phone camera to open the map there
What is an audio walk?
Tours in Portree →A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Portree:
Free walking tours in Portree
The Trotternish loop
The northern peninsula of Skye is one huge landslip: lava flows piled on softer rock that gave way and slid towards the sea, leaving towers, cliffs and hollows behind. A single road circles it, about 80 km from Portree and back. Most of it is fine two-lane road, but the cut over the Quiraing is single-track with passing places, so allow a full day. Start early on the east side, before the Storr car park fills.
- Old Man of Storr · The pinnacle stands about 50 metres high, a block of basalt left standing when the cliff of the Storr slid away in an ancient landslip. Behind it the ridge rises to 719 metres, the highest point of Trotternish.
- Kilt Rock · The cliff gets its name from vertical basalt columns over horizontal bands of sandstone, which together look like the pleats and pattern of a kilt. Next to the viewpoint the Mealt burn drops straight off the cliff into the sea.
- Quiraing · The Quiraing is the one part of the great Trotternish landslip that is still moving, slowly. The road from Staffin to Uig crosses it and needs repairs every year because the ground under it keeps shifting.
- Skye Museum of Island Life · The thatched roofs are tied down with ropes weighted by heavy stones, the old island answer to Atlantic gales. Inside, the cottages are furnished as crofting families lived in them around 1900, with the fire in the middle of the floor.
- Flora MacDonald's Grave · In 1746 Flora MacDonald smuggled Bonnie Prince Charlie from Benbecula to Skye disguised as her Irish maid, Betty Burke. The words on her memorial are Samuel Johnson's, who met her on Skye in 1773: if courage and fidelity be virtues, her name will be mentioned with honour.
- Fairy Glen · No old legend is attached to the place; the name is modern, and so are the stone spirals on the floor of the glen, laid by visitors. Locals regularly take them apart, and ask people not to build new ones.
Castles and cliffs of the west
West of Portree the island opens into long sea lochs, with the black Cuillin hills to the south. This loop starts under those mountains, goes out to the whisky and seafood of Loch Harport, then north to the MacLeod castle and the far western cliffs. The drive is long and the last part to Neist Point is single-track. Do the Fairy Pools first thing in the morning, and keep Neist for the end of the day, when the light falls on the lighthouse.
- Sligachan Old Bridge · The bronze statue by the bridge, unveiled in 2020, shows the scientist Norman Collie and the local guide John Mackenzie, who together climbed and mapped much of the Cuillin. Mackenzie is often called Britain's first professional mountain guide.
- Fairy Pools · The pools are a chain of clear blue basins on a burn coming down from the Cuillin, about 2.5 km on foot from the road. The car park is run by the local Minginish community, and the fee goes back into the path and the toilets.
- Talisker Distillery · Founded in 1830 by the brothers Hugh and Kenneth MacAskill on the shore of Loch Harport. For most of its life it was the only distillery on Skye, and the peat smoke and pepper in the whisky are the taste most people link with the island.
- Dunvegan Castle · Inside is the Fairy Flag, a faded silk banner the clan says was given by the fairies and can save the MacLeods in battle. Experts who examined the silk found it came from the Middle East and is older than the clan itself.
- Giant Angus MacAskill Museum · Angus MacAskill, born on Berneray in 1825, grew to about 2.36 metres. The life-size figure inside lets you stand next to him and see how far up you reach.
- Neist Point · The lighthouse at the tip was first lit in 1909, built by the Stevenson family of engineers. It has run without keepers since 1990, and the walk down to it from the car park takes about 20 minutes each way.
Portree, the bridge and the castle
Portree is the only real town on Skye, and it fits in a morning walk: the square, the harbour, and the wooded hill between them. The story of the place runs through the Jacobite years, when the island hid a prince on the run. Then the route takes the car back over the bridge to the castle that everyone pictures when they think of Scotland. Leave Eilean Donan for the way out towards Inverness, since it lies on that road anyway.
- Somerled Square · The square is named after Somerled, the 12th-century Norse-Gaelic warlord who took the Hebrides from the Norse kings and founded the line of the Lords of the Isles. Clan Donald, which still holds land in the south of Skye, counts him as its ancestor.
- Royal Hotel · In July 1746 Bonnie Prince Charlie came to McNab's Inn, which stood where the hotel is now, and said goodbye to Flora MacDonald before sailing to Raasay. He never saw her again.
- The Lump · The wooded hill above the harbour has hosted the Skye Highland Games since 1877, every August, in a natural bowl on top. The small round tower on its edge was built as a lookout over the bay.
- Portree Harbour · The popular story says Portree means the king's harbour, after James V landed here in 1540. Gaelic scholars think the older name was Port Ruighe, the harbour on the slope, and the royal story came later.
- Skye Bridge · When it opened in 1995 its tolls were among the highest per mile in Europe, and hundreds of islanders refused to pay. The tolls were scrapped in 2004. The bridge rests on the small island of Eilean Bàn, where the writer Gavin Maxwell spent his last years.
- Eilean Donan Castle · In 1719 government warships shelled the castle, held by Jacobites and Spanish soldiers, and it lay in ruins for two centuries. What you see was rebuilt between 1912 and 1932 by Lieutenant-Colonel John MacRae-Gilstrap.
Getting to Portree and getting around
- Skye Bridge · The way onto the island by car, free since the tolls were scrapped in 2004
- Armadale Ferry · The car ferry from Mallaig lands here; book ahead in summer, it fills up
- Somerled Square · The island's bus hub; Citylink coaches to Inverness and Glasgow stop here
Cheap eats in Portree
Skye eats from the sea: langoustines, scallops, crab and mussels landed a few hundred metres from the plate. In Portree that means fish and chips eaten on the harbour wall, and a crab sandwich or a bowl of soup in a café. Food is not cheap on the island, and out of town the cafés close early, so lunch is worth sorting in Portree before driving off.
- Café Arriba · Big breakfasts and soups above the harbour, about £8-14
- The Granary · Bakery-café on the square; a pie or a scone about £3-6
- Relish · Deli-café on Wentworth Street; soup and a sandwich about £8-12
- Birch · Good coffee and a sandwich, about £4-9
- Isles Inn · Pub lunch on the square, mains about £14-18
- Isle of Skye Baking Company · Bread, cakes and coffee on the way out west, about £3-8
- The Oyster Shed · Above Talisker; fresh oysters about £2 each, seafood rolls about £8-12
Museums in Portree
- Giant Angus MacAskill Museum · A tiny cottage museum with a life-size model of the giant
- Armadale Castle and Museum of the Isles · Clan Donald history in the gardens by the ferry; give it two hours
- Skye Museum of Island Life · How crofters lived a century ago, inside real thatched houses
- Staffin Dinosaur Museum · One room of fossils found on this coast; next to Kilt Rock
- Dunvegan Castle · The Fairy Flag and clan treasures; allow time for the gardens
Nature and day trips near Portree
- Old Man of Storr · The island's signature walk; go at dawn to beat the crowds
- Quiraing · Ridge walk from the top of the pass; cloud can come down fast
- Fairy Pools · The water is cold all year; swim only if you know cold water
- Neist Point · Whales and dolphins pass in summer; bring binoculars
- Elgol · The road ends facing the Cuillin; boats sail to Loch Coruisk
Things to do in Portree with kids
- Fairy Glen · Little cone-shaped hills to run up; short and easy
- Staffin Dinosaur Museum · Real dinosaur bones and footprints from this coast
- Kilt Rock · A waterfall dropping into the sea, a minute from the car
- Sligachan Old Bridge · Dip your face in the river, as the legend says
- Dunvegan Castle seal boats · Short boat trips from the castle jetty to the seal colony, in summer
Where to eat in Portree
- Scorrybreac · Tasting menu of island produce; book weeks ahead
- Dulse & Brose · Scottish dinner in the Bosville Hotel, by the harbour
- Sea Breezes · Seafood on the harbour front; book in summer
- The Lower Deck · Fish and langoustines on the quay
- The Three Chimneys · Skye's best-known restaurant, 40 minutes west; a special night
- Kinloch Lodge · Country-house dinner in the south, near the ferry
Frequently asked questions about Portree
What is there to see in Portree?
The top sights in Portree are Portree Harbour, The Lump and Apothecary's Tower and Royal Hotel. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.
How many days do you need in Portree?
Three to four days are enough to see the best of Portree without rushing, including at least one walking tour.
Is there a free walking tour in Portree?
Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Portree, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: The Trotternish loop.
How do you get to Portree and get around?
The main ways are Skye Bridge, Armadale Ferry and Somerled Square. Full details are in the transport section on this page.
Where to stay in Portree, and for how much?
sleepntrip shows only rooms in Portree that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.
Looking for a hotel in Portree for your dates?
Only rooms that meet nine conditions, up to $80 a night.