Isle of Skye tours from Inverness are the longest days sold out of this city — twelve hours kerb to kerb, or two with a night on the island. The routes differ less in price than in which four stops they pick, and not one of them includes the admission to Eilean Donan Castle.
The sixteen-seat minibus version, out through Kyle of Lochalsh and over the bridge, stopping at Portree for lunch, then the Old Man of Storr, Kilt Rock and the Quiraing. No admission anywhere in the fare, and back on Ardross Street around eight in the evening.
From $96 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
An hour at Eilean Donan Castle and an hour at Portree harbour, and one of the few Skye days that gives the Quiraing its own half hour. The castle entry can be bought at the door.
From $99 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
The Fairy Pools for an hour and a half and Portree for the same, from 25 Union Street at 7:45. Children under three cannot travel.
From $108 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
The most-booked of them. Twelve hours on a modern coach from Railway Terrace, with Eilean Donan a proper stop rather than a drive-past, its entry an optional extra, and written translations alongside the commentary.
From $93 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
The longest stop at Eilean Donan of any Skye day here, at an hour and twenty-five minutes, then Portree, the Storr and Kilt Rock. No toilet on board.
From $94 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Two long island stops rather than a list of short ones, with taxes and handling inside the fare. Arrive ten minutes early; it does not wait.
From $163 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Nine hours privately with a kilted guide and pick-up from your door, priced per group for up to three. No castle entry, and no time for Urquhart.
From $1,073 per group, up to 3
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Two days with a night on the island, adding Dunvegan Castle and a proper stop at the Fairy Pools. Accommodation is inside the fare unless you opt out.
From $209 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Set the island against the shorter runs down the Great Glen before you commit a whole day and an evening to it.
Compare every Inverness tourA twelve-hour drive west and back, with four or five stops in the middle of it. The Isle of Skye is an island reached by a road bridge rather than a ferry, which is the only reason a day trip is possible at all. Skye is a long way from Inverness and there is no fast road, so roughly seven of your twelve hours are spent moving. No operator sells a shorter version that reaches the island, because the geography does not allow one.
What you get for the distance is the Trotternish ridge, which looks like nowhere else in Britain, and Eilean Donan Castle on the way out. The two-day tour spreads the same ground over a night on the island and adds stops a single day cannot hold.
The Old Man of Storr, the Quiraing and the Black Cuillin are a different order of landscape from the glens around the city, and they are the reason the day is worth twelve hours.
The roads west are single-track in places and the weather changes fast. Twelve hours of that at your own wheel is a different holiday from twelve hours in a seat with somebody else driving.
Every route here stops at the castle rather than passing it, and gives you between half an hour and an hour and twenty-five minutes there. The view you already know is from the shore, and it costs you nothing.
Some go to the Fairy Pools, some to the Quiraing, and none does both. Which one you pick matters more than what you pay.
This is the real decision for anyone with one day to give the island, and you should make it before you start comparing fares.
| The single day | The two-day tour | |
|---|---|---|
| Hours | 12, kerb to kerb | 2 days, one night on the island |
| From | $93 per person | $209 per person |
| Accommodation | None | One night, inside the fare unless you opt out |
| Time at the big stops | 10 to 90 minutes each | Two hours at the Fairy Pools |
| Reaches Dunvegan Castle | No | Yes, for two hours |
| Driving per day | About seven hours | Roughly half that |
| Attraction tickets | Never included | Never included |
If twelve hours in a seat is the objection, the two-day tour answers it directly. If the cost of a night away is the objection, the single day is the only way to see the island from here.
In every fare: a coach or minibus, a driver-guide, live commentary, and the stops on the itinerary. Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Never in any Skye fare: entry to Eilean Donan Castle. Two routes offer it as an optional extra; the rest treat the castle as a photo stop. It charges £13 for an adult and £6.50 for a child aged 5 to 15.
Also never included: lunch, which happens in Portree, and on most routes a toilet on board.
Fares run from about $93 to $164 a head for a single day, with a private day quoted per group. Departures are between 7:45 and 8:30 and returns are around eight in the evening. Do not book one on an arrival or departure day.
Book ahead from May to September. Check the forecast the day before rather than the week before: every tour here refunds in full up to 24 hours ahead, and low cloud is the one thing that genuinely spoils this day.
If twelve hours is too long, take a Loch Ness day instead: nine hours, less driving, and the weather matters far less. If you are travelling with young children, the same applies — and several Skye operators set a minimum age of four or six.
If the forecast is low cloud, move the day. The Storr and the Quiraing are most of what you are paying for, and a cloud base below them removes both. In winter, when Inverness gets under seven hours of daylight, a twelve-hour day spends both ends of itself in the dark.
Six stops, the Trotternish ridge and a driver-guide for the seven hours of road.
Check availabilityNext: every fare on Inverness Scotland Tours, the practical detail on planning your trip, and the month you are coming on Inverness weather.