Last Updated on April 29, 2024 by Sam
Driving is the best way to get around the Isle of Skye if you want to explore as much of the island as possible like we did during our 2 week stay here. Although it is possible to use public transport, it’s quite limited and will leave you quite restricted in terms of the places you can visit. It’s a fairly big island, and some of the most beautiful places on the Isle of Skye are only accessible by driving – such as the fairly remote Talisker waterfall. If you don’t have your own car then we recommend to rent one for your trip so that you can visit as many of the incredible attractions as possible. Many of the best hotels and places to stay on the Isle of Skye are a lot easier to get to and from by car, so it really is best to drive around the island if possible. Before you do visit though, there are some important things to know about driving on the island – including how to safely use passing places, avoiding potholes and more. Find out everything you need to know before your trip with our guide to driving on the Isle of Skye, Scotland.
Looking for tips of how to spend your time on Skye? Check out our amazing three day Skye itinerary for ideas!
Driving around Skye
Renting a car on the Isle of Skye
Driving is the best way to get around the Isle of Skye, so if you aren’t UK based or don’t have a car then it’s a good idea to rent one. Although it is possible to get to some parts of the island by bus, it’s going to be a lot harder to visit all the spots you want to without your own vehicle.
If you’re flying into Scotland then the easiest option is to rent a car from the airport or city you’re flying into, and then you can drive to Skye from there. Renting a car can be quite affordable, with the best prices tending to be from Glasgow Airport, Edinburgh Airport or Inverness Airport.
We recommend using the Discover Cars website to find the best deal, as they compare prices between a number of different car rental companies to ensure you get the best deal. Click here to find amazing car rental deals for your trip on the Discover Cars website!
There are also some car rental companies on the Isle of Skye itself if you want to consider renting through one of them. The slight issue with doing this is that you will need to find another way to get to the island via public transport, rather than being able to drive there yourself.
Public transport to Skye from mainland Scotland is fairly limited and can be expensive, but one option is to take a train to the Kyle of Lochalsh and then to take a bus from there to Portree. You can take a look at the best options for getting to the island via public transport by clicking here to visit the Omio website.
If you plan to rent a car on Skye itself then one of the best options is Morrison Car Hire, based in Portree.
Potholes
One of the most important things to be aware of when driving on the Isle of Skye is that potholes are quite common. Around a third of all recorded vehicle damage is caused by potholes, and the impact can lead to a number of issues such as punctures, buckled or misaligned wheels and more.
To avoid any damage to your car or vehicle, it’s important to avoid potholes where possible. If there is no oncoming traffic you can often avoid potholes by temporarily changing lane, but if there is oncoming traffic or you’re driving on a single-track road then the pothole can be unavoidable. In this case it’s best to go over the pothole slowly to minimise the impact and potential damage.
It’s generally a good idea to go a bit slower than you usually would when driving around Skye, even when you can’t see any potholes coming up. The standard of road can change quite quickly, and even by going a bit slower it makes it a lot easier to see potholes before it’s too late to avoid them or slow down further. Driving on the Isle of Skye may take a bit longer than expected if you’re having to go slower due to potholes on the road, so it’s worth accounting for a little extra time for your journey.
Smaller, single-track roads tend to be the worst for potholes in our experience, as they aren’t as well maintained as some of the busier roads. The worst road we personally saw was on the way to the stunning Talisker waterfall, where we had to drive very slowly due to the poor road condition. It was still well worth the drive though, which is why it’s on our list of 5 amazing waterfalls on the Isle of Skye!
Even the A87, the main road on the island, has some stretches with some quite big potholes – so no matter what road you’re on it’s important to take care. Although potholes can cause some problems, there’s no need for them to put you off driving on the Isle of Skye – just make sure you’re taking the necessary precautions to avoid any issues!
Passing Places
An important part of driving on the Isle of Skye is using passing places on single-track roads. Passing places are essentially wider bits of road strategically located along single-track roads in order to allow oncoming traffic to pass safely, and in some instances to allow vehicles behind to overtake.
As there are quite a lot of single-track roads on Skye, it’s important to know how to use passing points properly. If you can see some oncoming traffic then the best thing to do is to wait at the nearest passing place for the traffic to go past.
You should only pull into a passing point on your left hand side, and if the passing place is on your right then simply wait besides the passing place for the oncoming traffic to go around you. Some drivers make the mistake of pulling into a passing point on their right hand side, but this isn’t the correct way for them to be used and can cause problems.
As well as being used for oncoming traffic to pass, passing places are also useful for allowing vehicles behind to overtake. If you notice a vehicle close behind you then wait at a passing place to allow them to overtake, as this helps prevent the build up of traffic. It’s much better to allow someone to overtake than to go quicker than you’re comfortable with, especially considering there are often lots of potholes on single-track roads.
In some instances you may come up to oncoming traffic with no passing point between you. If this happens one of you will need to reverse to the nearest passing place in order to let the other pass, but thankfully this isn’t too common as passing points are quite frequent when driving around the Isle of Skye.
The only other thing you need to know is that you should never park in a passing place. Doing so prevents other vehicles from being able to use the passing point for its intended purpose, which can lead to a build up of traffic or potential accidents.
Parking
Most places on Skye have enough parking spaces to cope with demand, but during the peak summer months it can sometimes be hard to find a space near some of the main attractions. The best way to guarantee a space is to arrive early or late in the day.
Many of the attractions on the Isle of Skye offer free parking, whether it be in a car park or just roadside parking spaces. As of 2023 free parking is available near Neist Point, Kilt Rock & Mealt Falls, Coral Beach, Talisker Waterfall, Staffin Bay and more. It wouldn’t be a surprise for paid parking to be introduced, as some of the other main attractions already do charge for parking.
There are large paid car parks at some of the main attractions, including the Old Man of Storr and the Fairy Pools – two of the best walks on the Isle of Skye. Both these car parks were quite full during our visit in May 2022, so you may still need to arrive early to guarantee a parking spot during the peak season on Skye.
As well as the above, there are other paid car parks around Skye including at the Fairy Glen and the Quiraing. It’s often possible to pay for parking using the RingGo app, but it’s also worth having some change with you in case you don’t have signal or would prefer to pay cash.
Generally we didn’t have any real issues with parking during our trip. At a couple of spots we did have to wait around 5 minutes and search quite hard for somewhere to park, but we always managed to find space. Considering we visited in May it’s likely to be even busier from around June to September, which is why we recommend arriving to attractions early or later in the day for the best chance of finding a parking space.
Best maps for driving around Skye
Mobile phone signal can be somewhat unreliable on the Isle of Skye, so it’s worth having an offline map app as a backup. That way you’re still able to find directions between various points on the island even if you don’t have any mobile internet.
One you can use is Google Maps and then you can download an offline map of the Isle of Skye, so that you can use this even when you don’t have signal. If you’re connected to the internet at the start of your journey then Google Maps is normally a better option, as it tends to be more accurate with journey times than maps.me.
Petrol
Although you might expect petrol to be cheaper on mainland Scotland, it was actually cheaper to fill up on the Isle of Skye on our visit in May 2022. There are only a few petrol stations on the island, and some can be quite a bit more expensive than others.
The Co-op petrol station in Broadford had the cheapest petrol on the Isle of Skye during our visit, and it’s conveniently located on the A87 – the road onto the island from the mainland. It’s worth filling up with petrol here whenever you can, as it can help save quite a bit of money over the course of your trip.
Alternatively, the Gleaner petrol station in Portree also had some of the cheapest petrol and diesel prices on Skye when we visited. There are a few other petrol stations about, but if possible we would recommend sticking to these two as they’re likely to be the cheaper options. If you’re running low on petrol and need to fill up elsewhere then it’s probably worth only partially filling up, and then filling your tank up at one of the cheaper options when next possible.
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