I normally don’t like tours when travelling, but while googling places to visit in the Isle of Skye, I realised that I had absolutely no idea what to prioritise and whether we could even drive around. Since the rest of our trip was planned and booked by us, we decided to just get a tour for the three days we planned to be in Skye. After searching for quite a bit, we settled on the 3 Day Isle of Skye and the Highlands Tour by Heart of Scotland.

The tour leaves and departs from Edinburgh, which was very convenient for us. It seems like the details of each tour is customised according to what the customers want and the weather conditions, so I won’t have a point by point recap of the three days. Suffice to say, we managed to go to all the major places mentioned in the tour page, although we did skip a few of the minor ones that were very crowded and had a few impromptu stops as well. For example, there was time to visit the Blair Athol Distillery even though a distillery isn’t even in the tour description.

Our tour bus was the Wee Red Bus and due to its size, the tour group was only fourteen people. This was a pretty good-sized group; small enough for everyone to have their questions answered and big enough that you can make friends with other passengers.

You can see the bus here – this was when we stopped at the Fairy Glens. The Fairy Glens got their name because they are basically a miniature version of the glens and you’ll feel like a giant walking through it (compared to other glens which make you feel tiny), which made people think that these glens were for smaller fairies. It was pretty misty during that stop; the weather in Skye is very changeable, which is part of its charm. It’s almost impossible to photograph, but the way the light dances in Skye is magical.

Accommodation is not included in the price of the tour, but there is an option to let them book the accommodation on Portree for you. We went with that and ended up at a very comfortable B&B! Please remember to bring cash because not all B&Bs will accept credit cards and you won’t know where you’re staying till the tour starts.

Another thing to note: Dinner is free and easy. For the first night, we had dinner by ourselves and because we went in summer, Portree was packed. Our guide actually recommended we call ahead to restaurants that take reservations but we couldn’t decide what to eat and decided to try our luck. We ended up getting rejected from several places (especially since we were a fairly large group of six). Luckily for us, someone told us about The Caledonian Cafe. It was full but the turnover is pretty quick and we managed to get seated in about twenty minutes. The food was great and the service was excellent too – we ordered a slice of cake to celebrate my brother’s birthday and they ended up customising it and playing the birthday song as well!

But what pushed the tour from “great” into “amazing” was our guide, Gregor. He was a font of knowledge – the picture here is of Stirling Castle but close by is the King’s Knot (I didn’t take a picture because it looked like grass from my perspective). He was the one that told us that there are theories (backed up by archaeological finds!) that King Arthur’s round table was located at/inspired by the King’s Knot at Stirling.

Apart from all the interesting things we learnt about Scotland, we also got the chance to listen to some Scottish music. I regret not taking the names of the songs down because Gregor basically paired the songs with what he told us. So for example, after telling us about the tragic history of the Clearings, he would play a few Scottish songs about the clearings, explaining some of the Scots if the song was full of it. We’ve only been on tours where the music was used to fill up the empty space so we all thought that this was a brilliant way to combine music and history.

Also, if you know the names of Scottish songs like these, please let me know. The only one I’ve found so far was the one played as we were leaving Edinburgh, about Burke and Hare (all links will be at the end of the post).

Another thing that I thought was pretty unique to this tour was the second night. For those who opted in, Gregor would make reservations so we could all have dinner as a group. By the second day, we were all a bit more comfortable with each other, so we had a really great time over dinner.

In terms of pacing, the tour felt very relaxed. There was enough time for us to explore various places, like Dunkeld Cathedral in the picture above, but we also had lots of time to stop and have a break and/or a photo. I was initially a bit afraid everything was going to be very rushed or we’d spend most of the time on the bus, but my fears turned out to be unfounded.

Overall, I really enjoyed this tour and I’d recommend it if you haven’t been to Skye before and don’t know where to go or don’t want to handle the driving. The highland roads are pretty different from what we’re used to in Singapore (or even Japan) and there’s also driving etiquette to contend with. Such as saying thanks when someone lets you pass, or who gets the right of way, etc. We did encounter quite a few tourists who were driving and didn’t really know what was going on or when to pass and I can imagine that it was quite stressful for them (or at least, I would be very stressed if it was me).

Also, Gregor pointed out that an experienced tour guide also knows where to stop for the best photos – something to keep in mind if you don’t want to miss any photo spots. And although I’m still learning about the best ways to take good photos, here are some more that I liked but didn’t know how to put in the review above:

This is Eilean Donan Castle. The next photo is of the view while walking to the castle.

Also, the purple thing on the mountains is heather!! Finally I get to see what Enid Blyton keeps writing about in her books.

This is Dunvegan Castle, which has an extensive and amazing garden

The view from Loch Ness. Sadly, we did not see Nessie, just a lot of Nessie merchandise.

I’m actually not too sure where this picture was taken but it was on the morning of the last day of the tour.

I love the expression of this goat! We visited the Island At The Edge and it was fantastic – we got to feed the goats and cows and were given a very informative talk about how the croft works. I came away with a much deeper appreciation of the work it takes to hand-spin and knit any garment. The prices are high but it reflects the amount of labour put into them.

Sadly, it is very hot in Singapore and wool is not a practical choice for clothing so we got a keychain as a souvenir instead.

And of course, the highland coos at the Island At The Edge!

Links

Heart of Scotland 3 Day Isle of Skye and the Highlands Tour

The Caledonian Cafe – We also ate at No 2 (Down the Lane) and really enjoyed it too

More about the connection between King Arthur’s Round Table and the King’s Knot

Song about Burke and Hare

Island at the Edge