Skye from Portree without a car: the Storr, the Quiraing and the Fairy Pools

Skye has no railway, and plenty of visitors arrive in Portree assuming that without a car they will see the town and not much else. That is half true. The Old Man of Storr is easy by bus. The Quiraing takes some walking. The Fairy Pools, on the timetable that was running in October 2026, were out of reach. This is how each one works from Somerled Square, which is where every bus in this guide starts.

Somerled Square is the bus station

There is no bus station building. The coaches and the island buses all use two stands on Somerled Square. Stand 1 is for the Scottish Citylink coaches: the 917 to and from Inverness, and the 915 to and from Glasgow by way of Fort William. Stand 2 is for the local services: the Stagecoach 57A and 57C round Trotternish, the 52 south to Broadford and Armadale, the 56 and 56X west towards Glendale, and the MacDonald's Coaches 607 and 608 towards Carbost and Fiskavaig.

Two warnings before any times. First, island timetables change with the seasons, and every time below comes from the timetables published for October 2026. Read the current one for the week you travel. Second, the October 2026 Stagecoach timetables for the 57A, 57C and 52 showed no Sunday journeys at all. A Sunday without a car in Portree is a Sunday in Portree.

The Old Man of Storr: easy

The 57A and 57C both stop at the Old Man of Storr car park, which the timetable calls Torvaig, Old Man of Storr Car Park. On the October 2026 57A, a 09:10 from the square reached it at 09:25, so call it fifteen minutes. From the stop the path climbs to the pinnacle. Walkhighlands gives the walk as 5 km there and back, 1.5 to 2 hours, with 340 metres of ascent, on clear hill paths that turn steep and rocky higher up. It also says signs warn of rockfall, and that the section beyond the fallen rocks should be avoided after heavy rain.

The bus also saves you the car park. The Storr's own parking page charges £6 for up to six hours and £8 for up to twelve, with no motorhomes in the main car park and no overnight stays. The West Highland Free Press put the Storr at around 200,000 visitors a year in 2024, the year Highland Council opened Ionad an Stòir, the Storr Centre, at the car park.

The one thing to plan is the return. Note the times back before you start up the hill rather than at the top.

The Quiraing: possible, with a walk to the start

The Quiraing walk starts at a car park at the top of the minor road between Staffin and Uig, and no bus goes up that road. Walkhighlands says the nearest service bus stop is 3 km away at Brogaig, near Staffin. On the October 2026 57A, the 09:10 from Portree reached Brogaig, opposite the junction, at 09:44.

From Brogaig it is a 3 km walk up the road to the car park, and the same back down, before you count the walk itself. Walkhighlands gives that as 6.5 km, 3 to 4 hours and 374 metres of ascent, on a good path at first and then rough and rocky ground with one minor scramble and a gully that needs care, and a return over the hill that is exposed to bad weather. Add it up and you have a long day on foot with a bus at each end. It is a good one, but go with an early bus, a forecast you trust and the return times written down.

The Fairy Pools: not on the October timetable

The Fairy Pools are on the Allt Coir' a' Mhadaidh in Glen Brittle, south of Portree, and the walk starts from a paid car park on the Glen Brittle road. Walkhighlands mentions a seasonal bus from Portree and tells you to check Stagecoach. On the timetable published for October 2026, nothing reached the car park. The MacDonald's Coaches 608 from Somerled Square ran on weekdays only, and its nearest stop was at Merkadale, opposite the Glenbrittle junction. That stop is about 6 km from the car park in a straight line, and further by the single-track road.

So in the shoulder seasons the honest answer is a taxi, a tour or a lift. If you are visiting in summer, look for the seasonal service before you plan around it, and do not assume it runs every day.

Getting to Portree in the first place

The nearest station is Kyle of Lochalsh, on the mainland about 32 km away in a straight line. National Rail lists it as KYL, managed by ScotRail and step-free to all platforms. The Citylink 917 calls at the Harbour Slipway stop in Kyle, about 165 metres from the station building, and on the October 2026 timetable it took a little over an hour from there to Portree, four times a day. The same coach starts in Inverness and takes about 3 hours 20 minutes for the whole run.

From Glasgow, the Citylink 915 goes by Fort William and Kyle and takes between six and seven hours. The other rail route is Mallaig, then CalMac's ferry to Armadale and the Stagecoach 52 up the island, about 1 hour 15 minutes on the bus. CalMac says to book that crossing even as a foot passenger, and the 52 ran only twice each way on weekdays in October 2026, so the Mallaig route takes some lining up.

Staying put

If the timetable will not cooperate, Portree itself fills a day. The Scorrybreac circuit starts less than a kilometre from the square, and the harbour, the Lump and the Apothecary's Tower are all a few minutes' walk from the bus stand. The Stardust boat trips leave from the harbour too, so the sea eagle trips need no bus at all.