Isle of Sky Road Trip in a Motorhome/RV
One of the things on my MUST list during our time in Scotland was to make a trip out to the Isle of Skye. I have known about Skye ever since my family did some digging on Ancestry.com and we traced our family back to that exact place! WILD RIGHT?! And even though I have never had an official bucket list, it just felt like a place I needed to visit in my lifetime. So we made a plan!
Originally we were going to rent a car and drive a loop around Scotland, but the more we thought about it we liked the idea of traveling in an RV, or Motorhome as its referred to in the UK. It meant we wouldn’t have to unpack and repack every day, while also giving us the freedom to change up our schedule if need be. So after shopping around for an automatic option (a non-negotiable) we found one for a decent price from Just Go Motorhomes - and booked it!
Now the stressful part that I will say that we were naive to, was driving this massive Motorhome on narrow UK roads. It was quiet and tense for the first hour of our journey, haha. We passed a lot of Motorhomes during our little road trip though, so if it doesn’t make you nervous, or you’ve had experience driving one before, totally go for it! Just a note for anyone planning to drive one for the first time, on the other side of the road like we did - you need a level of bravery to get it done! After Colin settled into the winding, narrow roads we actually REALLY enjoyed the experience of traveling in the Motorhome. Our kitchen and snacks were always with us, as was the bathroom! The girls were buckled into their carseats but had a dining table in front of them which came in handy for snacks and iPads.
Day 1
Our first day we took a taxi from Edinburgh to the Just Go office and headed out! We made it through Glencoe (it was raining so we didn’t stop much here this time) and spent our first night at Glen Nevis Caravan & Camping Park. I would totally recommend staying here! It was clean, had public bathrooms that were nice, and a little store that was closed when we arrived that night but looked like it had all the essentials inside. You can park motorhomes, camp, or even rent a little camping pod to stay in! There were also grocery stores and places to eat close by, which made it a great stop.
Day 2
We got up the next morning and started our drive to Skye! We made a pit stop at Eilean Donan Castle and got out to walk around! Not only was the Castle beautiful, but they had great public bathrooms and a little kiosk with made to order food options - so this became our lunch stop too.
After getting the girls buckled back in, we started driving and crossed the bridge into the Isle of Skye. Just gorgeous. Rolling green hills as far as the eye can see! It was a somewhat overcast day, but that just added to the experience. We decided to drive out to Neist Point to try and catch the coast at golden hour and hoped the rain would hold off - which it did!
The journey up to Neist Point brought you on a single lane road, with pullouts on either side so that when two cars are approaching one another, one can pull out of the way. We had to do this a few times, but I would imagine in the summer when there are a lot more tourists this would be more of a challenge! Also, if you are in a motorhome, there IS parking at the top for larger vehicles. Its a long pullout before the actual parking lot that made parking and getting out of there, pretty easy. Again - this may be more of a challenge if its extremely crowded! Though a little muddy, our time at Neist Point was totallllly worth the drive. We hiked up to an amazing viewpoint and probably spent an hour up there with the girls soaking it in!
After coming back down the mountain, we stayed at Kinloch Campsite in Skye. It was very easy to get to, had clean public bathrooms and coin laundry, and the best part was they had a food truck at the entrance selling made to order fish and chips!! We were not expecting that, but enjoyed a delicious hot meal in the motorhome that night.
Day 3
The next day was Colin’s birthday!! We headed out early and planned to hit a lot of different things around us. We made stops at Dunvegan Castle, Kilt Rock/ Mealt Falls & a short hike at the Old Man of Storr! Short because we didn’t make it that far up with the girls walking with us, but there is the option of course to spend more time here and hike all the way up! We stopped in Portree for lunch at Cafe Arriba, and got to see the cute little row of colorful homes Portree that is often represented by in photographs. On our way out of Portree towards the Skye Bridge we even saw some highland cows! Perfect ending to a very Scottish day. We ended the day by staying at the Glen Nevis Park yet again!
Day 4
Our last morning we stopped at the Glenfinnan Viaduct (hello Harry Potter fans!). Make sure to look up the times the train is expected to go by so if possible, you can get that perfect photograph and experience. After that, we continued through Glencoe towards Edinburgh while stopping a million times when we wanted to get out and explore, or take a photo. These kinds of days are actually our favorites because instead of driving to a known tourist site, we are exploring on our own & the freedom in days like that just feels like a lot of fun to us.
On our last night, we stayed at the Linwater Caravan Park. This was right outside of Edinburgh but I am so glad we decided to stay here because the next morning we packed up, cleaned and were able to get the Motorhome back by the deadline of 10AM stress free! It was about 15 minutes from where we slept - which was perfect!
All in all, this road trip and schedule for us was great with two kids in tow while driving a Motorhome. I think if you decide to rent a car you can move faster on the roads, or if you have more time - you could TOTALLY continue up to Loch Ness and then loop around the opposite coast to explore Fife before returning to Edinburgh. Either way, planning a road trip in Scotland is a MUST and I hope this is helpful to those of you in the planning process right now!