The mountains are charcoal black and rust red. The sea cloudy blue, always translucent. The sand shines, running the spectrum from dirty gold to pearly white. These are the colours of the Isle of Skye and they help frame the aesthetics of the Hebridean island’s best hotels. Some are located where mountains crash into the sea. Others offer dreamlike reverie beside beaches and cliffs. Here are our favourites.
The best hotels on the Isle of Skye are:
Cosy up in this Dutch-inspired hotel
(Hotel Flodigarry )
Northern Trotternish
When ashen-skies loom on Skye, visitors should head north of Staffin to this riot of a boutique hotel for its Brigadoon-via-Bali design. The Dutch owners have imbued such a sense of aesthetic personality in the suites and lodges that it can be hard to work out if you’re in Scotland or Southeast Asia — but they’re also amongst the finest rooms in the Hebrides. The deliciously stylish restaurant and bar, with heart-pumping views across to Torridon on the mainland, are worth a visit regardless of whether you are a guest or not and the location represents the ultimate layover for hikes to The Old Man of Storr and Quiraing.
Price: Doubles from £215
This lodge is perfect for a couples’ weekend
(Kinloch Lodge)
Location: Sleat Peninsula
With a reputation built on its kitchen (then, in the 1970s, home cooked wonders from original owner Claire Macdonald, now Michelin-star flair from experimental chef Jordan Webb), it’d be easy to forget the romance of this five-star boutique. First, there’s the location, overlooking the mesmerising Loch na Dal and Sound of Sleat. Then there’s the sophisticated, soft-tartan rooms and the exquisite service, be it fireside with a single malt or out in the heather with the hotel ghillie on a sunrise deer stalk (shooting with cameras, not guns). Also, worth a mention is the nearby abandoned ruin of Leiter Fura, a wonderfully alluring yomp along the coast.
Price: Doubles from £260
Stay in one of the Eileen Larmain’s 12 historic bedrooms
(Eilean Larmain)
Location: Sleat Peninsula
Named after a Gaelic seafaring hero, this 12-bed Sleat hotel used to be the gateway to the island. Flora MacDonald, of Bonnie Prince Charlie fame, departed Skye from its pier. The same jetty used to be the busiest port in the northwest Highlands and the largest store outside Glasgow was once based here. Which is to say it brims with history and ambience at every turn, from the grandstanding lobby portrait of Sir…
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