Scotlands number 1 hike – The Quiraing Circuit.

Hiking Isle of Skye – One for the bucket list

Now, if you are going to hike in Scotland, I feel the Isle of Skye is a must. I flew into Glasgow and drove to the Isle of Skye, you can get around by buses or tours but hiring a car or campervan is the way to go. It’s a place in the highlands and contains Scotlands best hikes (in my opinion) the hiking there will leave you in awe. Marvellous mountain tops with luscious green grass. The highlands is an absolute must. It’s hard to narrow down the best hikes to add to that hiking list but for me, the Quiraing walk is one of the best Isle of Skye hikes.

Getting there

It’s pretty straight forward to get here, if you pop “the Quiraing car park” it will lead you right to the parking lot where the trail starts. It’s only 4kms from staffing and 30 minutes from Portree. These are probably the best options of accomodation if you aren’t in a campervan. Most of the hiking parking lots do have a fee. This fee goes towards maintaining these lots and services like toilets. Just pay and display the ticket in your car window. It 3 Euro for 3 hours and 5 Euro for 6 hours. I paid $3 euro because I knew I would be under 3 hours. You can pay this by card which is super handy if you don’t have cash on you. 

My number one tip for this hike is, TO GO EARLY! Now I know everyone always yeah yeah go early but really for this one, you’ll be thankful you did because it can fill up and when you are hiking this glorious trail, you’ll know why. 

From the carpark, the trail is pretty clear and well defined. The Quiraing viewpoint is right opposite the carpark so if you are just there to do a quick car stop and take a photo, it’s quite easy to get to. But if you do the Quiraing walk you’ll be instantly rewarded with jaw dropping views. It’s almost hard to keep your eyes on the trail because you just want to look around. Follow the trail/people and when the path splits at the very beginning take the right route. I feel doing this anticlockwise is the best option. There’s plenty of photo spots to stop at along the way with backdrops that look like screens savers. I feel the most ideal photo spots are actually along this first part of the route. Hiking in Scotland is a landscape photographers dream.

Now if you aren’t feeling up to it you can definitely turn back any time but I do recommend completing the loop. After about 30 minutes is when you see the famous Needle and The Prison in front of you. From here you want to keep following the trail and soon you’ll see more pointy pinnacles in the distance. Keep to the path that stays left, close to the mountain wall. You’ll have a small steep section that climbs up to the ridge line.

The halfway Point

Now this is actually the point where the usual circuit loops BUT if you have the energy don’t stop here. The real views are at the table top mountain to your right. I thought about ignoring this but I’m glad I pushed through and went to see the view for myself. It’s about 15-20 minutes to the top with some uphill climbing but nothing super strenuous. I think the view speaks for themselves.

Once you are done taking mental memories and hopefully physical ones with your camera, head back the same way you came until you reach the fork in the road again. At this point you’ll want to head right. You’ll see the route that climbs up and over the cliffs you walked past on the way in. There’s no hiding it, this part is a slog but it has to be done. Once the magnificent views come into sight you’ll soon forget about how much your were just sweating. Now there are insane viewpoints along here but remember to be safe because on the edge it is a straight drop. So stay back and safe and walk along the trail until it starts to descend. 

End is in sight

This last section was super muddy when I did it and if its rained, there’s no avoiding it. Just embrace the mud and watch your step. The trail can get a little harder to see on this route down but if you just head back in the direction of the car park, you’ll be fine. It will all lead out to one path eventually and it is really hard to get lost. Just don’t panic if you lose to trail for a section, just eyes on the carpark and head that way and down.

If you’re like me and need a visual representation of the route you’ll be taking, I recommend checking out the mapped trail from All Trails this is the outline of the path you’ll be taking and if you have service it will track you along the way so it’s impossible to get lost. P.S this doesn’t contain the extra viewpoint section. This is marked below. 

For any Isle of Skye hiking, you’ll need:

• Water, as always.
  Good solid footwear because it can get muddy and slippery.Snacks/food. Never be caught out hungry on a hike, that’s no fun for anyone.
  Hat.
  Sunscreen.
  Camera/phone camera!

Enjoy and happy hiking one of the best hikes Isle of Skye. If you want to know what I travel with in terms of photo gear, check out my blog on what’s in my bag.