How to plan a cheap weekend trip from London to Isle of Skye

Earlier this month one of my flatmates announced she will be leaving the UK and returning to her home country. Her one request before she left was to take a trip to Isle of Skye, so in a spur of the moment decision, we sat down, whipped out three laptops and began typing away familiar search terms of underpaid 20-somethings that went a bit like this…

“cheap flights”
“london to glasgow”
“glasgow cheap car rentals”
“driving distance glasgow isle of skye”
“cheap accommodation portree”
“isle of skye january weather”
“isle of skye road conditions”
*checks Instagram to see recent geo tags from isle of skye*
….
“can you drive through a blizzard”
….
*booked!*

In all honesty, we took a huge chance with the weather and were incredibly lucky. January is low tourist season for the Highlands and Isle of Skye because the weather can be dangerous and unpredictable, but also extremely breathtaking on clear days.

It rained and snowed during our two driving days, which meant we drove through snow storms with 10 feet of visibility and braved icy roads in a front-wheel drive compact. Yet somehow, it was bright blue skies and sunny for our day of exploring!

What to do in Isle of Skye when short on time

For convenience and ease of access to most sights, I recommend staying Portree which is the main village on Isle of Skye. If you’re traveling during winter, you’ll be working with short days of sunlight and it will get very cold after the sun goes down. For this reason I highly recommend getting started early! My top three destinations are listed below, which are all conveniently located on A855 – no back tracking required.

The Old Man of Storr

My personal favorite on the Isle is hiking up to The Old Man of Storr. When visiting Isle of Skye earlier this year, I made it half way with my sister before having to head back down, but this time I finally made it to the top! It’s a great morning activity after fueling up with breakfast, but not what I would say an easy one. The round trip trek in the snow took us 4 hours, most of it straight up hill, but we stopped for a bit of fun along the way. Bring high boots, sunglasses, good gloves and lots of socks – the snow was 2 ft deep in some areas and froze the toes and fingers off of some of my friends. Also highly recommend bringing a spare pair of shoes or pants if you plan to do this activity first thing so you’re not sitting in cold soggy clothes all day like we did… oops.

Kilt Rock and Mealt Waterfall

Just a 10 minute drive North on A855 from The Old Man Storr, you can get a glimpse of this beauty – no hiking required! A great place to have a snack, sip some warm tea or coffee from your thermos and relax after your morning hike, overlooking the massive cliff faces into deep blue waters of the Northern Atlantic.

The Quiraing

Another quick tour up A855 and turning right just before the Uig Post Office will lead you up the windy, one-lane roads to The Quiraing. At first you may feel like you’re on a road to no where, but you’ll soon find yourself swerving between massive rock faces, climbing higher and higher, as the Atlantic you were just standing beside shrinks far into the distance.

If the weather is favorable, there are multiple trails to hike in The Quiraing. It’s well worth a full-day of exploring, however, we were quickly running out of daylight so we raced to the top to enjoy what we could of the 16:00 sunset.

Booking flights from London

Two destinations can be considered – Glasgow or Edinburgh. The driving duration doesn’t vary much between the two, but it’s worth seeing which destination gives you better flight times and prices. In the end we went with Glasgow as it fit better with our itinerary and we stopped to see the Glenfinnan Viaduct along the way (famous from the Harry Potter films).

We had to go a bit over budget with our flights to make the departure and arrival times work within a restricted time limit. However, we found a round trip flight for £90 on Momondo.co.uk. This was the first time I used this website, and although it looks a bit dodge, I love it – I normally prefer Kayak over Skyscanner but from what I’ve seen, Momondo has even better deals. Always good to have options!

Cheap car rentals in Glasgow

For rentals in Glasgow we went with Alamo and picked up the car at the airport for convenience. For a two-day rental of a 4 door compact we paid £40 each + split £70 of gas expenses. It was cozy with five people for 10+ hours spent in the car but perfect in terms of space for everyone and luggage.

Accommodation in Portree

Portree is the main village on the Isle and it is also conveniently located in the middle of most major sight seeing spots. We found a cozy apartment to rent for the five of us to stay on Booking.com for a total of £40 for 2 nights which was a great choice for us, even though the boys had to take turns sleeping on the living room couch 🙂

Based on our expenses I’d say you can comfortably travel to Isle of Skye for a three day weekend trip for £200-300, depending on how many people come and your preferences for eating out versus cooking at home. We made sure to have a kitchen in the apartment so we could cook breakfast and dinner. Below is a step by step break down of what our expenses looked like.

Easybus to/from airport – £9
Flights – £90
Car rental – £54
Accommodation – £40
Food – £30
Total – £223

Ready to plan your trip to Isle of Skye yet? Feel free to leave any additional questions in the comments below!