Where to stay for the Isle of Skye
Hand-picked stays for the bases the tours start from and pass through — useful above all when your tour does not include the room.
Cuillin Hills Hotel
A family-run independent hotel above Portree Bay, roughly ten minutes on foot from the centre of the village, with free parking. Its own website describes the setting as "fifteen acres of mature private grounds" — the hotel’s figure, not a measurement of ours. The trade is the obvious one: you get the quiet side and the view over the bay, and you walk back up the hill after dinner. This is the upper end of what Portree offers. Its own website quotes a review-site placing, which we deliberately do not repeat: the reason to choose it is the grounds and the position, not a badge.
On Skye, not at a departure point: no tour in our selection is picked up here. Portree is where the island days are spent.
The Bosville
Nineteen rooms on Bosville Terrace, above the harbour and in the middle of Portree, with the Dulse & Brose restaurant and the Merchant Bar in the building. If the point of a night on Skye is to eat well and walk back without getting into a car, this is the straightforward answer in the village. Two things worth knowing before you click: the hotel is run by Perle Hotels, and its old address, bosvillehotel.co.uk, is dead and now answers with someone else's certificate, so ignore it; and Booking.com still lists the property under its former name, Bosville Hotel.
In the centre of Portree, a few minutes from Portree Square — where the Citylink coaches from Inverness, Fort William and Glasgow stop.
Rock View Guest House
Three en-suite rooms, and that is the entire property: a small bed and breakfast in central Portree looking over the bay, with a cooked Scottish breakfast included and off-street parking. Three rooms is the fact that should drive your planning — a house this size fills on the strength of a handful of bookings, so it wants deciding early rather than comparing for a fortnight. We list it because a place of this scale is a genuinely different night from a nineteen-room hotel, not because anybody scored it.
Central Portree, walking distance from Portree Square. Nothing is picked up on Skye, so this is a base for the island rather than for a departure.
Dalriada Guest House
Five en-suite rooms at Achachork, just north of Portree on the road that climbs towards the Old Man of Storr, with breakfast, wifi and parking included and a lounge for guests. The position is the whole argument, and it cuts both ways: you are already pointing up the Trotternish road when you leave in the morning, which matters if you want to be at the Storr before the coaches — and you need the car to go back down into the village for dinner. Take it if you are driving; skip it if you are not.
Outside Portree on the road towards the Old Man of Storr: no coach stop at the door, and the village is a drive rather than a walk.
Rocpool Reserve
A boutique hotel in a restored Georgian villa on Culduthel Road, in the centre of Inverness and close to the River Ness. It presents itself, in its own words, as an address for couples rather than for large families, and that is worth taking at face value when you are booking the night before a long day in a minibus. Room counts and restaurant details circulate on third-party sites; the hotel does not publish them itself, so we do not print them either.
Central Inverness, the town both Skye day trips leave from — the departure point is a walk rather than a transfer.
Kingsmills Hotel
On Culcabock Road, outside the old centre, with an indoor heated pool, jacuzzi, steam room, gym, two restaurants, free parking, four electric-vehicle chargers, dog-friendly rooms and accessible rooms. It is the practical family answer in Inverness, and the facilities are the reason to pick it rather than the address. Two things to keep straight. The four stars on its website are the hotel's own claim, not a VisitScotland grading we could verify. And the offers it advertised on its homepage on 2 August 2026 — a "Sunday Special" from £100 a night, and "Winter Warmer Breaks" from £169 per person for two nights between November and March — are promotions that move, and the second is priced per person and per two nights, not per room per night. Check the live figure before counting on either.
Outside the centre of Inverness: allow time to reach the departure point of the Skye day trips instead of assuming a five-minute walk.
The Glenmoriston Townhouse Hotel
A townhouse hotel on the bank of the River Ness at number 20, with thirty rooms plus three apartments, the Contrast Brasserie and a piano bar; it describes itself as four-star. The riverside position is the point — a short walk from the centre without sleeping on top of it, which is the useful compromise for a night wedged between a train and a minibus. The three apartments are worth remembering if you are four people and the room arithmetic in Inverness stops working.
A short walk from the centre of Inverness, the departure town for both Skye day trips.
Ten Hill Place Hotel
A hundred and twenty-nine rooms at 10 Hill Place, walking distance from the Royal Mile, run by Surgeons Quarter on behalf of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, with Classic, Superior, Skyline Junior Suite and Hill Square Suite rooms and seven accessible rooms. Size is the argument here: the night before a multi-day tour leaves at an unsociable hour is the wrong night for a three-room guest house with a narrow check-in window. The hotel has declared a Green Tourism Gold Award since 2008, and on 2 August 2026 its homepage advertised a one-night offer from £185 for two people — a promotion, so treat it as a starting point and check the live price. Booking.com lists the property as "Ten Hill Place, WorldHotels Distinctive".
Central Edinburgh, the city six of our eight tours leave from — including every multi-day itinerary.
The Grassmarket Hotel
On the Grassmarket at 94–96, in the Old Town, a couple of minutes from Victoria Street and the castle. The honest detail is one the hotel publishes itself: the rooms are small, and it gives the numbers — a single of 8.3 m², a "Snug" double of 9 m², a twin or double of 13 m², a triple of 20 m² and a quadruple of 21 m². Those figures tell you more than any score would. If you are arriving late and leaving at dawn on a tour coach, the position earns its keep; if you picture a slow morning with two suitcases open on the floor, book elsewhere.
In the Old Town of Edinburgh, the departure city for six of our eight tours.