Best Hidden Gems in Skye & Lochalsh
Written by UK Hidden Gems Editorial
Updated 5 August 2026
The best hidden gems in Skye & Lochalsh are Bernera Barracks, Macleod’s Maidens, Loch Fada, Dun Troddan, Neist Point Lighthouse, Dun Ringill, The Inaccessible Pinnacle and The Brother’s Point.
Skye and the neighbouring mainland of Lochalsh hold some of the most dramatic scenery in the Highlands, from the jagged Cuillin to the long sea cliffs of the Duirinish and Trotternish coasts. Beyond the busy viewpoints lie quieter places that ask more of the visitor.
This is a land of Iron Age brochs standing tall in a Glenelg glen, ruined barracks and shore forts left by old conflicts, and sea stacks reached only at the end of a long and demanding coastal walk. There are lochs that mirror the pinnacles above them, a clifftop lighthouse looking out over the Minch, and a headland where dinosaur footprints show at low tide.
Some of these gems are serious mountaineering objectives rather than walks, and others need care over rough or boggy ground, so come prepared for whatever the weather and the terrain bring. From the Inaccessible Pinnacle to the Brother's Point, each rewards the effort in its own way.
Here are eight of the best hidden gems to seek out in Skye & Lochalsh.
Bernera Barracks
Photo: jeff collins via Geograph.org.uk
Bernera Barracks is a gaunt ruin of an old army barracks at Glenelg, on the west Highland coast opposite Skye. Built in the 1720s, after the Jacobite rising of 1715, it was one of a handful of garrisons put up to police the Highlands and to watch the narrow sea crossing to Skye nearby.
What survives is a tall, roofless shell of grey stone, two big blocks with corner towers around an open yard, the western wall still standing close to its full height. It stands on farmland reached by a track from the village, and is best seen from outside.
Follow the track from Glenelg to find this lonely reminder of the garrison years.
Macleod’s Maidens
Photo: Andrew Tryon via Geograph.org.uk
Macleod’s Maidens are three sea stacks standing off Idrigill Point, on the wild, cliff-bound south coast of the Duirinish peninsula on Skye. The tallest, around sixty to seventy metres, is known as the Mother, with two smaller stacks called the Daughters beside her.
By tradition they are the drowned wife and daughters of a MacLeod chief, turned to stone. They are seen from the clifftop at the end of a long and demanding coastal walk of about ten miles from Orbost, a route for well-prepared walkers, and the stacks also draw rock climbers.
Set aside a full day and go well equipped to reach this remote clifftop view.
Loch Fada
Photo: John Allan via Geograph.org.uk
Loch Fada lies on the east side of the Trotternish peninsula on Skye, a few miles north of Portree beside the A855. It is best known as the foreground for the view of the Old Man of Storr, the tall rock pinnacle standing on the ridge behind, and on a still day the loch mirrors the pinnacle and the crags.
The ground by the shore is rough and boggy. The loch is part of the Storr Lochs hydro scheme, linked to nearby Loch Leathan to share its water.
Pull in beside the road and pick a still moment for the reflection.
Dun Troddan
Photo: John Allan via Geograph.org.uk
Dun Troddan is one of a pair of well-preserved Iron Age brochs standing in Gleann Beag near Glenelg, across the narrows from Skye. The round drystone tower still rises several metres, its wall built double with a stair and galleries inside, around a central court.
A stretch of the internal stair and the entrance passage can still be seen. Its neighbour Dun Telve stands a short way down the glen, taller still, and both are open and free.
Drive up the glen from Glenelg to see the pair of them within a mile.
Neist Point Lighthouse
Photo: Andy Stephenson via Geograph.org.uk
Neist Point Lighthouse stands on the most westerly tip of the Isle of Skye, a white and ochre tower on a dramatic clifftop headland on the Duirinish coast. It was designed by David Stevenson and first lit in 1909, and its light, now automated, still guides shipping through the Minch.
A steep path and steps lead down from a clifftop car park toward the lighthouse, giving wide Atlantic views and a good chance of seeing seabirds, whales and dolphins, and sometimes basking sharks. An old cableway once carried supplies down to the point.
Take the steep path down at the end of the day for the finest light.
Dun Ringill
Photo: John Allan via Geograph.org.uk
Dun Ringill is a ruined Iron Age fort on the shore of Loch Slapin at Strathaird on Skye, later turned into a fortified house by the MacKinnons. Drystone walls survive around a landward entrance passage, with a small corbelled cell built into the thickness of one wall.
Two later rectangular buildings stand inside the old fort. A short coastal path from a layby near Kilmarie leads to it, through bracken in summer.
Walk out along the shore from Kilmarie to find this quiet ruin above the loch.
The Inaccessible Pinnacle
Photo: Ian Taylor via Geograph.org.uk
The Inaccessible Pinnacle is a steep, exposed fin of rock perched on the summit ridge of Sgurr Dearg, in the Black Cuillin of the Isle of Skye, and the hardest of all the Munros. It is the only one of Scotland's high peaks whose true top cannot be walked to: reaching it means a roped rock climb, up a knife-edge ridge with big drops on both sides and an abseil off the far end.
Climbers approach from Glen Brittle up long slopes of scree, and many hire a guide for the pinnacle itself. It is a serious mountaineering objective rather than a walk, made of slippery basalt that is treacherous when wet, so go with the right skills and equipment.
The Brother’s Point
Photo: Gordon Hatton via Geograph.org.uk
The Brother’s Point, in Gaelic Rubha nam Brathairean, is a narrow grassy headland reaching out into the Sound of Raasay on the east coast of the Trotternish peninsula on Skye, near Staffin. It carries the faint remains of an old fort on its tip, and on the shore below, in beds of Jurassic sandstone, are dinosaur footprints left around a hundred and seventy million years ago, seen at low tide.
It is reached on a walk of about a mile and a half over often boggy ground, past a waterfall and along a narrow clifftop path, with views along the coast to Kilt Rock. Time your walk for low tide to look for the prints on the shore.
FAQs
What are the best hidden gems in Skye and Lochalsh?
They span the Iron Age brochs of Gleann Beag, Bernera Barracks and Dun Ringill, the sea stacks of Macleod's Maidens, Neist Point Lighthouse, Loch Fada, the Brother's Point with its dinosaur footprints, and the Inaccessible Pinnacle in the Cuillin.
How hard is the Inaccessible Pinnacle?
It is a serious mountaineering objective rather than a walk, and the hardest of all the Munros. Reaching the true top means a roped rock climb up a knife-edge ridge with big drops and an abseil off the far end. Many climbers hire a guide, and the basalt is treacherous when wet.
Can you walk to Macleod's Maidens?
You can see the three sea stacks from the clifftop, but only at the end of a long and demanding coastal walk of about ten miles from Orbost. It is a route for well-prepared walkers, so set aside a full day and go well equipped.
Conclusion
Skye and Lochalsh reward those who step beyond the roadside viewpoints, whether that means a gentle stop by Loch Fada or a full day out to the sea stacks of Macleod's Maidens. Some of these places, like the brochs of Gleann Beag and Neist Point Lighthouse, are easy to reach, while others ask for real hill skills.
The Inaccessible Pinnacle in particular is a serious mountaineering objective, a roped rock climb rather than a walk, and several routes cross rough or boggy ground. Come prepared, respect the weather and the tides, and you will find brochs, forts, lighthouses and dinosaur footprints among the finest scenery in Scotland.
Taken together, these are the best hidden gems to seek out in Skye & Lochalsh.
