You should not miss a trip to elgol, followed by a boat trip on the misty isle to loch coruisk. The views are stunning. You have a couple of hours to do a little walking, or alternatively, get the boat in one way and walk out to sligachan through the valley. Amazing! For hills, on a clear day Bla' Bheinn (pron. Blaven) is a straightforward munro, without too much scrambling to get to the summit- the views of the main cuillin ridge are astounding, and you can also see the small isles all around. Near Torrin, there is the walk to Suisnish and Boreraig, from camas Malag, which is an easier coastal track, also (not surprisingly) with great views. I've been told by a few of my guests that the boat to see the sea eagles in portree is a must, if you like nature- I'll need to check that one out myself sometime. Eating, I'd suggest Creelers, if you're into seafood, or the Harbour restaurant, both broadford. There is also an archeological dig going on near torrin, which is interesting to speak to the guys about. I think that thats the south end covered (apart from the walk to Point of sleat- the south tip of skye, nearer advasar. Enjoy your time here!

Ditto, the road to Elgol out of Broadford is a must, and take the ferry at the end as suggested. The views along the way are amazing. The archeological dig is 3 miles along the Elgol road out of Broadford on the left side, it's called High Pasture Cave (www.highpasturecave.org) and you can actually roll up your sleves and pitch in at the digs if you are so inclined, it's a facinating bronze age site. Creelers is Excellent, 3 wonderful meals there, (I should write a review), and Harbour View in Portree was nice, also had 1 fabulous and 1 so-so lunch at The Three Chimneys. The Stein Inn all the way up beyond Dunvegan was also good eats. Creelers is the best dining experience over-all because of the service, food, all the little touches that made it a notch above in addition to the fresh food. The Pub at Eilieen Earmin, at the beautiful Camus Croise lighthouse on Sleat was the best pub, good atmosphere, real fires, decent food and traditional music. I was there for 3 weeks recently and loved it. Enjoy--Sandy

If you're not already there, then make sure you get to Neist Point, Waternish. We were there a couple of months ago on a beautiful day, watching the Minke Whales breaching about 20 metres in front of us, the curious seal spying on us from even closer and gannets plummeting into the sea all around us every couple of seconds for hours. On a clear day, you can easily see the Outer Hebrides (26 miles west). And the walk past the lighthouse and the cliffs was really impressive. I've seen a few sunsets around the world but the two best I've ever seen are from here and Elgol harbour, as it sets over the Cuillin Ridge(15 miles from Broadford). PS if you do go to Elgol harbour, there's an outstanding seafood place just before it called Coruisk House (also a small hotel)which boasts their fastest lobster from sea to plate in 40 minutes! Plus the food was fresher and cheaper than any other restaurant in the UK. Service was informal and almost perfect. 10/10. Anyway, keep looking up for Golden Eagles. You WILL see them. Hope you enjoy it. I can't wait to go back up.

If it's wildlife and birding you want, then there is no better place to base yourselves than Glendale in the North-Western corner of Skye.

Neist Point is definitely the place to get up close and personal with whales, basking shark and sea-birds and there is a web-site detailing recent sightings here: http://www.glendaleskye.com/sightings.htm

The previous respondent says that Neist is in Waternish but it is actually in Glendale. Waternish is the opposite side of Dunvegan to Glendale.

There are also many excellent walks around Glendale (http://www.glendaleskye.com/walks.htm) that mean you can spend more time out watching wildlife and less in the car.

Whoops...of course it's Glendale. Duh.

Thank you all for the advices. Just came back from the trip to Scotland. The highlands are magnificent. We did go to Elgol. It was very windy and rainy when I went there the 1st time. In fact cruises were cancelled over that weekend. So we took a risk and tried to walk to Lock Coruisck. But to be honest it was rather dangerous to walk as at one point we almost like had to walk around a cliff, which we didn't expect at all. The "Walks in Scotland" from Lonely Planet considers this as moderate walk, whereas another book called "Skye" did not even mention about the potential risk. I wonder now if the problem is just us being useless, as we turned back!

We manage to catch the cruise on another day though to Loch Coruisk. Saw seal colonies and the magnificent black rocks around. It was very wet that day but luckily we were well equipped with the wet gears, otherwise we would be in for a rough day.

Creelers is good. We had two meals there. Mussels are excellent. Alba farmhouse restaurant is good too, as we both think the fish and chips was one of the best we have had! I also like ales from Isle of Skye. Hebridien Gold is my personal favourite. But I was surprised that it is rather different from the normal ales. It is chilled in bottle, and to me it tastes more like pilsner.

Re your walk to Loch Coruisk - I know what you're talking about. The cliff part to this walk is known as "The Bad Step" and I think it's on the Landranger OS Map. However, this almost glorifies it, and unless you have absolutely no fear of heights and it's not too windy, then I would strongly recommend against it, as it's a long fall to the sea below. Also, I wouldn't recommend taking a dog along it either.

PS I tried to walk to Loch Coruisk in late June from Kilmarie but couldn't even ford the river (Abhainn Camas Fhionnairigh) at Camasunary due to the high and fast flowing waters (I wasn't the only one - there were several confused and frustrated faces on the east bank of the river). The river was crossable in some parts, but not without getting up to knees wet so if you're planning it, I'd recommend taking some flip flops to wear when crossing with you're boots slung over your neck.

About the poor weather, look on the positive side - use it as an excuse to plan your return as soon as possible! Cheers