There are no large cities, per se, located on Isle of Skye. Towns and villages are all relatively small in size; however, you will find all basic facilities and amenities available for an extremely enjoyable vacation.

Portree is Skye’s liveliest and largest town, it has a scenic harbor with amazing views of surrounding hills and lined with colorful and brightly painted houses. Its name, Portree, is a Gaelic for King’s Harbor, to commemorate James V, who arrived in 1540 to pacify nearby clans. The current population is approximately 2500 and 40% can speak Gaelic. There are several ways to get to Portree: from the Western Isles through Uig, the Mallaig to Armadale ferry; Skye Bridge; and the (seasonal) Kylerhea ferry. Buses are the only available public transport services. Portree has a few modern and comfortable B&Bs, yet most are bland and often lacking in character. In early August the annual Isle of Skye Highland Games is held.

Broadford (Gaelic: An T-Ath Leathann) is a service community village for nearby communities in Skye. This long and straggling village has a 24-hour gas station, a bank with ATM, a big co-op department store, a tourist office and small hospital. Three miles east of Broadford is the Ashaig airstrip, in May, it is the venue of the annual Skye Music Festival. You will find a lot of B&B around Broadford. The village has been expanding and evolving significantly in the past five years, with a number of new shops opening in this period.

Dunvegan (Gaelic: Dùn Bheagain) is the location of Dunvegan Castle and the seat of the Clan McLeod chief. The town has been expanding and evolving significantly in the past five years, with a number of new shops opening in this period. Dunvegan is now home to four medium sized B&B’s/hotels, a restaurant, a bakery, two general stores, a cobbler, tourist information, two gas stations, a fishing store, a gun shop, a vegetable and fruit ’shack’ and a cake shop. The town also has a recycling facility and other smaller facilities. It sits on the edge of the big ‘Loch Dunvegan’, while The School House is a famous restaurant for delicious dishes, made from freshly caught fished from the loch itself.

One of the greatest things about a visit to the Isle of Skye is its ferry ride. If you enjoy sailing slowly on ferries, island-hopping through the entire Hebrides chain can be a real blast, and a great way to spend a day exploring.

A network of small boats link the Isle of Skye to the mainland. The primary ferry services provider is CalMac or Caledonian MacBrayne. You can get the ferry services in Mallaig to reach Armadale, Skye, which takes only about half an hour. The Skye Ferry uses a tiny vessel for short crossings between Glenelg and Kylerhea. The vessel sails every 20 minutes, the crossing time is five minutes, and operates from 9 AM to 7 PM daily. In 2008, the ferry services prices from the mainland were significantly reduced thanks to an experimental scheme known as the Road Equivalent Tariff and also a policy by the Scottish Government.

Scottish Citylink runs a bus service to reach Portree from Inverness (twice daily, 3.5 hours) or Glasgow (three daily, 6.5 hours). The Isle of Skye was tethered permanently with the mainland when the Skye Bridge was opened in 1995. Luckily, in 2004 the controversial bridge tolls were abolished and the crossing is entirely free. You can drive directly onto Skye over the bridge on the A87, located at the Kyle of Lochalsh. The bridge is connected to a primary road used to reach the Isle of Skye. Gas stations can be found in Portree, Armadale, Dunvegan, Uig and Broadford. While, the First ScotRail runs a train service to the Kyle of Lochalsh and terminating at the Skye Bridge.

Getting around the Isle of Skye can be a little difficult if you want to use public transportation. To explore the Uig-Portree-Kyleakin main road, you can use a bus, but these services are mostly unavailable during weekend and public holidays. Contact Highland Country to know all available bus routes and its service time. You can buy its Skye Roverbus pass for £6 to get a 24-hour unlimited bus service. To rent a car or order a taxi, call Kyle Taxi Company. The car rental cost is about £35 a day and you can arrange to have it waiting at the train station in Kyle of Lochalsh.