Dunvegan Castle, Seat of the MacLeod Clan and an abandoned Lighthouse

If you know me at all, you'd know that I was a sucker for a well manicured garden and an impressive water view. Our two stops on our third day on Skye absolutely killed it with a 11 out of 10, hands down.

Our first destination of the day was the epic Dunvegan Castle, seat of the famed MacLeod clan. Oh boy does this family have a deep history throughout Scotland and this castle absolutely does them justice. The MacLeod family still uses the castle for half the year so it's closed from October 15th-May 15th.

Fun Fact, 11 years ago, the family tried to sell of their MOUNTAIN RANGE in order to pay for roof repairs to Dunvegan Castle. Who owns a freakin' mountain range!? Crazy.

Anyway, the Castle of Dunvegan is absolutely amazing but the grounds around it is really where it shines for me. Composed of over 5 acres of formal gardens, this hidden oasis has been in the works since for over 300 years. Containing the Water Garden, Round Garden, Walled Garden, woodland walk, and rhododendron gardens, it's truly a sight to behold.

The circular garden, woodland walk, rhododendron gardens are very nice and peaceful with natural stone steps and tree branches for railings. (See Above)

The real pièces de résistance however are the Water Gardens and (my personal favorite) the Walled Gardens. The water gardens are just so majestic with 2 legit waterfalls, large streams running through, bridges, and any kind of plant you can imagine. All kinds of natural Scottish flora are thriving all throughout the gardens. The sounds of the waterfalls are the perfect backdrop to this serene landscaped showpiece.

Containing both a small museum and Victorian Glasshouse (greenhouse) the Walled Gardens are really striking in their beauty. Surrounding the entire outer perimeter of the gardens, you'll fine every kind of useful place you could think of. By useful, I mean herbs, medicinal plants, and plants used for things like pigments and beverages. The interior is divided up into four sections with tall hedges to separate them.

Inside the greenhouse, you'll find a delightful assortment of "exotic" plants not native to Scotland. It really made Greg and I laugh because most of what they considered exotic, grows in our backyards in Florida. (Side note, I was in the grocery store today and they had a smoothie blend called Exotic Fruits... It had mango, papaya, and pineapple!) One special section of the gardens has a giant 2.7 Ton solid marble "pebble". Installed in 2019 and it rotates on it's pedestal. In the very center of the gardens you'll find an 18th century sundial. Seeing these two gardens is worth the ticket price alone. The castle staff also host seal boat tours and guided tours inside the castle.

After getting our fill of Dunvegan, we left and headed north and tried to see Coral Beach, allegedly one of Skye's most beautiful beaches but we were unfortunately turned around as there were so many cars there was a gridlock so we left and headed further west to one of Scotland's most famous lighthouses at Neist Point. The drive to Neist is so pretty, containing both coastal cliff and loch views. Neither of us had heard of this place before so it was a fun destination to explore.

Once you park and get to the path you'll notice it's basically a super steep slope down then up over a hill and then down again to the Lighthouse. You actually can't see the lighthouse from the start of the path. The path takes you a little over a mile down through sheep filled fields and impressive cliffs that you definitely don't want to get to close to (except I totally did and Greg yelled at me, ha! Worth it.). The lighthouse itself was decommissioned in the early 90's, there is a residence on the grounds that is privately owned however it didn't seem like anyone was home. I did snoop around and I could see toiletries and champagne bottles in the kitchen so it's been occupied fairly recently.

Foghorn

Lighthouse

Rock Beach

The shoreline had a supercool rock beach that people had built their own little memorial cairns on and apparently its a pretty tight fishing spot too. You can also head down to the landing point where supplies used to be delivered by boat. The old crane is still standing tall. Allegedly in the summer months, you can see whales and sharks but we weren't delighted by any on this trip.

Neist Point has some of the most amazing water views I've seen so far, and there's so many sights to take in no matter where you look. It was definitely a high point on our Skye vacation. Click on any of the images below to see over 300 photos from Dunvegan and Neist Point and make sure to check out the gallery where we post other albums that we don't post about!