Sips & Trips with Molly

Set within the gorgeous Isle of Skye are The Fairy Pools, one of the top spots within the Highlands. Within Glen Brittle are a number of natural pools and and waterfalls which welcome numerous visitors every year.

If you are visiting the Isle of Skye or nearby, we highly recommend adding the fairy pools to your list of things to do. Wanting to swim? Get your set of clothes ready to change back into because it’s not the warmest!

How To Get There

There’s no denying it or trying to avoid it, you have to drive when you go to the Highlands. You can feel isolated (in a good way) as there’s not often a lot around except mountains which makes a great drive!

We flew into Glasgow Airport and hired a car from Enterprise, and managed to get a nice upgrade to a Mazda SUV. It had heated seats, steering wheel, the lot which is a big difference from my old Vauxhall Corsa which I do still love.

Down the winding roads down and up Glen Brittle you will find parking for The Fairy Pools – get there early to secure a spot although we were able to get one easily midday. We went during England’s Easter Holidays during a week which didn’t fall within Scotland’s (not planned just a coincidence). Parking from what I remember is £6 a car.

What Do You Need?

Definitely layer up, even in April it was freezing. A spare change of clothes if you are going swimming – again layer up. We took a waterproof backpack to store all of our stuff in which was super handy.

Hiking boots ideally as although it’s not a crazy footpath, there are some areas which you need sturdier shoes for. For example, at the start there is a small slope going down to the footpath and stones which make up some steps. I also wish we had a hot drink with us as there wasn’t any place to get a drink so a heads up. Before, I forget there are toilets at the car park!

How Far Is The Walk?

There and back is around 2.4 miles, but you can do a longer loop which is 5 miles around Coire na Creiche Loop. We didn’t realise this and didn’t know where the trail ended or which bit was the main Fairy Pools so we kept walking!

I will say, you might look on Google and know which Fairy Pool to look out for but it’s harder than it looks. We naively thought it was just one pool, and didn’t realise there were tons but was a great surprise but we didn’t know when to stop.

The advantage of that is you can go at your own pace and decide when you want to return to the car.

Taking a Dip In The Fairy Pools

We love a bit of swimming, and try different water activities each place we are in so The Fairy Pools was a necessity for us. Our Airbnb had a hot tub so we were humbled when we first started our walk to the pools!

I’ve swum in the Cornish sea in November, but this was different! It is cold so like I said have everything out ready. I’d recommend to see a few pools before you just go in as each have different ways to get into the water. The one we went into had almost like a rock that slid into it which was handy but the rocks are slippery so can be hard to get up – but there are plenty which are easier to get in and out of.

Take water shoes, I wish I took these!

Despite the coldness, this was one of the best things we have ever done! The freshness I’ll call it, woke us up and was nothing I’ve ever experienced before. We took deep breaths which helped us massively during it.

Out of everything, being able to swim amongst the gorgeousness of the views was amazing. To be surrounded by the Black Cullin mountains really was like something out of Pinterest.

Final Thoughts (Aka. Not Over This Trip)

Just go. Definitely go. There were so many different types of travellers there of different ages so there’s lots of routes you can take.

Things I wish I took: take a dry robe, bring multiple flasks of tea and perhaps a hot water bottle.

Not to be dramatic, but Scotland is one of the best places I’ve ever been and it’s exactly how people describe. We only went to Scotland for 4 days so it’s impossible to fit everything in, but this should be on the list of your first trip.