How To Visit The Fairy Pools With Kids & Have Them All To Yourself, Isle Of Skye

The Fairy Pools With Kids

The Isle of Skye has become the tourist hotspot of Scotland, outside Edinburgh. It welcomes over 650,000 tourists every year. I think it’s almost reaching ridiculous points, especially with all the coach parties that hammer through the narrow roads trying to meet their destinations on time. However, it’s still a worthy place to visit and there’s a way you can see these pleasing set of mini falls with minimal disruption. Read on for our simple hacks on how to have The Fairy Pools With Kids all to yourself.

Do You Need A Tour To Visit The Fairy Pools?

Definitely not, I’d wholeheartedly recommend not going on a tour because you’ll visit with hundreds of other people and the experience will be time-controlled by the tour. Hiring a car and self-driving is simple in Scotland and very rewarding.

Although we drove up from Derbyshire, you can fly into Glasgow, Edinburgh or Inverness, hire a car and drive across to the island. If you’re driving over to the island, check out this post on how best to get to the Isle of Skye.


Get cheap car rental with Kayak and self-drive to your heart’s content.


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The Fairy Pools With Kids

Where Is Best To Stay On The Isle Of Skye With Kids

We stayed in this quaint cottage to the southwest of the island near the Aird of Sleat (which is home to the most beautiful beach on the island.) However, this means you have at least an hour’s drive to get up the Fairy Pools but it does mean you’re guaranteed tranquillity and an exceptional view.

The most central place to stay would be Broadford or Sligachan although those are also the busiest places to stay.

There is no quick and easy way to book budget accommodation sadly. We regularly use these providers. We nearly always stay in self-catering accommodation but sometimes we book private rooms in hostels too.

Here are some providers we use regularly:

Save on your hotel - hotelscombined.com


The New Car Park

There is a brand new car park at the Fairy Pools and it’s enormous. The Glen Brittle car park cost us ÂŁ5 cash for the day although I’m unsure what times it officially opens. The car park can cater for approximately 137 cars and employs two full-time workers.

If the car park isn’t open, you’ll need to park on the road is the designated areas – although these are limited to protect the grass verges.

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The Fairy Pools, Isle of Sky

Go Out Of Season: How To Have The Fairy Pools All To Yourself

Although Scotland’s best weather is going to be in July and August, the weather should allow you to visit any time between April & October. We visited in April and although we had showers and cloud some days, other days were sunny and clear.

The best time to visit to avoid the busiest crowds would be outside school holidays. There are typically school holidays two weeks between March – April, four days for the May break, six weeks between July –September and a week at the end of October.

Being flexible is going to be your best way of having a good experience.

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The Fairy Pools With Kids
Visiting the Isle of Skye in APRIL

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The Fairy Pools With Kids
Visiting the isle of skye out of season in April

Having The Fairy Pools All To Yourself: Walk To The Very Far End Of The Falls

It’s no secret that all the lazy people on the tours make it to the first few pools but if you carry on walking for about a kilometre, almost up the base of the mountains, you’ll have the pools almost to yourself.

In April there was just one other couple up there with us.

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Visiting the Fairy Pools with Kids, out of season

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Visiting the top of the Fairy Pools with Kids

How To Visit The Fairy Pools With Kids & Be Alone: Walk The Wrong Way Round

You’ll notice that most tourists stick together and follow the wide path down to the last fairy pool. By taking a small track off to the left, you can visit a smaller set of pools first before visiting the first of the main set of pools.

Follow the small fork signposted Glen Sligachan to the left and take the narrow track past the smaller set of falls & pools, before arriving at the track on the right which leads you to the main pools. Virtually no one goes this way and you may end up having both sets all to yourselves.

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The Fairy Pools With Kids
Take the path on the left to walk round the wrong way.

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The Fairy Pools With Kids
Walk round the wrong way and have these small falls to yourself

How To Enjoy The Fairy Pools Alone With Kids: Get Up At First Light

If you want to have the Fairy Pools all to yourself then you should get up at the crack of dawn and be there for sunrise.

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Fairy Pools with Kids

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Fairy Pools with Kids

What Should You Take With You?

We visited in April and the ground was boggy and the weather unpredictable. We took with us:

Other Fairy Pool Walks In The Area

Did you know that you can hike from the bridge at Sligachan all the way over to the Fairy Pools?

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How to have the fairy pools on the isle of skye all to yourself and your family