📌 Duirinish, Isle of Skye
★★★★★
Neist Point is the most westerly point on Skye’s 400-mile coastline. This wild headland – decorated by sheer cliffs, grazing sheep and a lonely lighthouse – is deservedly one of the most popular destinations on the island, with uninterrupted views across The Minch to the Outer Hebrides on a clear day. Given calm seas, this is also a superlative whale watching location, and if all that weren’t enough, seabirds breed around the edges of the headland in spring and summer. But what Neist Point is really famous for is its sensational sunsets, when (particularly in midsummer) evening rays turn the western cliffs golden, hopefully below azure skies. For this quality alone, it gets a ★★★★★ rating. There’s a good path along the backbone of the headland, but for the very best views you should make a few detours to the various minor promontories and summits – though great care is needed with unprotected drops. What about crowds? It’s a busy place, but the car park was massively expanded in 2018 and 2019, from a laughably inadequate 10 spaces to 200! It can still get full, but parking issues are generally less pronounced than at many other of the island’s main sights.
📷 Chronological photo guide
Path down onto the headland 
Old cableway 
Waterstein Head 
An t-Aigeach summit – the main path skirts this on the left side 
Way ahead to the lighthouse 
Looking back to An t-Aigeach 
Nesting shag 
Lighthouse 
Guga 
View back along the west side of the headland 
Wheatear 
Neist Point from An t-Aigeach 
Mainland side from An t-Aigeach 
Waterstein Head from An t-Aigeach 
Western Isles from An t-Aigeach 
The whole headland seen from the clifftop to the west of the car park
🌍 Location
📌 Start / finish at large car park (still gets full at busy times) at minor road end, Waterstein, Skye
🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NG 133478
🛰️ GPS coordinates: 57.429906,-6.777849
❌ No public transport within 1 mi
🚗 Car park (gets full despite recent expansion)
📝 Key info
▶ 4 km / 2 mi | ▲ 180 m | ⌛ 1.5 hr
Features: 🌊 Neist Point headland & lighthouse
⬤ Moderate | Main path to lighthouse is surfaced, though steep with lots of steps; rougher paths for remainder of route, with unprotected drops.
Download file for GPS➡️ Out-and-back walk with various minor detours: start – Neist Point lighthouse & headland – minor summit of An t-Aigeach – car park – out and back detour to viewpoint to west
🥾 On our last visit
Wildlife: Nesting kittiwakes and gannets with chicks, nesting shags, other seabirds, wheatears.
Weather: Cloudless skies, setting sun, breezy, temperature dropping.
August 2019
