Quiraing Road
Staffin–Uig road · Staffin → Uig · Scotland
- Length
- 12 miles
- Drive time
- 30 min
- Type
- Technical road
- Region
- Scotland
Before you go: ⚠ Single-track with passing places; very busy with visitors in summer
Skye's other-worldly crossing of the Trotternish ridge: hairpins climb beneath the landslip pinnacles of the Quiraing before dropping to Uig — short, surreal and unforgettable.
Staffin to Uig across the Trotternish ridge: single-track, passing places, and hairpins under the landslip pinnacles of the Quiraing. The climb is the surreal bit — the rocks look arranged — and then you drop toward Uig. The surface is Highland single-track. The traffic in summer is everyone who has seen the same photograph.
The Quiraing viewpoint car park is the stop, and it fills. Walk a few minutes if you want the pinnacles without wing mirrors in the frame. Staffin Community Garage is fuel; The Glenview in Staffin and Single Track café in Kilmuir are food. Very busy in summer; go early, or in May. Passing-place discipline, including for campervans that should have thought twice.
Pair it with the A87 onto Skye and, if you have the stomach and the weather, the Bealach on the mainland. The Trotternish loop (Staffin–Uig–Portree) is a day without leaving the island.
This is a ridge road with a famous car park, not a pass you can rush. Let the coach reverse; you will need the favour later. Uig has the ferry to the Outer Isles if that is your onward; it also has fuel-ish civilisation after the ridge. Staffin is the quieter base. The hairpins below the car park are not the place to recover a missed photo — go round. Midges in still summer evenings are a real reason to keep the windows up when you stop. The Trotternish landslip is still moving on geological time; the tarmac is just the current line.
Highlights of the Quiraing Road
- Quiraing pinnacles
- Hairpin climb over the ridge
- Trotternish loop potential
Where to stop on the Quiraing Road
- Quiraing viewpoint viewpoint — Clifftop parking over the collapsed landslip plateau — fills early in summer
- Single Track, Kilmuir café — Tiny architectural espresso bar over the Minch — seasonal, roughly April to October
- Staffin Community Garage fuel — 24/7 automated card pumps serving the remote north-east of the island
- The Glenview, Staffin food — Island fare a few miles south of the Quiraing turn
Drive the Quiraing Road
Open Quiraing Road on the map → ⬇ Download GPX
GPX works with Garmin, TomTom, Beeline and most bike sat-navs. Free, no sign-up — these are indicative waypoints, so follow the road signs, not the arrow.
Plot it, add it to a club run with a meeting point and pit stops, then share the whole trip as one link. Free, no account, works offline.
Route research: Club road index
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