Northern Skye
Kilmaluag
A scattered crofting township of bay views, medieval remains and the walk to Skye's northernmost point.
- Best for
- Northern headland walking and wildlife watching
- Give it
- Three to five hours for the Rubha Hunish circuit
- Don't miss
- St Moluag's west gable above Kilmaluag Bay
The Fox verdict
A far-north base for walking, wildlife and deep time
Kilmaluag is a scattered crofting township rather than a conventional village centre, with its strongest experiences around the bay and Rubha Hunish.
Come for the 8.5-kilometre Rubha Hunish circuit, the surviving gable of medieval St Moluag's and a bay whose rocks record Middle Jurassic lagoons. Nearby north Skye attractions can extend a visit; do not rely on the village takeaway without independently confirming that it is operating.
Where to go
Places in Kilmaluag
Every place below is checked against a published source, listed with what it is and how long to give it.
Local signatures
3 placesSt Moluag's Church
A medieval scheduled monument whose prominent survivor is a random-rubble west gable topped by a stone pinnacle; the other walls remain as turf-covered footings.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 30 minutes
- Locality
- Kilmaluag Bay
Duntulm Castle
A scheduled cliff-edge courtyard castle begun in the 14th–15th centuries and later used as a MacDonald residence, with courtyard walls, a sea gate and vaulted basement kitchen surviving.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 45 minutes
- Locality
- approximately 1.7 miles from Kilmaluag
The Quiraing
One of the major Trotternish landscape stops that can be paired with Kilmaluag.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 75 minutes
- Locality
- approximately 3.8 miles from Kilmaluag
Food & drink
1 placeUig Hotel Bar and Restaurant
A nearby pub-style dining option whose bar and restaurant serve the same dinner menu, including local seafood, Highland red deer and haddock and chips.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 90 minutes
- Locality
- Uig
Walks & outdoors
2 placesKilmaluag Bay
The partial type section of the Kilmaluag Formation, with about 20 metres of mudstone, limestone and sandstone deposited in shallow Middle Jurassic lagoons.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 45 minutes
- Locality
- Kilmaluag Bay
Rubha Hunish Circuit
An 8.5-kilometre circuit with 340 metres of ascent, a former coastguard lookout maintained as a bothy and chances to watch seabirds and marine mammals.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow 3–5 hours
- Locality
- minor road by the Kilmaluag phone box, signed Shulista
- Access
- Later ground can be boggy; the optional descent to the headland is a steep rocky scramble.
Things to do
1 placeSkye Museum of Island Life
Eight thatched cottages preserve a croft house, byre, ceilidh house, smithy, old shop and weaver's house; the old croft house remained occupied until 1957.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 90 minutes
- Locality
- Kilmuir
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Three ways to explore Kilmaluag
Signature outings
Rubha Hunish
Follow the 8.5-kilometre circuit to the former coastguard lookout and scan the Little Minch for seabirds and marine mammals.
St Moluag's gable
See the prominent random-rubble west gable and stone pinnacle of the medieval church above Kilmaluag Bay.
Island life in Kilmuir
Explore eight thatched cottages, including a croft house, byre, ceilidh house, smithy, old shop and weaver's house.
The village story
Kilmaluag Village Guide
Coffee at Kendram, the route to Rubha Hunish, Jurassic rock and the church behind the township's name.
Coffee and a Scattered Township
At 11 Kendram, a small takeaway called Bûrr has served coffee, homemade cakes and a shelf of gifts. A recent Skye food guide singles out its cardamom-and-rose hot chocolate; visitors mention the carrot cake and jars of rhubarb-and-ginger jam. It is less a café than a window you stop at, which fits Kilmaluag well enough.
The place is not a village in the usual sense. It is a scattered crofting township at the northern tip of the Trotternish peninsula, spread across Solitote, Aird, Connista, Kendram and Balmacqueen, with no real centre. From Port Gobhlaig and Kilmaluag Bay you look east across the water to the Wester Ross mainland; from the higher ground the view swings north and west over the Little Minch towards Harris.
Reaching Kilmaluag and Rubha Hunish
Getting here means the A855, the single loop road around north Trotternish between Staffin and Uig, and then minor single-track lanes down to the bay and the trailheads. Buses on the Portree–Flodigarry–Uig route call at Kilmaluag Balmacqueen, though not often. The nearest railway is at Kyle of Lochalsh, back on the mainland.
The Rubha Hunish circuit starts from a minor road by the Kilmaluag phone box, signed Shulista, and runs 8.5 kilometres out to the northernmost point of Skye and back, with 340 metres of climbing across three to five hours. The outward path is good going; later stretches turn boggy, and the optional drop to the headland is a steep, rocky scramble. Walkhighlands calls it "the best walk on Skye for seabird and marine mammal watching." Bring what you need; there are no facilities once you leave the road.
Wildlife and Jurassic Rock
The route passes the abandoned houses of Erisco and the ruin of Duntulm Castle before reaching the cliffs, where you may spot shags, razorbills, summer gannets, otters around Tulm Bay, and, in July and August, dolphins, porpoises and whales offshore. Below the cliffs are basalt columns, sea stacks, a natural arch and the parallel ridges of old lazybeds.
The bay has a quieter distinction. Its rock is the partial type section of the Kilmaluag Formation, some twenty metres of mudstone, limestone and sandstone laid down in shallow Jurassic lagoons about 166 million years ago, holding fossils of fish, mammals and reptiles. The formation carries the township's name and also crops out elsewhere on Skye.
St Moluag and Nearby Stops
The church that named the place is mostly gone. St Moluag's stands above the bay as a single random-rubble west gable, about 6.4 metres wide and five and a half high, topped by a stone pinnacle; the rest survives as turf-covered footings. A rector was recorded here in 1507, and the ruin probably sits over an older Celtic church. The parish moved to Kilmuir around 1600, and a mission church went up at Kilmaluag in 1935. Cill Moluaig — the cell of St Moluag — is what the Gaelic name still says.
For a wet afternoon, the Skye Museum of Island Life at Kilmuir keeps eight thatched cottages, one of them lived in until 1957; the Quiraing is about four miles south, and the Uig Hotel serves Highland red deer, local seafood and haddock and chips. But the thing to do here is walk out to the point, where the old coastguard lookout is kept up as a bothy, and sit for a while watching the Minch for whatever surfaces.
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A guide with a point of view
Written from research. Edited for real journeys.
Use the Official site links for live practical details, then use this guide for context, ideas and room to explore.
Sources
Every place on this page is checked against a published source. Each entry links the record we used and names who publishes it.
- St Moluag's Church — portal.historicenvironment.scot statutory register or public authority
- Kilmaluag Bay — saintsplaces.gla.ac.uk other published source
- Rubha Hunish Circuit — walkhighlands.co.uk other published source
- Duntulm Castle — portal.historicenvironment.scot statutory register or public authority
- Skye Museum of Island Life — skyemuseum.co.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation
- The Quiraing — visitscotland.com operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Uig Hotel Bar and Restaurant — uig-hotel-skye.com other published source