The high-end glamping experience shaking up the Isle of Skye

The Scottish island’s quirky new arrival manages to both stand out and blend into its surroundings – here’s what to expect during a stay

The Isle of Skye is an odd one. On the one hand, its beauty is otherworldly. On the other, many visitors come away from the largest of the Inner Hebridean islands feeling oddly short-changed, particularly around its central hub of Portree. Too often, they’re caught out by the town’s bizarre shortage of dining options, which get booked up days in advance, or its tedious lack of affordable accommodation. Skye has made a name for itself not only for its majestic Fairy Pools, but also its defiant array of extortionate B&Bs. 

But the new four-star Bracken Hide hotel promises to be an antidote to all this. Offering visitors a quirky, high-end glamping experience on the outskirts of Portree, it is well suited both to disorganised types (who appreciate having all their amenities within one complex) and those who can only justify parting with their holiday funds if the result is something a bit different. 

A blade-like Scandi-brutalist edifice flanked by hobbit-style huts tucked into the hillside, Bracken Hide manages to both stand out and blend in to its brooding surroundings. The interiors are uplifting and mellow, with vaulting ceilings and fluffy white pouffes that pop against the seabed-blue walls. While very open plan, with huge windows from which to stare at Skye’s vistas, it manages to be cosy, too, with cushion-strewn window seats for rainy-day games. Idiosyncratic touches – a gold-foiled map of Skye here, a yellow-dyed yak head there – only add to the charm.

It can be a bit of a schlep to the accommodation pods, which are scattered on the hillside behind the main building – though this does mean the units are nicely spaced out from each other, sparing you the disturbance of other guests. Thankfully, golf-buggy drivers are on hand to transport your luggage (or you), if needed.