Museums and visitor centres in Skye and Lochalsh are inspired from the heritage, culture and environmental factors that have shaped these communities and lives for centuries.

From the larger clan visitor centre and castles to the tiniest croft house there are plenty of opportunities to peek into the often unsettled and rebellious history of our island and highland ancestors. Start at the famous Eilean Donan castle on its rocky promontory and stunning location, in Lochalsh moving onto Skye where the Museums of the Isles at Armadale Castle and the grounds and castle at Dunvegan castle will keep the historian and families happy for days.

Often more fascinating are the glimpses into the crofting life of the ordinary islanders, with their harsh but close knit and happy community life. The Museum of Island Life at Kilmuir will captivate you as you step back into another time to experience their living and work conditions sense some of the harsh realities they faced and the happy communities that they lived in.

From those often harsh lives comes a rich inspiration and a motivation to keep the crafting heritage vibrant and alive today. Working studios and visitor centres with demonstrations from tanning of skins, spinning and weaving of local wool, potters at work, stone carving, bladesmiths, jewellers and knitters all harnessing and developing techniques and traditions from the past for our future art and craft culture to drawn on.

And for the children amongst us, follow in the footsteps of dinosaurs where our unique dinosaur museum hosts world class examples of dinosaurs from recent island finds, while the serpentarium offers the chance to get up close to some fascinating and very alive, reptiles. Children just love it! And for all of us eternal children, the toy museum is just captivating with something to transport all of us back to those special carefree days of our childhood.

The majestic Sea Eagles of Skye feature in a unique exhibition at the Aros centre in Portree and the otter hides at Kylerhea offers the chance to watch playful otters at Glenelg. Sheepdog demonstrations capture our crofting heritage showing the remarkable partnership between man and dog, with falconry displays keeping another traditional land craft alive.

And after all that, for those of us led by a thirst there are visitor centers at the world famous Talisker distillery where a 'wee dram' will keep you going and at our first microbrewery at Sligachan. A must for all connoisseurs of the finer things in life.

A range of attractions to suit all age groups and visitor experiences that are unforgettable.