I visited the Fairy Pools on the Isle of Skye - the magic has been lost since I went 10 years ago

One visitor said they were disappointed because the pools didn’t live up to their expectations after seeing edited photos online.

I was taken on a date to the Fairy Pools on Skye about ten years ago.

Needless to say the day has stuck with me. It was one of those crisp autumn days in November with a clear blue sky that was topped by the aqua-blue of these natural pools.

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It was just the two of us accompanied by the sound of the burbling mountain spring. The memories of this magical spot in Glenbrittle, nestled at the foot of the towering Cullin peaks, are still vivid in my mind’s eye.

The site was already seeing unsustainable numbers back then, with some 80,000 people visiting in 2015, according to reports. The figure has now burgeoned to 200,000 visitors a year.

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In 2024, the views of the glen are the same, the brook still babbling away. But add a 120-space car park, toilets and a steady stream of visitors walking on the gravel path by the mountain spring.

Probably one of the most photographed parts of the islandProbably one of the most photographed parts of the island
Probably one of the most photographed parts of the island | Katharine Hay

I went back with my sister, who hadn’t seen the pools before, but also to see how much the place had changed in the past ten years since “Insta-tourism” prompted an explosion in visitors to the site.

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We were glad to be going on a day in late October as the glen is rammed with people in the summer months, with cars, campervans and tour buses queuing for miles on the single-track road leading to it. Traffic jams have been reported to last as long as four hours because of tyre punctures and vehicles getting stuck. One Skye tour operator said he is thinking of missing out the Fairy Pools - his main selling point - altogether in his itinerary next year because of the chaos getting there.

Driving there, I can believe it. The road is narrow and pockmarked with craters, which we found impossible to dodge, despite knowing what was coming.

After a successful funding bid, the car park at the Fairy Pools was completed in 2020 at a cost of £800,000 raised and coordinated by Outdoor Access Trust For ScotlandAfter a successful funding bid, the car park at the Fairy Pools was completed in 2020 at a cost of £800,000 raised and coordinated by Outdoor Access Trust For Scotland
After a successful funding bid, the car park at the Fairy Pools was completed in 2020 at a cost of £800,000 raised and coordinated by Outdoor Access Trust For Scotland | Katharine Hay

The car park itself is fairly new - a development prompted by over-tourism at the site. Some locals protested against the idea, saying it would only encourage the problem further. But others in the community raised enough money for the building work to go ahead, plus some toilets, to alleviate what was a horrendous parking issue along the side of the road for years.

Arriving there, it was almost unimaginable to think there was no car park until about four years ago given the numbers there were, even in late October.

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As we moved forwards slowly in a queue of cars looking to find the last few spaces available, I looked down at the ant line of people, including a parade behind a woman in a wedding dress, and already felt the trip was going to be very different from last time.

On the path, we joined in with everyone else, stopping to photograph the crystal clear water, bubbling spellbinding shades of turquoise in the deeper pools. It was weird thinking back to when I was there the first time, taking photos of the magical setting on my Canon 300 D camera with no one around. Little did I know I would be standing at the Fairy Pools ten years later doing the same thing, but this time dodging tourists, and realising I had been part of the problem. The experience felt somewhat perverse.

The are a couple of options for walks at the site, with the most popular one being a 2 to 3km walk along the spring to the foot of the mountains. While on the path back, a couple asked me about halfway up if there was anything else worth taking photos of further on.

The question really made the social media-focused age of people travelling for the photo rather than seeing places for what they are hit home.

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Once back in the car, after trying to navigate people standing in the car park, glued to their phones already editing pictures, I saw a review online from someone saying they were disappointed in the Fairy Pools because photos online are misleading so it wasn’t what they expected.

I found the review a bit depressing to read because it showed how much the likes of Instagram have warped our perception of some of the world’s most beautiful places, to the point where, in this person’s case, they see them as a disappointment. That sense of adventure - of seeing something new, for the first time - is spoiled.

In some ways I found the Fairy Pools a disappointment myself, going back there and realising the magic I had felt there ten years ago was no longer.

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