Swimming in the Fairy Pools

Yes. People do, all year. There is no rule against it and no lifeguard, which between them tell you most of what you need to know.

The temperature is the whole story

The water is commonly in the region of 8 to 12°C, year round. Skye’s summer does not warm a mountain burn meaningfully, and the pools are fed from the Cuillin.

That is cold-water swimming, not a dip. At those temperatures the first response is involuntary — a gasp and a spike in breathing rate — and it is the gasp that is dangerous rather than the cold itself. Getting in slowly matters more than being fit.

If you are going to do it

Never alone. This is the single most important line on this page. There is no supervision here and the glen has patchy phone signal.

Get in gradually and let the breathing settle before you go anywhere.

Know how you are getting out before you get in — the rock is slippery and the pools have edges that are easier to enter than to leave.

Have warm dry clothes at the top of your bag, not the bottom. You will be colder ten minutes after than during.

Do not jump in. Depths vary, rock is where rock is, and nobody is coming quickly.

If you are not going to do it

You are in the majority, and you have missed nothing important. The pools are beautiful to look at — the clarity is the point, and clear water photographs better than it swims.

Plenty of people walk in, look, eat something, and walk out. That is a perfectly complete visit.

A note on the crowds

In season, in the middle of the day, this is a busy place with people photographing everything including you. If swimming is the plan, early morning or evening is both quieter and — as everyone who has done it will tell you — considerably better anyway.

Getting there

The pools cost nothing; Glenbrittle is the expensive part if you have no car. The walk and the parking covers the practical side, and the tours that reach the trailhead are the answer if you are not driving.