Mealt Falls

Isle of Skye / Kyle of Lochalsh, Scotland, UK (Great Britain)

About Mealt Falls


Hiking Distance: almost roadside
Suggested Time:

Date first visited: 2014-08-26
Date last visited: 2014-08-26

Waterfall Latitude: 57.61137
Waterfall Longitude: -6.17215

Waterfall Safety and Common Sense

Mealt Falls was certainly one of those waterfalls with that “Wow!” factor as it had a lot going for it, especially in light of the fact that we made our visit on a near perfect weather day. Not only did this roughly 55m waterfall prominently plunge from the sea cliffs right into the Sound of Raasay (itself part of a larger body of water connected to the Atlantic Ocean called The Minch), but it was also backed by the eccentric 90m Kilt Rock formation, which apparently beared a striking resemblance to a Scottish kilt. Generally, waterfalls plunging into the sea tend to be very scenic and fairly rare in the world (some dramatic examples include McWay Falls and Ketubjorg), but when you combine the fine natural scenery of the Isle of Skye along with the shapely sea cliffs here, we just had to give this waterfall its props. In fact, this could very well have been Julie’s favorite waterfall on our 2014 trip throughout Great Britain!

Mealt Falls was so named because it was fed by a freshwater lake called Loch Mealt. When I took photos towards a body of water that was reflecting some of the attractive landscape looking further inland, little did I realize that I was indeed looking at the Loch Mealt. So by virtue of the falls being fed by this fairly large loch, I’d imagine this waterfall would also tend to have pretty reliable flow.

Kilt_Rock_050_08262014
The large lookout area for Kilt Rock
While on the topic of nomenclature, we were aware that this part of the Scottish Highlands still had a fair bit of the population speak the Scottish Gaelic (though I could see how the language had suffered from a steady decline since Scotland’s absorption into the United Kingdom). Yet, apparently only the Kilt Rock seemed to have a well-publicized Scottish Gaelic name – Creag an Fheilidh. I wasn’t able to find a Gaelic name for Mealt Falls, though if I had to guess, it might be Eas Mealt. Anyways, the 10th century Vikings named this area Staffin (from the Old Norse word stafr for pillars) referring to the basalt columns of the cliffs that has earned Kilt Rock its name these days. According to a sign here, a very extensive collection of dinosaur remains have also been found on the Jurassic rocks along this coast.

As for our visit, walking to the overlook of both the falls and the Kilt Rock couldn’t have been easier. Basically from the well-signed car park (between Loch Mealt and the dramatic sea cliffs), we walked a few paces to the fenced overlook clinging onto the sea cliffs with the awesome scene of Mealt Falls spilling into the sea before Kilt Rock (as shown above). There pretty much wasn’t a different way to see the falls as the best views were confined to a small area (maybe room for two or three people to get the view cleanly) despite the fact that there was a lot more space in the general overview area along the edges of the sea cliffs dropping suddenly into the sea below.

As we walked alongside the general overlook area away from the falls and towards the southern cliffs, we could see even more impressive sea cliff formations though after seeing Mealt Falls and Kilt Rock, it’s hard not to be lukewarm to them even though the other scenery itself was pretty dramatic in its own right. This lukewarm reaction might have also been exacerbated by some flooding that occurred when this area of Scotland got hit pretty hard with some nasty storms that lashed the area earlier in August. So that kind of made some of the choice viewing areas to the south either off-limits or required wading in a puddle that was shin deep.

Finally, there had been some confusion regarding this waterfall and another one called Lealt Falls. To be clear, this waterfall was not called Lealt Falls, because we saw signs while driving the A855 road pointing the way towards Lealt Falls from further south closer to Portree (near the trailhead area for Old Man Storr). Indeed, Lealt Falls was a totally different waterfall, and after looking through the literature post mortem, I’m wondering if we messed up by not stopping for it as it looked scenically alluring in its own right. As always, hindsight’s 20/20, but perhaps one of these days we might be lucky enough to spend more time in the Isle of Skye on a return visit, and if that happens, I’m sure we’ll make it a point to spend time at Lealt Falls.

Kilt_Rock_006_08262014
Kilt_Rock_014_08262014
Kilt_Rock_035_08262014
Kilt_Rock_037_08262014
Kilt_Rock_039_08262014
Kilt_Rock_040_08262014
Kilt_Rock_041_08262014
Kilt_Rock_048_08262014
Kilt_Rock_049_08262014
Kilt_Rock_062_08262014


Mealt Falls was actually part of the well-signed Kilt Rock View. This was about 15 miles north of the town of Portree on the east coast of the Isle of Skye (roughly 10 miles north of the Bride’s Veil Waterfall and the Old Man Storr). The signposted car park was on the right side.

To get to Portree from Inverness (where we were based at during our Highlands portion of the trip), we had to drive the A82 west then south along the northern shore of Loch Ness for about 27 miles towards Glenmoriston. We then left the A82 and followed the A887 for the next 15 miles before turning right once again to go onto the A87. Then, we followed the A87 for the next 71 miles or so into the town of Portree, where we then continued north for the aforementioned 15 miles to get to the Kilt Rock view.

During the long stretch of driving on the A87, keep an eye out for the beautiful Eilean Donan (pronounced like “ELL-un-DOH-nun”) Castle at about the 28th mile after leaving the A887, and the long bridge to the Isle of Skye at the Kyle of Lochalsh at almost the 37th mile. This long drive took us about 3 hours with some traffic (again because you’re dealing with mostly two-lane highways in opposite directions with very few opportunities to pass slower vehicles).

Finally, for some additional context, our base of Inverness was 65 miles (about 90-120 minutes drive) northeast of Fort William, 155 miles (3.5 hours drive) north of Edinburgh and 169 miles (3.5 hours drive) north of Glasgow.

Find A Place To Stay

Focusing on both Kilt Rock and Mealt Falls spilling into the Sound of Raasay before briefly looking further to the south and its coastline

Related Top 10 Lists

Trip Planning Resources


Nearby Accommodations



Tagged with: kyle of lochalsh, isle of skye, scotland, uk, united kingdom, waterfall, highlands, portree, kilt rock, inverness-shire, ellishadder



Visitor Comments:

Got something you'd like to share or say to keep the conversation going? Feel free to leave a comment below...

No users have replied to the content on this page


Share your thoughts about what you've read on this page

You must be logged in to submit content. Refresh this page after you have logged in.

Visitor Reviews of this Waterfall:

If you have a waterfall story or write-up that you'd like to share, feel free to click the button below and fill out the form...

No users have submitted a write-up/review of this waterfall


Have you been to a waterfall? Submit a write-up/review and share your experiences or impressions

Review A Waterfall

Nearest Waterfalls

The Waterfaller Newsletter

The Waterfaller Newsletter is where we curate the wealth of information on the World of Waterfalls website and deliver it to you in bite-sized chunks in your email inbox. You'll also get exclusive content like...

  • Waterfall Wednesdays
  • Insider Tips
  • User-submitted Waterfall Write-up of the Month
  • and the latest news and updates both within the website as well as around the wonderful world of waterfalls


How To Build A Profitable Travel Blog In 4 Steps