Dinosaur Footprints Skye Beach: Everything You Need To Know!

If you are visiting the Isle of Skye with kids, then the you must pay a visit to the dinosaur footprints Skye beach – AKA An Corran beach – home to the dinosaur footprints on the Isle of Skye.

We have dinosaur mad kids. On our travels we have taken them to Drumheller, the dinosaur capital of the world where we visited the Royal Tyrrell Museum. We have visited lots of dinosaur parks in the UK and the Natural History Museum in London – one of the best London museums for kids – but actually finding dinosaur footprints at dinosaur footprint beach in Skye took it to a whole new level!

We highly recommend visiting the dinosaur footprints beach on the Isle of Skye and here is everything you need to know about visiting.

(If you love a Jurassic beach, you might also want to read all about Durdle Door beach in Dorset).

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Want a completely immersive dinosaur experience? Check out Jurassic World: The Exhibition in London. It promises to be a roarsomely great experience!

Information board at An Corran beach on the Isle os Skye on a sunny day.

Where is the dinosaur footprints Skye beach?

The dinosaur footprints can be found on An Corran beach in Staffin. It is located about half way between The Quiraing and Kilt Rock & Mealt Falls on the east coast of Skye.

If you are staying in Portree, it is only a 35 minute drive from Portree to the dinosaur footprints Skye beach.

You reach it by taking a narrow, winding, single track road from the A855 for about 1km.

If you are staying in Staffin, you can walk along a path down to Staffin Harbour and An Corran Beach. It is a little over 1km and rocky and can be slippery when wet – but the views are amazing.

Large expanse of sand at An Corran beach looking out towards Staffin Island.

History of the dinosaur footprints on the Isle of Skye

The dinosaur footprints in Skye were first discovered in 2001 by dog walkers and scientists have concluded that they date back to around 170 million years ago, during the mid-jurrassic period.

Species that have been discovered on Skye include: Stegosaurus, Megalosaurus, Cetiosaurus, Hadrosaurus, and Ceolophysis.

You can find more out about the Skye dinosaurs at the Staffin Dinosaur Museum (which is actually right by Kilt Rock & Mealt Falls as opposed to being in Staffin).

The Staffin Dinosaur Museum on the Isle of Skye.

When is the best time to visit An Corran beach dinosaur footprints?

This is one where you need to check the An Corran tide times otherwise you will not be able to find these Skye dinosaur footprints and that would be a shame.

You can check the tide times at An Corran beach (Staffin Bay) here.

Alternatively, you could plan to stay for the day and during that time, the tide will change!

View of An Corran beach and Staffin Island from the road.

An Corran beach parking

Staffin Harbour car park can be found by driving all the way past Staffin bay and it is at the end of the road.

You can park up here overnight for free if you are visiting in a campervan or motorhome (but you will need to share it with the smell as it is a working harbour)!

There is also parking on the side of the road that runs along the dinosaur footprint beach and down towards the car park.

We managed to park right by the entrance to the beach. There is no charge to park here.

VW Campervan parked at An Corran beach overlooking Staffin Bay.

An Corran beach facilities

In short – there are no facilities at An Corran beach so make sure to bring everything with you if you are staying for the day. The closest facilities would be in Staffin.

You could try Staffin Stores or on Sundays, Staffin Community Hall opens their toilets to the public to use free of charge.

There are also a few places to eat in Staffin if you haven’t packed a picnic.

How to find the Skye dinosaur footprints

Where’s the fun in telling you exactly where these Isle of Skye dinosaur footprints are located??

Part of the fun is finding the dinosaur footprints yourself so we won’t give exact coordinates.

We will just say, they aren’t far from the main slipway on the rocks and if there are other visitors on the beach, there’s a good chance you will see them stooped over looking at the dinosaur prints!

The great thing about visiting the Skye dinosaur footprints is that the beach where they are found is absolutely beautiful. If you are visiting on a beautiful, sunny day – you should plan to spend a day there!

Dinosaur footprints Skye beach -Little boy with his foot in the dinosaur footprints on An Corran beach.

What is there to do at the dinosaur footprints Skye beach?

Our kids were thrilled with finding the dinosaur footprints, but they also enjoyed rockpooling, clambering on the enormous boulders, building sandcastles and taking a paddle in the beautifully calm, clear (but cold) water!

There is a huge expanse of sand and even at the height of summer, there was plenty of space and it was not crowded in any way.

One tip for visiting An Corran beach – make sure you have some beach shoes. These ones are ideal for kids if they want to go and explore the rock pools.

We really enjoyed visiting the dinosaur footprints beach and would rank it as one of the best beaches in the UK for families.

Compilation of photos of An Corran beach.

Things to do near An Corran beach

Some of our favourite things to do near the dinosaur footprints beach are:

Walking the Quiraing
Visiting the Fairy Glen
Visiting Kilt Rock & Mealt Falls