Beyond Loch Snizort to the west of Trotternish is the Waternish peninsula, which ends in Ardmore Point's double rock arch. Duirinish is separated from Waternish by Loch Dunvegan. It is ringed by sea cliffs which reach 295 metres (967 ft) at Waterstein Head. Oolitic loam provides good arable land in the main strath. Lochs Bracadale and Harport lie between Duirinish and Minginish which includes the narrow valleys of Talisker and Glen Brittle and whose beaches are formed from black basaltic sands. Strathaird is a relatively small peninsula close to the Cuillin hills with several small crofting communities. The bedrock of Sleat is Torridonian sandstone which produces poor soils and boggy ground, although its lower elevations and relatively sheltered eastern shores produces a lush growth of hedgerows and crops.

The influence of the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf Stream create a mild oceanic climate. Temperatures are generally cool, averaging 6.5 °C (44 °F) in January and 15.4 °C (60 °F) in July at Duntulm in Trotternish. Snow seldom lies at sea level and frosts are fewer than the mainland. Winds are a limiting factor for vegetation with speeds of 128 km/h (80 mph) being recorded and south-westerlies the most common. High winds are especially likely on the exposed coasts of Trotternish and Waternish. In common with most islands of the west coast of Scotland, rainfall is generally high at between 1500–2000 mm (60–80 in) per annum and the elevated Cuillin are wetter still. Variations can be considerable, with the north tending to be drier than the south. Broadford, for example, averages more than 2,870 mm (113 inches) per annum. Trotternish typically has 200 hours of bright sunshine in May, the sunniest month.

Portree in the north at the base of Trotternish is the largest settlement, and main service centre on the island, with a population of 1,960. Broadford is on the east side of the island and Dunvegan in the north-west. Kyleakin is linked to Kyle of Lochalsh on the mainland by the Skye Bridge that spans the narrows of Loch Alsh. Uig is on the west of the Trotternish peninsula and Edinbane is located between Dunvegan and Portree.

A Mesolithic hunter-gatherer site dating to the 7th millennium BC at An Corran in Staffin is one of the oldest archaeological sites in Scotland. Its occupation is probably linked to that of the rock shelter at Sand, Applecross on the mainland coast of Wester Ross. Surveys of the area between the two shores of the Inner Sound and Sound of Raasay have revealed thirty three sites with potentially Mesolithic deposits. Finds of bloodstone microliths on the foreshore at Orbost on the west coast of the island near Dunvegan also suggest Mesolithic occupation of the area. These tools probably originate from the nearby island of Rùm.

Rubha an Dùnain, an uninhabited peninsula to the south of the Cuillin, has a variety of archaeological sites dating from the Neolithic onwards. Loch na h-Airde, which is situated close to the ruins of a promontory fort, is linked to the sea by the artificial "Viking canal" and there are remains of prehistoric settlement dating from the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages nearby. Dun Ringill is a ruined Iron Age hill fort on the Strathaird peninsula, which was further fortified in the Middle Ages and may have become the seat of Clan MacKinnon.

Adomnán's life of Columba, written shortly before 697, portrays the saint visiting Skye and Adomnán himself is thought to have been familiar with the island. The Irish annals record a number of events on Skye in the later 7th and early 8th centuries, mainly concerning the struggle between rival dynasties which formed the background to the Old Irish language romance Scéla Cano meic Gartnáin.

The Norse held sway throughout the Hebrides from the 9th century until after the Treaty of Perth in 1266. However, little remains of their presence in the written or archeological record on Skye. Viking heritage is nonetheless claimed by Clan MacLeod and Norse tradition is celebrated in the winter fire festival at Dunvegan, during which a replica Viking long boat is set alight.

The most powerful clans on Skye in the post–Norse period were Clan MacLeod, originally based in Trotternish, and Clan MacDonald of Sleat. Following the disintegration of the Lordship of the Isles, the Mackinnons also emerged as an independent clan, whose substantial landholdings in Skye were centred on Strathaird. The MacDonalds of South Uist were bitter rivals of the MacLeods, and an attempt by the former to murder church-goers at Trumpan in retaliation for a previous massacre on Eigg, resulted in the Battle of the Spoiling Dyke of 1578.

After the failure of the Jacobite rebellion of 1745, Flora MacDonald became famous for rescuing Prince Charles Edward Stuart from the Hanoverian troops. Although she was born on South Uist her story is strongly associated with their escape via Skye and she is buried at Kilmuir in Trotternish. Skye was visited by Samuel Johnson and James Boswell during their 1773 Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland. Boswell wrote of their visit to Kilmuir that, "To see Dr. Samuel Johnson, the great champion of the English Tories, salute Miss Flora MacDonald in the isle of Sky, was a striking sight; for though somewhat congenial in their notions, it was very improbable they should meet here. Written on her gravestone are Johnson's words that hers was "A name that will be mentioned in history, and if courage and fidelity be virtues, mentioned with honour". In the wake of the rebellion the clan system was broken up and Skye became a series of landed estates.