Heading west out of Kyleakin or Kylerhea brings you eventually to the island's second-largest village, charmless BROADFORD (An t-Ath Leathann), whose mile-long main street curves round a wide bay. Despite its rather unlovely appearance, Broadford makes a useful base for exploring the southern half of Skye; its tourist office (June-Sept Mon-Sat 9am-6pm, Sun 10am-2pm; April & May Mon-Sat 9.30am-5.30pm; Oct Mon-Sat 9.30am-5pm; tel 01471/822361), next to the Esso garage on the main road, contains a laundry, small shop and bureau de change , all open 24 hours. At the west end of the village there's a bank, a bakery, a tearoom and a post office. The SYHA hostel is on the west shore of Broadford Bay (tel 01471/822442, ; Feb-Dec), or there's the much smaller, more beautiful and primitive Fossil Bothy hostel (tel 01471/822644 or 822297, fiona-mandeville@talk21.com ; open all year; booking essential), a mile or so east of the bay, in Lower Breakish, off the road to Kyleakin. You can rent bikes from the SYHA hostel or from Fairwinds , another good place to stay (tel 01471/822270; £40-50; March-Oct), just past the Broadford Hotel .