It sits under Cnoc an Fhreiceadain (the Watch Hill), looking north across Tongue Bay to the Rabbit Islands.

It is one of a series of townships, running from Tongue along the A836 to Blandy.

The township of Scullomie is 1 mile (1.6 km) to the north.

The place name Coldbackie is not unique to the Kyle of Tongue, with there being two Coldbacks in Shetland (in Unst and Delting) and one in north west Iceland, both areas where Norse roots would be more likely.

Omand, in The Sutherland book, translates Coldbackie as kula-bakki, bank with the bump, whilst Stewart, in Place names of Shetland says that Coldbacks is Cold Hill.