Orkney & Shetland Fly-drive

Your holiday begins as you fly from Glasgow or Edinburgh Airport on the 90 or so minute flight to Orkney. On arrival, collect your hire car and drive to your centrally located hotel on the outskirts of Kirkwall – your base for three nights.

Your Hotel on Orkney

Hidden away somewhat amid the residences on the outskirts of Kirkwall, your Orkney hotel is an inviting and welcoming base. The traditional furniture includes a range of local Orkney chairs in various shapes and sizes, while our favourite late night spot is the whisky snug: imagine a library where the shelves are stacked with bottles instead of books! A destination for locals as well as visitors, the restaurant prides itself on serving the best local produce. The menu changes regularly depending on the season: look out for Scrabster squid or local lamb with its distinctive flavour due to the seaweed diet of the sheep. And it would be amiss not to drop in and see the neighbours – the world famous Highland Park distillery is just next door.

What to See and Do on Orkney

Orkney offers world class archaeology as well as superb land and seascapes. We’ll provide plenty of recommendations, such as the major prehistoric sites of the 5,000 year old village at Skara Brae and the magnificent tomb at Maeshowe through to less famous but no less impressive monuments. Head north and west to the Evie and the mighty broch of Gurness, then swing back past the Earl’s Palace at Birsay. Don’t miss Orphir, with its beautifully proportioned round church and “Orkneyinga” Viking history interpretation centre. There’s simply so much to see it’s difficult to choose!

Make an early morning or late evening visit to the Ring of Brodgar and standing stones of Stenness – there’s no entrance fee, so you can just wander right around and between these mighty stones, wondering at their purpose and the skill and strength it must have taken to excavate and erect them thousands of years ago.

Another day you might head south to South Ronaldsay – now connected by the famous Churchill Barriers to the mainland. On your way past, call in at the Italian Chapel, two Nissen huts remarkably crafted into a place of worship by interned Italian prisoners of war.

A network of ferries connects the Orkney Mainland to a variety of other islands including Hoy, Rousay and Shapinsay. Hoy, Orkney’s second largest island, is more mountainous and made famous by its human-shaped sea stack, the Old Man of Hoy. If your main interest is the archaeology, Rousay boasts one of the finest sites with its Midhowe Broch and Cairn and is readily accessible on a day trip. Here you can see evidence of many different eras dating as far back as Neolithic times. Westray and Papa Westray are a bit further afield so better to visit by plane. If you choose to do so, you’ll experience the shortest scheduled flight in the world between the two islands – do please let us know if you would like us to pre-book this trip for you.

Today you leave Orkney and travel to Shetland by the way of a short flight between these two northern archipelagos. Upon arrival you collect your second hire car and drive to your next base in the central mainland of these isles.

Your Hotel on Shetland

Rich in history, with parts dating back to the sixteenth century, your hotel is full of character, with low ceilings, twisting corridors and creaking floorboards. Rooms vary in shape and size, each named after one of the Shetland islands. The Long Room is an elegant place for afternoon tea or pre-dinner drinks. Local produce, including seafood and Shetland mutton, feature on the evening menu, while the gardens stretch down to the water, inviting you to take an early evening stroll. It is said that Queen Elizabeth once stopped here for tea. Unsurprisingly, given the age of the building, rumours abound of a resident ghost.

What to See & Do on Shetland

You’ll quickly appreciate that Orkney & Shetland are quite different from each other. Now that you are further north, the impact of the sea is all the more profound. Take a trip to Eshaness, where the sea pounds against the coastal cliffs and jagged stacks even on a calm summer’s day. In contrast, you’ll find a sheltered strip of sand at the applecore beach of St Ninian’s Isle. If you like to tick off extremities, take the regular ferries across to Yell and onward to Unst, then drive (watching out for wild Shetland ponies) to the northerly tip. From here you can gaze out to the wonderfully-named lighthouse of Muckle Flugga. At the southern-most point on Shetland, you’ll find Sumburgh Head. You could easily spend a couple of hours in this area exploring the ruins at Jarlshof, from prehistoric to nineteenth century. Or hop on the short ferry journey to Britain’s tallest Broch at Mousa. Enjoy the serenity of the birds and seals, Mousa’s only inhabitants!

Noss Boat Trip

Your holiday in Shetland includes a unique and spectacular wildlife experience. You’ll join a boat trip to the Noss Nature Reserve, where thousands of seabirds nest and breed while seals laze on rocks beneath the cliffs or nose around the boat. Your guides on board will share their in-depth knowledge about the area and its inhabitants while you tour the spectacular cliffs of the world famous bird reserve.

Return your hire car at Sumburgh airport and catch your return flight to Glasgow or Edinburgh for onward connections.