How Long To Stay In The Orkneys

I agree with the tour company you have contacted. Even with 2 to 3 days you may be tied to just Orkney mainland and the islands of the Churchill barriers and not any of Orkney's outer islands. The Churchill barriers have effectively made these islands part of Mainland. In the context of Orkney, mainland refers to the main island of Orkney, not the island of Great Britain to the south.

Orkney is definately worth visiting if you can, but the two ancient drawers, Skara Brae and the Tomb of the Eagles are about as far apart on Orkney mainland and barriers as is possible and you will want to spend tine in the capital of Kirkwall and some of the other neolithic sites.

I agree with the other post. You are rushing the trip.

I did a day trip from John o'Groats in July and went on the Maxi tour, which is a full day trip and barely scratched the surface of Mainland and was a bit rushed as you have to adhere to their timetable. The sea was very rough and most people were quite ill on the way back, which was under an hour's sail.

Arriving close to midnight is inconvenient for getting to your accommodation. You could fly from Aberdeen.

I would consider staying another night on Orkney or just doing the day trip as I did to avoid the inconvenience of staying there just one night.

Yes, you are rushing the trip. There are all the neolithic sites, but there also Viking sites, even Napoleonic site as well as the above mentioned WWII sites. I would add that Hoxa Tapestry Gallery is well worth a visit. And if you like whisky, then the Highland Park Distillery is worth a visit as well.

I would suggest that you explore the Orkneyjar website. It will give you some more background.

Also, if you are going there in May, there is a folk festival every year in May. The jewelry designers on Orkney are wonderful as well. There are some great fiddler's there so look for gigs during your visit.

So, my favorite places are: Ring of Brogdar, Maese Howe, Stones of Stenness, Ness of Brogdar, Scarra Brae, Tomb of the Eagles, Earl's Palace, Birsay, St. Magnus Cathedral, St. Margaret's Hope, The Italian Chapel, Stromness, and Hoy.

I would recommend George MacKay Brown's literature and Dunnett's The King Hereafter.

Pam

We went to Orkney, June, 2015, using the ferry from Scrabster. We took a ferry about noon, arrived in Stromness and had time that afternoon to visit the Ring of Brodgar and a quick revisit of Skara Brae. (We took a very long day trip to Orkney from Inverness ten years ago.)

The next day we went to Maes Howe (ask your hotel to make a reservation for you - you must have a reservation to visit Maes Howe since it is quite small inside). We then had lunch in Kirkwall and visited the cathedral, drove down to St. Margaret's Hope to see Scapa Flow (it is vast), then up to the far northwest of the island to see the Earl's Palace ( a huge ruin). We then went again to Skara Brae, revisited the Ring of Brodgar and stopped briefly at the Stones of Steness.

We only visited sites on Mainland, which is the principal island. It only takes an hour to drive from St. Margarets Hope to the Earl's Palace which are at opposite ends of the island. You really can see most of the principal sites if you stay two nights - Skara Brae and Maes Howe take about an hour each, the other sites 30-60 minutes. If you use the ferry, you will have lovely views of the sea cliffs on Hoy on the trip. We did all of our "tour" on our own with a rental car. We took a ferry on Saturday and returned on a Monday. There's a lovely hotel , Forss House, near Thurso and the Scrabster ferry port. We stayed there on the Friday night before we took the ferry.

Mom and I were there in July 2012, and I hope that we can go back next August, in our Scotland/northern England trip. My niece is studying for her masters degree in forensic anthropology near Manchester, and I am hoping we can drag her away from her thesis for at least the Orkneys portion of the trip, just so she can see all the Neolithic stuff, especially the Ness of Brodgar dig that I missed on our last visit. Since you'll be going in May, you'll miss seeing the diggers at work (the work season is only July and August), but you will see all the other sites. We were there for three days/four nights and never got off the Mainland and didn't even see all of that, although we were starting to slow down since it was the end of our long trip.

I would also suggest flying in from Aberdeen if you don't want to make the drive up to Scrabster (which is a nice drive, if a bit long). I don't think the cost of the flight is exorbitant, in fact, I am thinking it might just be easier for my niece to get a flight from Manchester to Kirkwall if she can't join us for the rest of the trip.

We visited Orkney in August 2013, arriving by ferry shortly before midnight, staying for 2 days and nights, and flying out early the next morning (after a screening by the absolutely nicest airport security staff in the world by the way), and we left with plenty more to still see and do on the next visit. Our B&B owner who picked us up at the ferry terminal notified us that the next day would be one of the two times each year that not one, but two huge cruise ships would be docking, and that the population of Orkney would temporarily double for the day. At his suggestion, we drove our rental car (we hired a car online from the local W.R. Turlock company before leaving the USA) to see the Italian Chapel, the Churchill Barriers, and the Tomb of the Eagles on Day 1, as the majority of the cruise boat passengers would be making a beeline for Skara Brae and Maeshowe (the locals insist it's one word, although much of the sightseeing info uses two). That left Day 2 relatively less crowded for seeing Skara Brae and other sights, although there were busloads of German-speaking visitors there when we arrived at Skara Brae (turns out they opened extra early for the expected rush of tourists, so we got there "late," even though we thought we were arriving just after they opened for the day), and as soon as one bus left, two more arrived. There was a traffic jam in the small parking lot!

In about a 3-mile stretch, there are several major sights just down the road from each other - Maeshowe (on a different road, but still quite close to the others), the Stones of Stenness, and the Ring of Brodgar (an enormous stone circle - much bigger than Stonehenge). Between the Stones and the Ring is the Ness of Brodgar, which as Kathy mentioned is only open in the summer, when you can attend the excavations and interactive lectures. If you can only make time for a full day and night in Orkney, your visit will be filled with wondrous things, but you'll want to come back for more. We never made it off the Mainland Orkney island or the islands connected to it by the Churchill Barriers, and there are more islands to visit in Orkney (like Hoy), which remain on our must-see list.

Yes, a day sounds like far too little time. I think the others have provided good advice. There is so much to see there.