Scotland: I would love some help with my trip to the Northern Isles

Sounds amazing. I finally finished Shetland! Having time to stay on smaller islands sounds so wonderful! Edit: talked to a guy who basically came to Orkney to take that flight to Papa Westray and weather was bad. You’ll need a plan to allow for flexibility.

Woo hoo, thanks, TTM! Off to read it now!

And I can imagine that the flight could get canceled quite easily, but it still would be fun to try. My brother's a pilot and was a pilot with Delta for years, and I would love to be able to tell him about it and take photos of it. He would be very interested. Hey.

Wow, you are really going to have a lot of time there, Mardee. That is wonderful.

The first thing I would do is check those websites that tell you when (and what size) cruise ships will be in which ports, and try as hard as I could to make a schedule that allowed me to avoid them as much as possible. It’s probably inevitable at some point, but it's worth making a concerted effort.

This sounds wonderful! I can't help with Shetland but we were just in Orkney for four days, a few things to mention:

-I don't think there's anywhere currently open to stay on Rousay (also there are no places to get food on the island) but it's very easy to get to on the car ferry from Mainland and definitely worth a day of driving around the island and seeing the Neolithic sites.
-If you want to do a sightseeing boat trip around Scapa Flow, I very highly recommend Orkney Nautical Charters- we had a great experience, very knowledgable guide, and we saw a lot of sea life!
-Don't miss St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall- beautiful cathedral.
-For getting back down to Inverness, the Ember bus comes directly to the ferry terminal at Scrabster so you don't need to get yourself to Thurso (where the train goes from). We did the train up and bus back. To get from Thurso to Scrabster we walked- it was a beautiful walk (despite some rain).

I will think thru some other things to recommend!

Bressay is so easy to reach by frequent ferry that I don't see the need to stay there, I'm only aware of one place to stay on the island- the hotel by the 'new' ferry terminal. You used to be able to stay at the Lighthouse as well but that's been sold on now.

The only lighthouse you can stay at now on Shetland is Sumburgh light, which has a 3 night minimum stay. Even Fair Isle South light has closed as a B and B.

You can also do a tiny, wee ferry (an inflatable boat basically) from the far side of Bressay to Noss for the seabirds, rather than the cruise from Lerwick) but that may not have started it's season so early.

I'm a sucker for the Orkney inter island flights (having done them all), which use the tiniest air terminals you will ever see. I would be trying to get as many in as you can- Eday, Sanday, Stronsay and North Ronaldsay also have flights. You can actually fly from London [Eday] to Whitehall [Stronsay], which has a peculiarity about it. Officially Stronsay isn't called Whitehall (but it's the only village on the island), but Eday is officially London Airport (as far removed as possible from Heathrow or Gatwick).

Apart from Westray to Papa Westray the big prize is flying to North Ronaldsay, and taking the supply boat the other way. North Ron. is a really interesting island, another place where you can stay at the lighthouse.

One of the oft overlooked islands on Orkney is Shapinsay, out in Kirkwall Bay. While not really necessary that would be a really cool place to stay for a night or two in Balfour Village.

Also on Shetland I love Out Skerries, as an away from everywhere place to stay for a night. It's not really on tourist agendas, and can be a pretty tough ferry crossing. The island(s) used to have a little air terminal, but it has sadly closed now for lack of fire cover independent of the island's own fire department. One of those places where literally everyone knows your every movement as a tourist.

I spent several days in Orkney in April. You may have better luck with frequency of ferries, bht not all run every day some only once a week, so I would look now at current summer schedule to get a feel for what is running and when. If you want a car on every island, you'll need to reserve well in advance.
Baloquoy is a bed and breakfast on Sanday I hope you would consider. They also have a YouTube. It is a restored home and mill that is in a historical time warp (but modern plumbing). It may be right up your alley.
Sunday is still a day if rest for most of the islands and rental car offices other than the airport may have limited to no weekend hours.
I suggest you also look at the deal that Northlink ferries offers. Last ferry from Scrabster to Stromness is about 8pm. It then leaves next morning about 6 am. You can actually sleep in cabins on board overnight. Cheap hotel replacement without having to do an early morning scramble for the ferry. You can drop the rental in Kirkwall before it closes about 5 pm, take a bus to Stromness, drop luggage at the ferry termimal, have a leisurely dinner at the Ferry Inn then walk across the street to the ferry.
I suggest you take an inside cabin. The outer cabin i had was a little noisy from pier noise most of the night. Inside cabins were quiet and possibly more comfortable. All have unsuited bathroom with shower and cost included the buffet breakfast.

Stuart- regarding Balfour- we looked at visiting Balfour Castle when we went earlier this month and it's now closed as it's a private residence unfortunately (no longer a hotel). It looks like the hotel closed last year.

Kim, I already have it a few bookmarked, although from what I've read, it mostly affects people that are going to Skara Brae. But it's still good info to have, so thanks.

Cat, thanks for the information on Rousay, as I would really like to go there. And the sightseeing trip sounds great! That's a really nice idea. I will check on that tour group and put them in my digital file! I do already have St. Magnus Cathedral down on my list. I will never miss seeing a cathedral if at all possible.

And that's really good to know about the Ember bus! I was wondering about that. I need to look at that more closely, but I do want to do that and go down that way because it will save me from having to go all the way back to Aberdeen and going across and then back again.

Stuart: That is very helpful to know about Bressay. Thank you for that information. And I love the idea of taking a tiny wee ferry to Noss. That sounds like it would be fun. I hadn't paid much attention to Noss until TexasTravelMom mentioned it, and it sounds like a neat place.

Oh, that's pretty interesting about the flights, too. Are they all LoganAir flights? I would be interested in staying on North Ronaldsay. That island looked pretty interesting. I know they have a lot of birders that go there, and they also have a birding hostel or something like that. Anyway, it sounds like fun. As does Balfour Village. I will definitely have to look that one up.

So is Out Skerries connected to Shetland, or is it separate? I wouldn't mind a tough ferry crossing. I have a cast iron stomach, and I've never been seasick in my life. Thanks for all this great information!

Marie, ha, yes, I was just looking at a few places I was interested in, but they only have ferries twice a week. I'm not sure about that, so I'll have to figure that out. And I will definitely check out Baloquoy. Thank you for letting me know about that.

Yeah, I'm going to try and avoid traveling on Sunday if at all possible, and I think with my amount of days I've got, it should be pretty easy to do. I've already drawn a huge calendar that I'm writing on now, and I'm going to keep on doing that as I revise it. That will hopefully let me know all the information about the ferries and when they go and so on and everything else.

And actually, that is what I plan to do with this Stromness to Scrabster ferry. I read about it a couple days ago. In fact, I think it was Stuart that mentioned it in an older post I was reading. so I looked it up and read about the B&B, and that sounds so cool! I definitely am going to do that. And that's very good to know about taking an inside cabin. I appreciate that information. Did you take the ferry from Stromness to Scrabster, or the reverse? This is great info, Maria—thank you!

Cat, oh well, sigh. That's good to know now. 😊

Ah, but I didn't say Balfour Castle, I was merely suggesting the island. From a quick look there are at least two self catering cottages on the island- one of which is on Air B and B. (which admittedly on a trial booking has a 3 day minimum).

If you don't take your own car over Shapinsay has the electric bikes for rent, and the electric community car/taxi service (open to anyone), useful as it's a deceptively large island.

Three days may well be overkill, although the ferry runs often enough to be a commuter service, and there is a new late night ferry (not OIC). I certainly like the island as a day visit.

Well, I'll still check it out. It's definitely in the possibles list and looks like it would be interesting. Thanks!