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Touring the Orkney and Shetland Islands

I have always wanted to hike in the Shetland and Orkney Islands since I went on a Lindblad/NatGeo expedition that stopped briefly in both areas. Unfortunately Rick Steves does not offer any itineraries that include both the Orkneys and Shetlands but I found that Seymour Travels did. The owners, (Mark Seymour and Liz Boardman) are well known to RS people as Mark was a guide with Rick for many years and Liz still leads RS tours.

And so, in August I joined Liz and Mark and nine other people for a two week tour which allowed me to more fully enjoy and appreciate the ruins, shorelines, and history of both island groups. Traveling in a group of ten people was so much better for me than touring on my own as I no longer enjoy driving in the British Isles and the sites I was interested in were in remote locations where public transportation was at best sketchy.

Mark turned out to be an excellent story teller with a vast knowledge of Scottish history from prehistoric times to current. He also brought in local experts to speak to us at various sites His preferred tour format was a brief talk about where we were and then setting us off to explore on our own for an hour or two before meeting back up. There was amazing flexibility in what we saw and when ……sometimes this was necessitated by the weather and tides, sometimes because of the group’s need for a break.

What did I get to see? A partial list includes Maeshowe Cairn, Standing Stones of Stenness, Ring of Brodgar, St. Margret’s Hope village, Skara Brae, Brough of Birsay, coast along Braewick Beach, Esha Ness peninsula, Stenniss Beach, Mavis Grind, St. Ninian’s Beach, Clickimin Broch, sites in Unst and Scalloway, Isle of Noss. It's a great list of must see spots in both islands if you are planning a trip of your own. We managed to avoid cruise ship docking dates in towns which allowed us to savor places like the Ring of Brogar without a throng of people.

I came home with a wealth of insights from presentations, discussions along the way within the group and with locals, and from my own personal reflection and exploration time. It was truly a magical trip through the amazingly beautiful Orkney and Shetland Islands.

Posted by
14603 posts

Oh Judy! I'm so glad you had a terrific time on this tour. You know I loved it as well.

Thanks for the TR!

Posted by
183 posts

i was in Orkney in July and loved it! I did a 3-day tour with Rabbie's from Inverness. We stayed in Kirkwall for 2 nights. How did you get to Shetland? ferry or plane? ( i'm a big fan of the TV show ). Would love to hear more details about your trip.

Posted by
54 posts

Our tour took a Logan Air plane from Orkney to Shetland half way through our two week tour. In each place we based in a locally owned hotel outside of Kirkwell in Orkney and Lerwick in Shetland. Our group had some dinners as a group and other nights were on our own but Mark and Liz provided transportation into town for those wanting to try out different restaurants. During the days we often stopped at a local store and picked up lunches to eat while we were out touring. We did tour a brewery in Orkney and we stopped in museums in both islands. I found the tour to be a perfect mix of visiting the many historic sites and wandering along picturesque coastlines. Mark's stories deepened our understanding each set of islands. I believe now that the two islands are offered as separate tours with a couple of days between for travel if you want to see both islands. If you want a lot of detail, Pam, who commented above on my post, has a very detailed description of her tour from 2023 posted on this forum.

Posted by
14603 posts

"I believe now that the two islands are offered as separate tours with a couple of days between for travel if you want to see both islands."

Yes, for 2025 they are separating them out to 2 different tours and doing 8 nights on each island. I loved this tour so much I am doing it again next summer. Honestly, I was just so in awe of everything the first time around I could hardly take it all in. Orkney for 2025 is sold out but it looks like there is still space on the Shetland tour.

Posted by
7669 posts

Judy, thank you so much for sharing your experiences here since I missed our last local meeting and didn’t have the chance to hear about it in person! Your enthusiasm came out so well in your writing! : )

Posted by
4632 posts

Oh, 8 nights each island sounds great! It’s the last part of a Scotland still on my bucket list. I am glad you had a wonderful trip!