Day Trip to the Orkney Islands

When in the North Highlands, or driving the NC 500, one thing to do is a day trip to Orkney Islands.  For those who don’t know, the Orkney Islands is an archipelago comprising of 70 islands, 8 km off the coast from John o’Groats.  You can get on the ferry as a passenger or can load your car onto the ferry to spend an extended time in the Orkney Islands. But also, who knew it was so easy to do an Orkney Islands tour? (Definitely not me!)

For a little history, the Orkney Islands have been inhabited since prehistoric times by Norsemen and Vikings and were historically part of Norway. However, in 1468, Norwegian King Christian I pledged Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands as marriage dowry to wed the daughter of Scotland’s James III. King Christian never paid the money, and both Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands have been part of the Scottish crown ever since. The flag of the Orkney Islands (adopted in 2007), is blue, yellow, and red, and pays homage to the island’s Scottish and Norwegian heritage. You’ll see it in a few photos below.

Day trip to Orkney Islands with John o’Groats Ferries

If you’re pressed for time like I always am, a day trip, courtesy of John o’Groats Ferries, is a great option. The ferry company operates tours during the year only from May/June to August/September.  Otherwise, the North Sea is too choppy and I’d imagine extremely miserable to suffer through.  The 45-minute journey was already bumpy. The North Sea was absolutely raging the day that I went.

John o’Groats Ferries used to offer several day tours, which depart from both Inverness or John o’Groats. I took the Maxi Day Tour, leaving John o’Groats at 8:45 am and returning after 7 pm. For an adult, the tour costs 79 GBP (roughly $110 USD), as of 20 April 2021. It’s a full day group tour, with English-speaking guides.

There is ample room at the harbor for parking, and after checking with the office, they told me to just go straight to the harbor. There was already a line of people queuing up.

Expert tip, you should stand aside and watch for a little bit before queuing up, to take note where the waves crash over the walls and completely drench the area underneath it. Especially if it’s a windy and choppy day on the sea.

The sea drenched several people before they even got on the ferry. The air temperature that day (mind you, it was in June) was around 37 degrees Fahrenheit (less than 3 degrees Celsius). I can only imagine that the water temperature was frigid also.

Boarding was a simple process, and I don’t believe they actually checked my ticket at all. Once I boarded, the ferry ride was mostly uneventful, except that those who got seasick, got really seasick. I mentioned it before, but the water and thus the journey is really choppy. Also, since the ferry does not go at particularly fast speeds, the rocking of the boat was more pronounced. Unfortunately, there were several passengers who fell ill.

Let your Day Trip to Orkney Islands begin!

We arrived in Burwick, a village and the harbor of the island of South Ronaldsay, in the Orkney Islands. Three different charter buses were waiting for us, to take us onto the various tours you signed up for. Mine was the Maxi Tour, which saw the most sights and was the longest in length.

After piling into our respective buses, we were off. From there, we drove from South Ronaldsay island, to Burray, to Glims Holm, to Lamb Holm, onto mainland Orkney. All of these listed are separate islands, connected by the Churchill Barriers. The Churchill Barriers are man-made causeways, originally built during WWII to protect Scapa Flow. It’s now become the main road that connects South Ronaldsay island to the Mainland, where the airport and capital of Kirkhall are.

1. Kirkwall, capital of the Orkney Islands

Our first stop on the Orkney Island tours is Kirkwall, the capital of Orkney. We had over an hour to walk around and see the sights. It’s a nice town, with St. Magnus Church being its main landmark. There is a small, but interesting, Orkney Museum, across the way from St. Magnus. Neither the church nor the museum take too long to wander through, but it’s worth the stroll.

A brief glimpse into the Orkney Museum:

Take two rights after you exit the Orkney Museum, and there is a charming little secret garden.

If it were a nice day, it’d be the perfect place to sit with a cup of coffee and a chat. But alas. Kirkwall was cold and windy and my focus there was keeping warm.

One thing I want to point out is Cafe Lolz. Although our tour guide recommended a different cafe in town (The Reel, located next to the church), I popped in and didn’t see the pastries I wanted. Literally, out the door of the Reel, and onto a small street called The Strynd, you’ll arrive at Cafe Lolz. For pastry and dessert lovers, it is a must!

If you keep going down the Broad Street, to the north, there is a lovely, artisanal grocery shop at the end, called the Brig Larder. You can buy things like gin-flavored Orkney cheese or a little crab salad for later.  The Maxi tour does return to Kirkwall toward the end of the day, but you’ll need to rush in order to get back to this shop before it closes at 5:30 pm.  I suggest that you try.

Once you return to John o’Groats, the only place left open for dinner is the Seaview Hotel.  And if you just ate there the night before, like I did, you may not want it two nights in a row.  That crab salad that I impulse purchased came in really handy for dinner later that evening.

2. Stromness, home of great explorers and seamen

After Kirkwall, we moved on to Stromness, which is also located on Mainland Orkney.  Stromness was home to many great explorers, including John Rae, an Orcadian doctor and surgeon, who discovered the final section of the Northwest Passage. Although Rae completed several, successful arctic expeditions, he was ultimately known for finding the fate of Captain Sir John Franklin’s arctic expedition, which was said to have ended in death and cannibalism.

Scandal followed Rae’s claim of cannibalism in the Franklin expedition. Subsequently, Rae was shunned by society. From 2004, Orkney and Shetland MPs began introducing motions into Parliament to recognize his contributions in completing the Northwest Passage. In 2013, a statue was unveiled in Stromness, and finally in 2014, a plaque was installed in Westminster Abbey.

Back at the Maxi Tour, Stromness is the lunch stop. There is ample time to grab a bit of food and to walk around the town.  I thoroughly enjoyed walking around Stromness – every house and garden I came across was just so charming and lovely.  For lunch, the guide recommended  the Ferry Inn, a place for a nice fish soup, i.e. Cullen skink.  And on a windy, rainy day, that and a cuppa tea is really all you need.  There is a section of the restaurant that’s for those visiting on the day tour, and they were really quick with the service, as well.  You’ll definitely run into many people from your own tour or the morning’s ferry.  

I hope you’re enjoying this day trip to te Orkney Islands so far. Because I’ll tell you – I definitely am!

3. Mainland Orkney’s prehistoric sites

After lunch, was Skara Brae – a neolithic settlement, older than Stonehenge!  (and also a UNESCO World Heritage site!) The combined ticket to Skara Brae (and Skaill House) is not included in the Maxi Tour costs, but at 9 GBP in the high season (and 7 GBP in the low season), it was worth it.  Skara Brae is generally considered the best preserved Neolithic settlement. At 5000 years old, it’s older than both Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids! Tickets to Skaill House are included from April to October. It’s a warm and welcome relief from the cold and howling winds of Skara Brae!

From Skara Brae, there were two quick stops to the Ring of Brodgar and the Standing Stones of Stenness. In 1999, UNESCO designated both neolithic monuments as World Heritage sites. For the Ring of Brodgar, you are only allowed around the perimeter of the stones. You can walk among the stones at the Standing Stones. That’s how you can distinguish one from the other in my below photos.

Any Outlander fans out there? No day trip to Orkney Islands is complete without a visit to the standing stones. Unfortunately, these standing stones did not transport me back to the 1700s into the arms of a man named Jamie Fraser.

From there, it was back to to Kirkwall and I hauled over to the Brig Larder to pick up my cheeses and crab salad.  A gentle reminder: buy dinner in Kirkwall before heading back to mainland Scotland!

4. The Italian Chapel on Lambholm

The last stop on your day trip to Orkney Islands is the Italian Chapel on Lambholm, a tiny island connected to the Mainland via the Churchill Barriers. Built in the 1940s by Italian POWs and scrap materials, the Italian Chapel is also a story of unrequited love. The chapel designer’s “heart” is inlaid with the tiles on the floor. Spoiler alert, they do not reunite.

The cost to enter the chapel is 3 GBP for adults (free for those under 12).

From the Italian Chapel, we traverse through the islands of Glimps Holm and Burray to finally reach the port at Burwick on South Ronaldsay, where we started our Orkney Tour.

Parting thoughts on my Day Trip to Orkney Islands

By the time we reached the shores of mainland Britain, and John o’Groats, it was near 7:30 pm. As I mentioned previously, only the Seaview Hotel will be open for dinner, so hopefully you have food back at your lodging or you’ve followed my advice for a little dinner to go from Kirkwall! It was an exhausting day, made doubly more exhausting from an “unseasonably cold” summer season up in the north.

But all in all, I really enjoyed my Orkney Island tour. It was a really great day trip and offers a glimpse into a different kinda Scottish life! If you’re in John o’Groats, you can take a day trip to Orkney Islands just like I did!

Looking for additional resources on a trip to Orkney?

• If you want to spend more time on Orkney with a small-group tour, Rabbie’s comes highly recommended! They offer 5-day Orkney tours from Edinburgh (379£) and 3-day Orkney tours from Inverness (215£)!
• Check out these blogs from my delightful blogging friends:
  • An Orcadian Abroad – tips and tales for Orkney Islands from Clazz, a local Orcadian!
  • AbFab Travels – a motorhome road trip of Orkney with Jane, including a visit to the Highland Park Distillery! It’s not Scotland, without some whisky!

Info for your Orkney Islands Tour

John o’Groats Ferries
From John o’Groats, Daily from 8:45 am
1 May to 30 September 2022
Adults: 79 GBP | $99 USD

From Inverness, (normally) daily from 7:15 am
Currently not offered. Please check with John o’Groats Ferries

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Lannie

Lannie is a perpetual wanderer and loves to share her travel adventures and the food she eats along the way with everyone.  She works during the day while bouncing around the world and dreams about new places and faces at night!  She has a home on the magical Isle of Islay in Scotland, where the whisky flows freely and happily.

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