So you’ve decided to go to Orkney. Good choice, you can explore neolithic villages, mysterious stone circles and Viking palaces, brood over the desolate windswept cliffs and scratch your head at the strange accent and obscure dialect. You may even see dolphins, killer whales or puffins as you approach the unassailable stronghold of the Scottish Liberal Democrats.
But how should you get there? With several options to choose from, this post is intended to help you decide, and if you can’t be bothered reading, there’s a TL:DR flow chart at the end.
The quickest way to get to Orkney is to fly to Kirkwall airport. However, this service, run by Loganair, is prohibitively expensive and is worth neither the money nor the carbon.
Orkney currently produces more renewable energy than it consumes. Don’t undo that good work with an unnecessary flight. As a rule, flying is mainly for islanders rushing home to be with relatives at either end of their lives, ie. being born or dying, for which they get a discount. If that’s not you, don’t bother.
Instead, the recommended way to reach Orkney is by ferry, and here you have several options.
Two ferries depart for Orkney from the North of Scotland, at Scrabster and Gill’s Bay.
Reaching either from Edinburgh or Glasgow involves either a 6 hour drive or a 10+ hour train/bus journey with multiple transfers. I recommend these crossings if you are already planning a trip to the Highlands, from which it’s only a couple of extra hours’ drive to experience something very different. This is also a good option if you’re prone to sea-sickness, as it minimises your time spent on the water. However, you don’t have access to a car, this probably isn’t for you.
The Hamnavoe (named after the Old-Norse name for Stromness, Orkney’s second largest “town”), leaves Scrabster on the northernmost tip of Scotland 5-6 times a day, crossing the Pentland Firth to Stromness in about 90 minutes, taking you past the Old Man of Hoy, a 450-foot sea-stack, in the process.
Pentland Ferries’ two ships, the Pentalina and the Alfred leave Gill’s Bay, also on the northern tip of Scotland at 0930, 1330 and 1845 every day, arriving in St Margaret’s Hope in South Ronaldsay, Orkney’s southernmost inhabited island (where I’m from), about an hour later.
South Ronaldsay and its neighbouring island, Burray, are connected to the Orkney mainland by the Churchill Barriers, wartime fortifications that blocked the entrances to the natural harbour between the larger Orkney islands, known as Scapa Flow, to prevent German U-boats from attacking the Royal Navy fleet anchored there during WW2. Even if you don’t plan on staying in South Ronaldsay, it’s about a half hour drive or bus journey to Kirkwall, during which you’ll drive over the barriers, which are well worth seeing.
If you’re studying in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stirling, or St. Andrews, it’s a relatively short bus or train journey up to Aberdeen to catch one of the Northlink ferries.
Two ships, the Hrossey (named for the Old-Norse for “Horse Head”, the viking name for the main Orkney island), and the Hjaltland (for the Old-Norse for “Shetland”), depart from Aberdeen at 1700 on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday nights. Exactly how long the crossing takes depends on the weather, but the boat usually arrives in Kirkwall at about 2300. If you fancy another six hours on the boat, you can stay on and get off in Shetland, 100 miles further north.
At six hours, it’s a long crossing but I find it’s much more comfortable on the boat than driving all the way to the northern tip of Scotland. There are two bars, a restaurant, viewing decks, and a room that Northlink generously call a cinema. There are plenty of plug sockets for charging phones and laptops, and while mobile signal does drop off a few hours into the crossing, there is free wifi on the boat. Travel with a friend, bring a book (I recommend The Orkneyinga Saga), or a board game (I recommend Bananagram) and set yourself up in one of the lounges.
If you get seasick, sit near the middle of the boat and you’ll feel it rolling less. If you don’t get seasick at all, set yourself up at the very front of the boat and feel rugged and hardy. On particularly rough nights, the boat can get quite rocky. So if you are especially prone to seasickness, I recommend checking the weather forecast before you travel, and if it’s going to be very windy, consider rescheduling your crossing.
On the return trip, boats leave Kirkwall at 2345 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. These crossings run overnight, and while you can sleep on the floor in the lounges, I recommend booking yourself a cabin if you want a good night’s sleep and a shower in the morning. If you get up early enough, you can get yourself a very competitively priced full Scottish breakfast from the buffet in the restaurant.
What I can categorically advise against is booking a “sleeping pod”. These are essentially large reclining chairs in a dark room that are more expensive than a regular ticket, but cheaper than a cabin. The pods are uncomfortable and overpriced. If you can’t afford a cabin, you’re better off on the floor.
When you’re traveling to somewhere fairly remote, like Orkney, the journey is half of the experience, so make sure you travel the right way. The flow chart below can help you decide.