Photograph: Ring of Brodgar by August Schwerdfeger, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Orkney is an archipelago of about 70 islands, 20 of them inhabited, lying 16 kilometres off the north coast of mainland Scotland; with Shetland it makes up the Northern Isles. Its largest island is called the Mainland, and its largest town and administrative centre is Kirkwall. Orkney was Norse from the ninth century until 1472, and its Neolithic monuments are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Packing for Orkney means packing for wind and rain at any time of year, for ferries and open moorland, and for long days of walking between stones, cairns and cliffs.
The photograph above shows part of the Ring of Brodgar on the Mainland: tall, weathered grey standing stones rising from brown heather, more stones curving away beyond, a strip of loch water and low green hills under a broad sky of cloud. It shows a few of the stones, not the whole circle, and none of the rest of Orkney. It cannot show the ditch around the ring, the towns of Kirkwall and Stromness, St Magnus Cathedral, the Neolithic village at Skara Brae, the inside of Maeshowe, the sea cliffs, the ferries or the islands beyond the Mainland, and it shows nothing of winter.
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What Is Here
Orkney was colonised and later annexed by the Kingdom of Norway in 875, and passed to Scotland only in 1472, when the Scottish Parliament absorbed the earldom after a dowry promised to James III went unpaid. Kirkwall, on the Mainland, is the obvious base, with the airport and the ferry port for Aberdeen and Shetland. At its heart stands St Magnus Cathedral, founded in memory of Saint Magnus by Earl Rognvald, and Wikivoyage names the Earl's and Bishop's Palaces among its other sights. Stromness, the second town, has a narrow flagstone main street, and the ferry from Scrabster on the Scottish mainland lands there.
South of Kirkwall, the Churchill Barriers were built in the Second World War between the Mainland and four islands to the south to block seaborne attacks on Scapa Flow, and a road now runs across them. On one of those small islands, Lamb Holm, Italian prisoners of war who built the barriers also built the Italian Chapel. To the south-west, on the island of Hoy, the Old Man of Hoy is a sea stack of Old Red Sandstone 137 metres high, reached on a walk through an RSPB nature reserve.
The Heart of Neolithic Orkney
UNESCO listed the Heart of Neolithic Orkney as a World Heritage Site in December 1999, and it groups four sites on the Mainland: Maeshowe, the Stones of Stenness, the Ring of Brodgar and Skara Brae. Wikivoyage notes that Maeshowe, Stenness and Brodgar are within walking distance of each other around the village of Stenness, with Skara Brae a few miles north.
The Ring of Brodgar, in our photograph, stands on a narrow isthmus between the Loch of Stenness and the Loch of Harray, about 10 kilometres north-east of Stromness. The circle is 104 metres across, it originally had up to 60 stones, and it is generally thought to have been raised between 2500 and 2000 BCE. Historic Environment Scotland runs ranger-led walks there. How many stones stand today depends on the source, so we do not print a number.
Skara Brae is a stone-built Neolithic village on the Bay of Skaill, on the west coast of the Mainland. A severe storm in the winter of 1850 stripped the earth from it, and local people found the outlines of its houses; the encyclopaedia dates its occupation to roughly 3180 to 2500 BC.
Maeshowe is a chambered cairn whose passage is aligned so that, for about three weeks either side of the winter solstice, the setting sun shines down it and lights the back of the central chamber; Historic Environment Scotland says the sunset should be visible during the 2pm tour. Norse visitors broke in during the twelfth century and left runic inscriptions inside. Visits are booked for a specific date and time through Historic Environment Scotland's Maeshowe page, and Wikivoyage warns that access is limited and can be booked out for days ahead, so book before you travel.
Tides, Crowds and Getting Around
Several sights stand on tidal islets reached by causeways that flood at high tide, the best known being the Brough of Birsay. Wikivoyage notes that the tide times move about 45 minutes later each day and points to Easytide for free predictions; check them before you set out, and do not cross a causeway on a rising tide.
Cruise ships often call at Orkney, and Wikivoyage says the main sites get mobbed when they do; at the standing stones, it suggests waiting about 20 minutes for a tour bus to leave. Inter-island ferries and small planes link Kirkwall with the outer islands, and Wikivoyage describes the North Isles as quiet places for walks and birdwatching. Visitor information is online at Orkney.com.
When to Go
The English-language encyclopaedia describes a cool temperate climate, remarkably mild and steady for so far north, with average temperatures of about 4C in winter and 12C in summer and between 850 and 1,060 millimetres of rain a year. Winds are a key feature: there are almost constant breezes even in summer and frequent strong winds in winter. Around midsummer complete darkness never comes, a long twilight known in the Northern Isles as the simmer dim. Wikivoyage adds that Orkney does not draw the midges of Highland Scotland.
Wikivoyage lists the Orkney Folk Festival in May, the St Magnus Festival of music, theatre and literature for a week in June, and the Orkney Science Festival in September. For Maeshowe's midwinter light, come from late November to mid-January and hope for a clear sky.
Getting There
NorthLink Ferries runs the crossing from Scrabster, near Thurso, to Stromness, which Wikivoyage puts at about 90 minutes, and its overnight Aberdeen to Shetland ferry calls at Kirkwall on some nights. A separate car ferry crosses from Gills Bay to St Margaret's Hope in about an hour. By air, Wikivoyage lists Loganair flights to Kirkwall from Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Sumburgh in Shetland, and adds a warning worth repeating: the airport code ORK belongs to Cork in Ireland, not Orkney. The Government of Canada notes that rural roads can become hazardous in severe weather.
Is Orkney Safe for Women Travelers
There is no FCDO travel advice for the United Kingdom, because the FCDO advises British nationals on travel abroad, so we use the Government of Canada's advice instead. Canada advises a high degree of caution in the UK because of the threat of terrorism, and notes that the UK government publishes its national terrorism threat level online. Its crime advice is about cities: petty crime such as pickpocketing is common, theft is common in pubs and bars, so never hang a bag on the back of your chair, and mugging, knife crime and sexual assault occur, particularly in larger cities, including assaults in unlicensed taxis. Never leave food or drinks unattended.
On Orkney's moorland and cliffs, Canada's outdoor advice applies directly: weather can change rapidly even in summer, and if you walk in remote areas, do not go alone, stay on marked trails, keep an eye on conditions, and tell someone your plans. Take extra care near cliff edges in wind.
The Orkney Packing List
Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron, and a long sleeve merino wool base layer for women is the layer we would pack first for Orkney. It sits under a waterproof on a windy moor, stays fresh through a day of walking, and works under a jumper in a Kirkwall pub.
For Wind and Rain
With almost constant breezes and rain spread through the year, a packable rain jacket and a Columbia Fast Trek fleece are the core of the bag. Add a merino beanie and merino glove liners, which earn their place on a ferry deck even in summer.
For Moorland, Cliffs and Ferries
The paths to the stones, the Old Man of Hoy and the tidal islets cross heather, grass and wet rock, so wear hiking shoes with real grip. A waterproof dry bag keeps your phone and spare layers dry on an open ferry deck or in the rain. That is our sixth affiliate link, our limit per post, so we have not linked a headlamp; for a winter visit, with Maeshowe's light at 2pm, bring one anyway.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
Essential Resources for Women in Orkney
Emergency number: 999, as the Government of Canada lists for the United Kingdom.
Hospital: the Balfour Hospital in Kirkwall is a rural general hospital run by NHS Orkney, which lists an emergency department there. The Government of Canada describes UK health care as excellent, but notes that visitors must pay for NHS services unless an exception applies, so check your cover before you travel.
Sites and tides: Historic Environment Scotland for Maeshowe bookings, and Easytide for tide times.
Official health authority: NHS inform, the Scottish health information service.
US Embassy: the United States Embassy in London, is in London.
Official tourism authority: VisitScotland, the national tourism body, covers the whole country; Orkney also has its own visitor site, linked above.
US State Department travel advisory: the United Kingdom advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.
UK FCDO travel advice: there is none, and this is not an omission. The FCDO advises British nationals on travel abroad, so it publishes nothing for the United Kingdom itself and both gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/united-kingdom and /uk return 404. In its place, the Government of Canada advice for the United Kingdom gives an equivalent third-country assessment.
Solo women safety assessment: Canada's page says violent crime in the UK occurs particularly in larger cities, while petty theft is common everywhere, and our assessment is that Orkney is a safe and easy place for a woman on her own. The things to plan for are the weather, which changes fast, the tides on causeways, cliff edges in wind. Tell someone your route when you walk out alone, check the tide before crossing to an islet, and call 999 in an emergency.
Takeaways
Come to Orkney for the Neolithic heart of the Mainland, the Norse towns of Kirkwall and Stromness, and the islands and cliffs beyond. Pack a waterproof, a fleece, a hat and gloves whatever the season, grippy shoes for heather and rock, and a dry bag for the ferries. Book Maeshowe ahead, check the tides, and leave room in your plans for the weather.
Reading On
For the Northern Isles' other archipelago, read the Shetland packing list, and for the Highland capital with flights to Kirkwall, the Inverness packing list. Elsewhere in Scotland are the Isle of Skye packing list, the Scottish Highlands packing list and the Edinburgh packing list. The Scotland packing list covers what applies everywhere, the Scotland travel guide for women is the hub, and the UK travel guide for women covers the wider picture. For why one wool layer works on a windy moor and a damp ferry deck alike, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women, and every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women. The base layers themselves are in the Roman Trail collection.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
