Attractions in Shetland

Böd of Gremista

Typical 18th-century Shetland fishing booth at the north end of Lerwick, protected as a category B listed building.

• Lerwick & Bressay, Shetland

Bonhoga Gallery

Gallery, shop and café in a converted mill beside the Weisdale burn, run by Shetland Arts.

• Scalloway & the West Mainland, Shetland

Bressay Lighthouse

Lighthouse at Kirkabister Ness on Bressay, about 4 km south-east of Lerwick, overlooking Bressay Sound.

• Lerwick & Bressay, Shetland

Brough Lodge

19th-century Gothic mansion on Fetlar, category A listed and disused since the 1980s; a trust has begun restoring it.

• Northmavine, Yell & Unst, Shetland

Burra

West and East Burra are linked to each other by a bridge, and to the Mainland via Trondra.

• Scalloway & the West Mainland, Shetland

Clickimin Broch

Broch and blockhouse on the shore of Clickimin Loch, with more than a thousand years of settlement and a stone carved with two feet.

• Lerwick & Bressay, Shetland

Commercial Street

Lerwick's main shopping street, running parallel to the old waterfront through the centre of the town.

• Lerwick & Bressay, Shetland

Dore Holm

Small islet with a natural arch off the south coast of Esha Ness.

• Northmavine, Yell & Unst, Shetland

Esha Ness cliffs

Black volcanic cliffs on the west coast of Northmavine, with sea caves, geos and boulder fields thrown up by storms.

• Northmavine, Yell & Unst, Shetland

Esha Ness Lighthouse

Clifftop lighthouse designed by David Alan Stevenson and commissioned in 1929, just south of Calder's Geo.

• Northmavine, Yell & Unst, Shetland

Fethaland

Abandoned settlement at the far north of the Mainland, once the site of the largest haaf fishing station in Shetland.

• Northmavine, Yell & Unst, Shetland

Fort Charlotte

Artillery fort begun in 1665 during the Second Dutch War to guard Bressay Sound, rebuilt in the 1780s and presented as it looked then.

• Lerwick & Bressay, Shetland

Gardie House

18th-century estate house on Bressay facing Lerwick across Bressay Sound, described by Historic Scotland as unique in Shetland.

• Lerwick & Bressay, Shetland

Hermaness National Nature Reserve

Northern headland of Unst with huge sea cliffs and moorland, a national nature reserve since 1955, with a path and boardwalk.

• Northmavine, Yell & Unst, Shetland

Jarlshof Prehistoric and Norse Settlement

More than 4,000 years of settlement on one site: Bronze Age houses, an Iron Age broch and wheelhouses, Norse longhouses and a 1500s laird's house.

• South Mainland: Sumburgh, Jarlshof & Mousa, Shetland

Keen of Hamar

Botanical nature reserve near Baltasound, home to a mouse-ear plant (Cerastium nigrescens) found only on Unst.

• Northmavine, Yell & Unst, Shetland

Law Ting Holm

Promontory in the Loch of Tingwall, once an islet reached by a stone causeway, and the site of Shetland's parliament until the late 1500s.

• Scalloway & the West Mainland, Shetland

Lerwick Town Hall

Category A listed town hall on Hillhead, now used as an events venue and registrar's office.

• Lerwick & Bressay, Shetland

Mareel

Music venue, cinema and arts centre on the historic Hay's Dock quayside, opened in 2012 and run by Shetland Arts.

• Lerwick & Bressay, Shetland

Mavis Grind

Isthmus just over 90 metres wide at its narrowest, joining the Northmavine peninsula to the rest of the Mainland.

• Northmavine, Yell & Unst, Shetland

Meal Beach

Sandy beach near Hamnavoe on West Burra, one of the islands linked to the Mainland by bridges.

• Scalloway & the West Mainland, Shetland

Mousa Broch

Iron Age tower about 13 metres tall, thought to date from about 300 BC; Historic Environment Scotland calls it Scotland's tallest Iron Age tower.

• South Mainland: Sumburgh, Jarlshof & Mousa, Shetland

Muckle Flugga

Rocky island off the north of Unst, part of the Hermaness reserve, with a lighthouse that was automated in 1995.

• Northmavine, Yell & Unst, Shetland

Muness Castle

Tower house of the late 1500s built for Laurence Bruce of Cultmalindie, the northernmost castle in the British Isles.

• Northmavine, Yell & Unst, Shetland

Noss

Island east of Bressay with high seabird cliffs, which visitors can see on boat trips.

• Lerwick & Bressay, Shetland

Old Haa Museum

Museum, tearoom and garden at Burravoe on Yell, in a merchant's house built in 1672.

• Northmavine, Yell & Unst, Shetland

Old Scatness Broch and Iron Age Village

Iron Age broch and village found in 1975 when a road was built near Sumburgh Airport, open in summer with guided tours.

• South Mainland: Sumburgh, Jarlshof & Mousa, Shetland

Quendale Mill

Watermill commissioned by the Grierson lairds of Quendale in 1867 to grind the estate's grain; grinding began the following year.

• South Mainland: Sumburgh, Jarlshof & Mousa, Shetland

Ronas Hill

At 450 metres the highest point in Shetland, with a Neolithic chambered cairn near the summit.

• Northmavine, Yell & Unst, Shetland

Scalloway Castle

Tower house of the late 1500s built for Earl Patrick Stewart, who was accused of using forced labour to build it in 1599.

• Scalloway & the West Mainland, Shetland

Scalloway Museum

Community museum beside the castle, opened in 2012, on Scalloway and the wartime Shetland Bus to Norway; closed in winter until spring.

• Scalloway & the West Mainland, Shetland

Shetland Crofthouse Museum

Traditional 19th-century thatched crofthouse in Dunrossness, presented as it would have looked in the 1870s, with box beds and a peat fire.

• South Mainland: Sumburgh, Jarlshof & Mousa, Shetland

Shetland Museum and Archives

Museum and archives at Hay's Dock on the Lerwick waterfront, telling the story of Shetland's heritage and culture; the building opened in 2007.

• Lerwick & Bressay, Shetland

St Ninian's Isle

• South Mainland: Sumburgh, Jarlshof & Mousa, Shetland

Stanydale Temple

Oval enclosure of large boulders, the only truly megalithic structure surviving from prehistoric Shetland; nobody knows what it was used for.

• Scalloway & the West Mainland, Shetland

Sumburgh Head Lighthouse and Nature Reserve

Lighthouse first lit in 1821 at the southern tip of the Mainland, with a seasonal visitor centre and a nature reserve open all year.

• South Mainland: Sumburgh, Jarlshof & Mousa, Shetland

Tangwick Haa Museum

Former laird's house of the Cheyne family at Tangwick, run as a museum since 1987.

• Northmavine, Yell & Unst, Shetland

Unst Boat Haven

Museum of Unst's small wooden fishing boats, which once fished for cod and ling, on the shore road at Haroldswick.

• Northmavine, Yell & Unst, Shetland

Unst Bus Shelter

Bus shelter on the A968 near Baltasound, also known as Bobby's Bus Shelter and maintained by Shetland Islands Council.

• Northmavine, Yell & Unst, Shetland

Unst Heritage Centre

Small museum at Haroldswick on the story of Unst, which also acts as the island's information point.

• Northmavine, Yell & Unst, Shetland

Walls

Village at the head of Vaila Sound on the West Mainland, sheltered by the islands of Linga and Vaila.

• Scalloway & the West Mainland, Shetland