Attractions in Orkney

Barnhouse Settlement

Neolithic settlement on the shore of the Loch of Harray, a short walk from the Stones of Stenness.

• Stromness & the West Mainland, Orkney

Betty Corrigall's grave

• Scapa Flow, the South Isles & Hoy, Orkney

Bishop's and Earl's Palaces

• Kirkwall & central Mainland, Orkney

Blackhammer Chambered Cairn

Stalled cairn about 5,000 years old with a long chamber divided into seven compartments; excavators found just two skeletons.

• North Isles: Rousay, Westray & beyond, Orkney

Broch of Borwick

Iron Age broch on the west coast of the Mainland near Yesnaby, a scheduled monument.

• Stromness & the West Mainland, Orkney

Broch of Gurness

Iron Age broch and village above Eynhallow Sound, one of the most complete later prehistoric settlements in Scotland; finds are shown on site.

• Stromness & the West Mainland, Orkney

Brough of Birsay

Tidal island with Pictish and Norse remains and the church of St Peter, reached by a causeway only at low tide.

• Stromness & the West Mainland, Orkney

Brough of Deerness

Clifftop walk to a rocky stack almost cut off from the Mainland; rock-cut steps and a chain lead up to a small 11th-century Norse chapel.

• Kirkwall & central Mainland, Orkney

Cantick Head Lighthouse

Active 19th-century lighthouse at the end of Cantick Head on South Walls, overlooking the Pentland Firth and the Sound of Hoxa.

• Scapa Flow, the South Isles & Hoy, Orkney

Churchill Barriers

Four causeways, 2.3 km in all, built from 1940 to 1944 to guard Scapa Flow and open as roads since May 1945.

• Scapa Flow, the South Isles & Hoy, Orkney

Click Mill

Horizontal water mill built in the early 1820s and worked until the mid-1880s, the only mill in Orkney with all its machinery.

• Stromness & the West Mainland, Orkney

Cubbie Roo's Castle and St Mary's Chapel

• North Isles: Rousay, Westray & beyond, Orkney

Cuween Hill Chambered Cairn

Neolithic tomb about 5,000 years old above Finstown, where the bones of people, dogs and oxen were found.

• Kirkwall & central Mainland, Orkney

Dwarfie Stane

Tomb hollowed out of one huge block of sandstone, with a passage and two small cells; graffiti outside includes Persian script dated 1850.

• Scapa Flow, the South Isles & Hoy, Orkney

Earl's Bu and Church, Orphir

• Kirkwall & central Mainland, Orkney

Earl's Palace, Birsay

• Stromness & the West Mainland, Orkney

Grain Earth House

Underground Iron Age chamber on stone pillars, reached by its original entrance and a 5-metre winding passage, on the edge of Kirkwall.

• Kirkwall & central Mainland, Orkney

Hackness Martello Tower and Battery

Battery and Martello tower on South Walls, built in the Napoleonic Wars to protect merchant ships; closed in autumn and winter.

• Scapa Flow, the South Isles & Hoy, Orkney

Highland Park Distillery

Distillery and visitor centre on the southern edge of Kirkwall, described as the northernmost single malt Scotch whisky distillery.

• Kirkwall & central Mainland, Orkney

Holland Farm

Laird's farm on Papa Westray built in the early 1800s, with a threshing barn, kiln, smithy, dovecote and the Bothy Museum.

• North Isles: Rousay, Westray & beyond, Orkney

Holm of Papa Westray Chambered Cairn

Cairn about 5,000 years old on an uninhabited islet, with a 20-metre chamber entered by roof hatch and ladder; boat trips run from Papa Westray.

• North Isles: Rousay, Westray & beyond, Orkney

Italian Chapel

Two Nissen huts turned into an ornate chapel by Domenico Chiocchetti and fellow Italian prisoners of war who built the Churchill Barriers.

• Scapa Flow, the South Isles & Hoy, Orkney

Kirbuster Museum

The last unrestored traditional 'firehoose' in Northern Europe, with a central peat hearth and a stone neuk bed; lived in until the 1960s.

• Stromness & the West Mainland, Orkney

Kitchener Memorial

Tower 48 feet high on the clifftop at Marwick Head, raised after the sinking of the cruiser HMS Hampshire.

• Stromness & the West Mainland, Orkney

Knap of Howar

Two linked stone houses on Papa Westray, lived in more than 5,000 years ago, with stone cupboards and stalls still in place.

• North Isles: Rousay, Westray & beyond, Orkney

Knowe of Yarso Chambered Cairn

Hillside cairn where excavations in 1934 found the remains of at least 29 people and the bones of 36 red deer.

• North Isles: Rousay, Westray & beyond, Orkney

Links of Noltland

Large Neolithic and Bronze Age settlement on Westray's north coast, where the Westray Wife figurine was found in 2009.

• North Isles: Rousay, Westray & beyond, Orkney

Maeshowe Chambered Cairn

Monumental chambered tomb about 5,000 years old on a platform ringed by a ditch; entry is by timed ticket from Historic Environment Scotland.

• Stromness & the West Mainland, Orkney

Marwick Head

RSPB reserve on cliffs nearly 90 metres high south of Birsay, where thousands of seabirds nest in summer; walk up from Marwick Bay.

• Stromness & the West Mainland, Orkney

Midhowe Broch

One of at least nine brochs on Eynhallow Sound, well preserved inside, with a water tank, fireplace and room partitions still visible.

• North Isles: Rousay, Westray & beyond, Orkney

Midhowe Chambered Cairn

The largest of Rousay's 15 chambered cairns, a stalled tomb inside a modern hangar, seen from raised walkways; at least 25 people were buried here.

• North Isles: Rousay, Westray & beyond, Orkney

Ness Battery

Wartime gun battery on the edge of Stromness that guarded Hoy Sound; guided tours of just over an hour end in the muralled Mess Hall.

• Stromness & the West Mainland, Orkney

Ness of Brodgar

Neolithic site of 2.5 hectares between the Ring of Brodgar and the Stones of Stenness, excavated from 2003 to 2024, then covered over.

• Stromness & the West Mainland, Orkney

Noltland Castle

Unfinished fortress-house on Westray built for Gilbert Balfour, master of Mary Queen of Scots' household; its walls have 71 gun holes.

• North Isles: Rousay, Westray & beyond, Orkney

North Ronaldsay Lighthouse

Built in 1854 by David and Thomas Stevenson; at 139 feet it is the tallest land-based lighthouse tower in Britain.

• North Isles: Rousay, Westray & beyond, Orkney

Noup Head Lighthouse

Lighthouse built by David A Stevenson in 1898 on Westray's north-west headland, above cliffs that hold thousands of seabirds.

• North Isles: Rousay, Westray & beyond, Orkney

Old Man of Hoy

Old Red Sandstone sea stack 137 metres high near Rackwick Bay, one of the tallest in the UK; first climbed in 1966.

• Scapa Flow, the South Isles & Hoy, Orkney

Orkney Fossil and Heritage Centre

Orkney fossils and geology going back 350 million years, at Burray; the museum reopens around Easter 2027 and the Relic Cafe stays open.

• Scapa Flow, the South Isles & Hoy, Orkney

Orkney Wireless Museum

Radios from the 1930s onwards, plus wartime displays on how Scapa Flow was defended, with Spitfire radios and spy suitcase sets.

• Kirkwall & central Mainland, Orkney

Pier Arts Centre

Gallery on the Stromness waterfront, founded in 1979 for Margaret Gardiner's collection of 20th-century art, with changing exhibitions all year.

• Stromness & the West Mainland, Orkney

Quoyness Chambered Cairn

Sanday tomb about 5,000 years old, entered by crawling along a 9-metre passage into a central chamber still 4 metres high.

• North Isles: Rousay, Westray & beyond, Orkney

Rackwick

Small crofting township on the north-west coast of Hoy, close to the Old Man of Hoy.

• Scapa Flow, the South Isles & Hoy, Orkney

Rennibister Earth House

Stone-lined underground passage and chamber found in 1926, the only earth house where human remains have been found: about 18 people.

• Kirkwall & central Mainland, Orkney

Ring of Brodgar

Stone circle and henge of the third millennium BC: 36 of the original 60 stones survive, some 4.7 metres tall, inside a rock-cut ditch.

• Stromness & the West Mainland, Orkney

Scapa Distillery

Whisky distillery on the shore of Scapa Flow, half a mile south of Highland Park, with a visitor centre offering tastings.

• Kirkwall & central Mainland, Orkney

Scapa Flow Museum

Museum in the former naval base at Lyness on Hoy telling Orkney's part in both world wars, with more than 250 artefacts.

• Scapa Flow, the South Isles & Hoy, Orkney

Skaill House

House near Skara Brae built in 1620 by Bishop Graham, shown as the 1950s family home, with Captain Cook's dinner service; open since 1997.

• Stromness & the West Mainland, Orkney

Skara Brae

Village about 5,000 years old, uncovered by a storm in 1850; houses keep stone dressers and box beds, and a replica shows a full interior.

• Stromness & the West Mainland, Orkney

St Magnus Cathedral

Red and yellow sandstone cathedral founded in 1137 by Earl Rognvald for St Magnus; open daily April to September, Monday to Saturday in winter.

• Kirkwall & central Mainland, Orkney

St Magnus Church, Egilsay

Roofless church of about 1136 on the island where Earl Magnus was killed; its round bell tower once stood nearly 20 metres high.

• North Isles: Rousay, Westray & beyond, Orkney

Stones of Stenness

Four upright stones up to 6 metres high from a circle of 12, possibly the earliest henge monument in the British Isles.

• Stromness & the West Mainland, Orkney

Stromness Museum

Independent museum founded in 1837 on Orkney's maritime and natural history, including the scuttling of the German fleet at Scapa Flow in 1919.

• Stromness & the West Mainland, Orkney

Taversoe Tuick Chambered Cairn

Unusual Rousay cairn with two burial chambers, one above the other, and a third small chamber downhill.

• North Isles: Rousay, Westray & beyond, Orkney

The Orkney Brewery

Brewery at Quoyloo with a visitor centre for tours, a shop and the Tasting Hall café; closed for the season until March 2027.

• Stromness & the West Mainland, Orkney

The Orkney Museum

Orkney's story from prehistory to today in Tankerness House, a museum since 1968, with Pictish stones and grave goods from the Scar Viking boat burial.

• Kirkwall & central Mainland, Orkney

Tomb of the Eagles

Clifftop tomb on South Ronaldsay found by farmer Ronnie Simison; the community-owned site and visitor centre are closed until 2027.

• Scapa Flow, the South Isles & Hoy, Orkney

Unstan Chambered Cairn

Round stalled cairn about 5,000 years old with one side cell; the pottery bowls found here gave their name to Unstan Ware.

• Stromness & the West Mainland, Orkney

Vinquoy Chambered Cairn

Chambered cairn on Vinquoy Hill in the north of Eday, a scheduled monument.

• North Isles: Rousay, Westray & beyond, Orkney

Ward Hill

At 481 metres the highest point in Orkney and the Northern Isles, rising between Moaness and Rackwick on Hoy.

• Scapa Flow, the South Isles & Hoy, Orkney

Westray Heritage Centre

Accredited museum in Pierowall on Westray's history from the Neolithic to the Vikings, home of the Westray Wife; open daily May to September.

• North Isles: Rousay, Westray & beyond, Orkney