Five Tips I'd Give to Anyone Planning a Trip to Orkney

It's been almost two years since we first visited the Orkney Islands. It was as part of a big work trip that we extended into a mini break, and I am so glad we took the time to actually explore these beautiful islands.

Orkney was really high on my list of places I wanted to visit in the Scottish Highlands and Islands when I first started this blog. I love history and I love islands, so Orkney seemed like an ideal place to explore both of these loves.

If you're planning a trip to Orkney and just want a helping hand to know where to start with planning a trip, hopefully this wee guide will give you some good tips to help with planning a trip to Orkney. And don't forget to have a nosy of my previous blogposts about Orkney below.

• Everything we Did on Orkney

• Everything we Ate on Orkney

• Visiting the Italian Chapel, Orkney

Be Aware of the Weather and the Changes it Might Bring

We visited Orkney in mid October a few years ago, which I know, as someone who has lived in the Scottish Highlands for the last few years, is a real time of change in the Scottish Highlands and Islands. After what is normally a fairly pleasant and beautiful September, October comes along and brings with it the stormy, wet and windy weather that the Highlands is really known for.

The weekend we travelled to Orkney was just like that. We originally booked an early morning ferry trip from Scrabster in Caithness to Stormness on Orkney. However, this ferry was delayed until lunchtime that day and all ferries later on in the day were cancelled. Our return ferry four days later was not delayed, but by that point, the majority of ferries between Orkney and the mainland had been delayed or cancelled, due to the incredible high winds.

Make Sure You Spend Time in Kirkwall

We stayed in a wee Airbnb in the centre of Kirkwall during our visit and I honestly couldn't recommend it enough. We loved staying right in the heart of this place (we are rural folk who love staying in the centre of the bright lights).

Some of our favourite shops and restuarants in Kirkwall included:

• The Orcadian Bookshop

• The Storehouse Restuarant

• Grooves Record Shop

• The Brig Larder

If You're a Foodie, You'll be in Heaven

If you've followed along with my blog for a number of years now, you'll know how much of a foodie I am. We love finding cool new restaurants, cafes and businesses, selling some of the incredible provinance Scotland has to offer. We've discovered some incredible food and drink spots over the years, but one of my favourite spots for food and drink across the Highlands and Islands has to be Orkney.

I've shared a blogpost all about everything we ate on the trip already, but I really do recommend Orkney for all your foodie needs. As well as some fantastic restuarants and coffee shops, we discovered some amazing food and drink businesses, meaning you could take some of these amazing things home with you to enjoy. We loved picking up cheese, chutney and crackers to have picky lunches in our Airbnb during the day. It was such a fun little treat to enjoy whilst we were away.

Give Yourself Plenty of Time to See the Famous Sites

Due to the incredibly windy weather we experienced during our trip to Orkney, we ended up visiting the world-famous Skara Brae twice. We originally visited on our last full day, hoping to spend a couple of hours there before enjoying our final dinner. However, when we arrived at the centre, the winds had actually meant that the historical site was closed to the public. We ended up having to return the following day before catching our ferry home.

To be honest, even though we ended up spending nearly 2 hours at the Skara Brae site, I still don't think it was enough time to take in all the amazing history of this place. If you're a bit of a history geek like me, Orkney is full of some of the most amazing historical sites I've ever visited.

Don't Skip Caithness and Sutherland on Your Way to Orkney

Since moving to the Scottish Highlands, I really fell in love with the incredible region of Sutherland. However, I really didn't know anything about Caithness. It's a region of the Scottish Highlands that has always felt so unfamiliar to me, with it's hard landscapes contrasting to to the rugged mountains of Lochalsh where I live.

I haven't posted many blogposts on these regions but, if you are looking for some more inspiration, check out these blogposts.

• Dornoch in Autumn

• A Weekend in Dornoch

• An Ode to the Far North