Shetland

Shetland lies closer to Bergen than to Edinburgh, a windswept archipelago of more than a hundred islands scattered across the North Atlantic where Scotland finally gives way to open sea. Fifteen of these islands are inhabited, linked by a network of inter-island ferries and two subsea road tunnels, and together they hold barely 23,000 people spread across a landscape of heather moor, sea cliffs and voes, the long sheltered sea inlets that cut deep into the mainland and give almost every township a harbour of its own.

This is a place shaped as much by Norway as by Scotland. Six centuries of Norse rule left Shetland with its own dialect, its own place names, and its own midwinter fire festival, and islanders still talk of a trip south to the Scottish mainland as going "to Scotland", as though it were a separate country. The result is a culture that feels genuinely distinct: fiddle music learned in front rooms, fine lace knitting passed down through generations, and a deep attachment to the sea that has sustained islanders for a thousand years, whether through fishing, the oil terminal at Sullom Voe, or the salmon farms that now ring the voes.

Visitors come for the wildlife above all else, with puffins, gannets and skuas crowding cliff-top colonies each summer, otters working the tideline at dawn and dusk, and orcas occasionally cruising past the ferry routes, but many stay for the emptiness. Shetland has more prehistoric and Norse archaeology per square mile than almost anywhere in Europe, sweeping beaches that are usually deserted, and simmer dim, the pale half-light of the midsummer nights, when the sun barely sets at all.

Top things to do in Shetland

Shetland rewards slow travel and a full tank of fuel: distances on the map are short, but the detours down single-track roads are the whole point of a visit.

• Jarlshof is one of the most remarkable archaeological sites in Britain, a single excavation near Sumburgh that layers Bronze Age houses, an Iron Age broch, Norse longhouses and a medieval laird's mansion on top of one another.
• Sumburgh Head gives close-up views of nesting puffins between April and August from a clifftop lighthouse, with a visitor centre explaining the site's history in wartime radar and seabird research.
• Hermaness National Nature Reserve, on the northern tip of Unst, is a walk out to Britain's most northerly point, past thousands of nesting gannets and skuas, with views across to the distant Muckle Flugga lighthouse.
• Mousa Broch, reached by a short boat trip, is the best-preserved Iron Age broch tower anywhere in the world, and a summer evening crossing timed for the storm petrels returning to nest is one of Shetland's classic outings.
• Scalloway Castle and Museum tell the story of Shetland's former capital, from its early 17th-century castle to its role sheltering the wartime "Shetland Bus" resistance operation to occupied Norway.
• The Shetland Museum and Archives in Lerwick brings together the islands' Norse, maritime and crofting history in a modern harbourside building, with a working boat shed and archive behind it.
• Fair Isle, reachable by ferry or light aircraft, is famed worldwide for its knitwear patterns and its bird observatory, and remains one of the most isolated permanently inhabited islands in Britain.
• Eshaness, on the north-west coast, has dramatic volcanic sea cliffs riddled with blowholes and stacks, best seen on a clear day with the red-and-white lighthouse as a landmark.

Getting to Shetland

Most visitors fly into Sumburgh Airport, around 25 miles south of Lerwick, with regular services from Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness, taking a little over an hour from Aberdeen. Loganair operates the majority of these routes, and its inter-island flights also connect Sumburgh to Fair Isle, Foula and other outlying isles.

The overnight ferry from Aberdeen, run by NorthLink Ferries, is the classic approach for anyone bringing a car, taking around 12 to 13 hours and docking at Lerwick each morning; a summer service also calls at Kirkwall in Orkney en route. Cabins should be booked well ahead for the peak summer season. There is no rail line to Shetland: the nearest station is Aberdeen, itself around seven hours from London King's Cross by train, from where the ferry or a connecting flight completes the journey.

Once on the islands, a car is close to essential, since public transport exists but is limited, and much of Shetland's appeal lies along remote single-track roads. Two free subsea tunnels link the mainland to Whalsay and Yell without a ferry crossing, while other islands, including Unst, Bressay and Fetlar, are reached by short car ferries running frequently through the day. Parking is free and plentiful across the islands, including in Lerwick itself.

Best time to visit Shetland

Summer, from May to July, is by far the busiest and most rewarding season, bringing seabird colonies to their peak, wildflowers into bloom along the cliffs, and simmer dim, the light that barely fades before dawn returns. This is also when inter-island ferries, boat trips and visitor attractions run to their fullest timetables.

Spring, through April, sees the first puffins and terns arrive and the islands turn green after a long winter, with fewer visitors and lower accommodation prices than high summer. Autumn, from September, brings migrating birds passing through in huge numbers, drawing birdwatchers to spots like Fair Isle and Sumburgh, along with the first aurora sightings of the season on clear nights.

Winter is short on daylight, as little as six hours in December, but is the best time to see the Northern Lights from a dark, largely light-pollution-free sky. Late January brings Up Helly Aa, Lerwick's spectacular fire festival marking the end of Yule, when squads of torch-bearing guizers drag a replica Viking longship through the streets before setting it ablaze.

Where to stay in Shetland

Lerwick is the natural base for a first visit, putting the museum, harbour, shops and restaurants on the doorstep along with the ferry terminal, and it works well as a hub for day trips across the rest of the mainland. The South Mainland, around Sumburgh and Levenwick, suits wildlife-focused visits, sitting close to the airport, Jarlshof and Sumburgh Head. The North Mainland, near Brae and Eshaness, is quieter and better placed for the dramatic cliffs and for onward trips to Yell and Unst, while Scalloway offers a smaller, more local alternative to Lerwick just a few minutes away by road.

Food and drink in Shetland

Shetland's food is built around what the sea and the crofts provide: mussels and salmon farmed in the sheltered voes, white fish landed at Lerwick and Scalloway, and lamb from sheep that graze the coastal grass, giving Shetland lamb its distinctive flavour. Reestit mutton, salted and wind-dried in the traditional way, still turns up in soups and stews, and bannocks and beremeal bread reflect the islands' old grain-growing traditions on thin, wind-scoured soil.

The Lerwick Food Fair and Shetland Wool Week both bring producers together each year, while the town's harbourside restaurants, including the Fjara Cafe Bar and the Dowry Café, focus on local seafood and home baking. The NorthLink ferry crossing itself carries a well-regarded restaurant serving Shetland produce, often a visitor's first taste of the islands before they have even landed. Craft producers include the Valhalla Brewery on Unst, Britain's most northerly brewery, and Saxa Vord Distillery, also on Unst, producing gin and whisky within sight of Muckle Flugga.