Day Trips Orkney, North of Scotland Overnight Tours, Private Guided Tours

HOME

ORKNEY 2009
Escorted tours

All our Orkney tours start from Inverness.

For details of partially escorted tours from late March to mid-October please click here.

In September we run a 1-day trip from Inverness to Orkney - our Orkney MegaTour;

For a relaxing 2-day tour take our Silver Star trip in September.

Day Trips Orkney, North of Scotland Overnight Tours, Private Guided Tours - Go-Orkney, Puffin Express

A haunting late afternoon view of the Stones of Stenness
as a storm gathers to the north

Another page gives general information on Orkney including accommodations there, entrance fees etc.

Prehistory; the world wars; seascapes; and Norse links are what most people are looking for in a visit to the ORKNEY ISLANDS; all our trips to Orkney include features from these four main categories.
Joining: All our trips to Orkney begin and end in Inverness, leaving from Castle Wynd - or the Town House, beside Castle Wynd
Click here for some towns and accommodations north of Inverness from which you can join this tour.

GO-ORKNEY MEGATOUR 2009
The best of Orkney in a day from Inverness
Scheduled trips - Days & dates of operation 2009
This trip is available 361 days per year as a private trip - click here for more information

Friday 8 May

Friday 22 May
Friday 29 May

Departure time (Inverness) - from Castle Wynd:
September - 0600hrs; returns c. 2100hrs.

Fare: £ 85 + admission fees to Skara Brae & Maeshowe - maximum £ 11.50
Joining at Gills Bay (ferry point) at 0915hrs: £ 80

Monday 7 September
Monday 14 September
Monday 21 September - guaranteed departure
Monday 28 September - guaranteed departure

Pick-up from points north of Inverness:
Tain - 0700, at Co-op Supermarket car park at north [west] end of the royal burgh;
Dornoch Firth Caravan Park - 0705
Dornoch - 0710 - check this link for details of joining from Dornoch
Golspie - 0725, at Fountain Road car park
Brora - 0735, Gower Street car park, near Co-op;
Helmsdale - 0750 - opposite Bridge Hotel

This is the only day-trip to Orkney which visits all the top prehistoric sites - Skara Brae; the rings of Brodgar & Stenness; and Maeshowe - and which gives you sufficient time at each of these antiquities. For our crossing to Orkney we use MV Pentalina, the car ferry service started in 2001 and which takes just over an hour from the mainland to Orkney. During this crossing we see a wide variety of wildlife. Often seals are seen before we leave mainland Scotland and seabirds are seen on all trips.

0615hrs (May), 0600hrs September: Depart Inverness TIC (Castle Wynd). Drive north by the coast road to Gills Bay (near John o'Groats), with a breakfast/toilet stop. On our way we pass cliff-top castles, wild moorland scenery and a variety of prehistoric sites inlcuding the broch of Carn Liath and the stone 'circle' - actually more a horseshoe - of Achavanich.
0945/0930: Depart Gills Bay for the scenic 1-hour crossing, taking us under Stroma, Swona and the great gun emplacements which guarded Hoxa Sound during the Second World War.

Day Trips Orkney, North of Scotland Overnight Tours, Private Guided Tours - Go-Orkney, Puffin Express

Swona, where the Pentland Firth meets Scapa Flow. This island, which rarely experiences frost, is at the same latitude as frigid Churchill on Hudson's Bay, haunt of the ice-bear! Swona is now uninhabited, except by seabirds and its famous herd of feral cattle.
Dunnet Head, most northerly point of the Scottish Mainland, can be seen in the background to the right of the cottage.

1115-1120: Arrive at St Margaret's Hope in South Ronaldsay, most southerly of the inhabited islands of Orkney. Drive north over the Churchill Barriers, then proceeding to the major prehistoric monuments of West Mainland:

The Rings of Brodgar (see photos below) and Stenness - we spend up to 45 minutes at these two great circles;

Prehistoric Tours in the Highlands of Scotland
Left, a general view of part of the Ring of Brodgar, with the Loch of Harray in the background; right, a stone struck by lightning in the 1980s, with the flake split off lying beside the stone

Skara Brae, best-preserved stone-age village in Europe. We spend about 1½ hours here; you may spend some of your time in nearby Skaill House, with its account of the discovery of Skara Brae. It is also our lunch stop;

Maeshowe is the finest passage grave in the British Isles. We are normally here about 40 minutes;

Maeshowe from the air. Beyond, the lochs of Harray and Stenness; the Ring of Brodgar is between these lochs, on a brown knoll almost directly 'above' the mound of Maeshowe. This is the Neolithic heartland of Orkney and only GO-ORKNEY takes you to Maeshowe on a day tour from Inverness.

Click above for a detailed picture of Viking 'twig' runes inside the tomb
Pictures by Richard Welsby

Kirkwall. Our time here is determined to some extent by our departure time from Maeshowe - the only potential bottleneck on the trip - but we usually have 30-50 minutes. Places to visit include Saint Magnus Cathedral, the Earl's & Bishop's Palaces, and the Orkney Museum.

1700hrs: Depart St Margaret's Hope, returning to Caithness 1815hrs.
2100hrs: Return to Inverness.

Our price of £ 85 includes return road and ferry transport from Inverness to Orkney and guided tour within Orkney. Entrance fees to Skara Brae and Maeshowe are not included - both these monuments are in the care of Historic Scotland.
Meals & snacks are available on board our ferry, and there is a café at Skara Brae.

Our long experience of Orkney means that, as far as possible, we arrive at the principal sites when there are few other visitors. We can't always promise this; when there's a cruise ship in, even we may meet up with them. But the photos below tell their own story:
Day Trips Orkney, North of Scotland Overnight Tours, Private Guided Tours - Go-Orkney, Puffin Express Day Trips to Orkney, North of Scotland Overnight Tours and Private Guided Tours from Go-Orkney and Puffin Express
The left picture is how the bus park at Skara Brae usually looks when we arrive - just our little coach! The right picture shows it as we're leaving - we're nearly always ahead of the crowd!

To book now, note the price of this trip (£ 85) and go to Bookings
Availability
How far in advance should I book?
Back to top of page

Private Tours. Our GO-ORKNEY MegaTour is available almost every day of the year as a private tour. We pick you up from your accommodation in Inverness or at any point north of the city. Details of the tour are then as given above - or you can have the tour tailored to your own requirements. Departure time for private tour can be as late as 0645hrs.
Cost: Our price of £ 450-500 for a private tour includes land and ferry transport from Inverness to and within Orkney and back to Inverness, with high standard of guidance, and features visited as in the itinerary above or as agreed. This price covers up to 2 passengers; add £ 27 for each passenger above that number. VAT (sales tax) of 17.5% is also included. Not included: meals, entrance fees.

ORKNEY Silver Star

A 2-day trip giving you the best of the far north of Scotland & Orkney
MAY & SEPTEMBER 2009
Nor'West Tours
(Formerly Puffin Express)

DATES

Thursday 7 May

Thursday 21 May
Thursday 28 May

Sunday 6 September
Sunday 13 September
Sunday 20 September
Sunday 27 September

The dates given are for the trip northward; return is the next day.

Itinerary: Day 1 (Thursday or Sunday) - We pick you up at your accommodation in Inverness 0830-0920 and then head north following the itinerary described for our John o'Groats tour. You'll have almost as a good chance of seals and deer as if you did the full John o'Groats trip. You’ll also see prehistoric sites we pass and most of the scenic features. Late afternoon take the Pentland Venture at John o’Groats for the 40-minute crossing to Orkney. (This ferry is route 3 on the map.) A coach meets you at Burwick in South Ronaldsay and takes you to Kirkwall, arriving about 1930hrs.
Day 2 (Friday or Monday). You are free in Kirkwall until 1120 - lots of time to visit the Cathedral; Earl's & Bishop's Palaces; and the Orkney Museum. About 1120 meet the Nor'West Tours bus for your tour of west Mainland, visiting Maeshowe, Skara Brae, the Rings of Brodgar and Stenness. The tour is described in detail on our Orkney page, from the phrase: "... then proceeding to visit . . ." - the link takes you direct to that point.
1610hrs: depart Kirkwall for St Margaret's Hope, stopping at the Italian Chapel en route; return to Caithness by Pentland Ferries - this ferry is route 2 on the map. Return to Inverness 2115hrs.

This tour basically combines our John o'Groats tour with the GO-ORKNEY MegaTour the day after. It means a less early start than with the MegaTour; lets you see much more on the way north; and gives you more time in Kirkwall.
Accommodation price in Kirkwall not included in tour price. Click here for suggested accommodations.

To book now, note the price of this trip (£ 99)
and go to Bookings
How far in advance should I book?
Back to top of page Contact us
HOME
Details of some accommodations in Inverness