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

HOME

GO-ORKNEY MegaTour
The best of Orkney in a day from Inverness
This trip is available most days as a private trip
Please note - this is not a scheduled tour
2012

Click here for details of Lewis day-tour

This is the only day-trip from Inverness to Orkney which visits the top prehistoric sites - Skara Brae; the rings of Brodgar & Stenness; and Maeshowe - and which gives you sufficient time at each of these antiquities. You will also see a number of important features relating to the World Wars, and have time in Kirkwall, Orkney's capital.
For our crossing to Orkney we use MV Pentalina, the car ferry service started in 2001 and which takes just 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.

0600-0615hrs We pick you up at your accommodation in Inverness. 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 usually including the broch of Càrn Liath and the stone 'circle' - actually more a horseshoe - of Achavanich.
0930/0945: 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.
1100: 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

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. (NB: while Skara Brae is open all year, Skaill House is usually closed October-March.) This 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 (longer in July & August). 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.
2115hrs: Return to Inverness.
July & August: 1800hrs: Depart St Margaret's Hope, returning to Caithness 1915hrs.
2215hrs: Return to Inverness.

The above is our suggested itinerary. However, since this is a private tour you may of course select whichever features of Orkney you wish, which fit within the time available.

"Buddies"
If you wish to do this trip but would like to split the cost with others, then we can put your desired dates up on this website.

Currently there are 2 Canadians who wish to do this tour on Monday 10 or Tuesday 11 September. They would like to split the costs with 2 (or possibly) 1 other traveller(s). Let us know if this interests you;

If you wish to put up your own date here we do it for a fee of £ 10 - it does help if you can offer a range of dates.

Available Dates
This tour is available in principle any day of the year except 25 December and 1 January.
In practice of course we have other committments so it is best to give us a spread of dates if possible. Few dates are available mid-April to mid-May and the 2nd half of September.

Eating/Meal arrangements
Assuming we have made normal progress, we stop about 0820 hrs at a supermarket in Wick. At the cafeteria you can get hot or cold breakfast and drinks. There are toilets, and you can also buy picnic and snack food.
Lunch: Some accommodations in Inverness can be quite insistent about leaving cold food out for your breakfast. At 0530 in the morning, even I don't uaually have much of an appetite! If your accommodation is on a "bed & breakfast" basis you may be able to negotiate a packed lunch in lieu of breakfast. Otherwise, as noted above, you can get picnic food at our stop in Wick, or you can lunch in the café at Skara Brae.
Snack food is also available on the ferry. On the northward crossing (c. 0945-1100 hrs) this is bacon rolls and such like, on the south crossing (c. 1700-1800 hrs) they also serve soup, which is usually excellent. (No food is included in the tour price.)

Price of £ 499 [September-June] includes return [round-trip] road and ferry transport from Inverness to Orkney, with guidance, 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 - this site will also give you details of concessionary schemes such as the Explorer Passes. We also give you detailed notes on the trip, and guide books on the major monuments and other aspects of Orkney are available for you to read on the journey north, or on the ferry.

The price above is for one person. Add £ 29 (ferry fare) for each additional person up to a maximum of 4 - with four, cost is £ 147 each;

In July and August add £ 40 to cover extra hour in Orkney - that is, for whole trip, not per person.

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. (Click here for cruise ship dates in Orkney.) The photos below tell their own story:

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 one little coach! The right picture shows it as we're leaving - we're nearly always ahead of the crowd!

To book please e-mail us at: Puffin Express with the date you wish and the number in your party.

HOME
Details of some accommodations in Inverness