Shetland Islands

Hi Roothy123. I'm excited for your upcoming trip here. I hope you're enjoying all the planning. [emoji4] I'm not sure where those ponies are that you saw but I think that there are often ponies as you head towards Scalloway from Lerwick and again just after the quarry before Scalloway at the junction for Tingwall (which is opposite the junction going into Burra. Oh and I've just remembered there are lots of ponies at Bridge End in Burra as they have a riding school there. There's a lovely beach near there too - Minn Beach (but I think the signpost says Bannamin). I'll have a look on my phone and see if I can find any photos of places. There are many places we enjoy going but it's hard to think of places that are the best for folk to visit as we all have different preferences.

There's a waterfall at the Burn of Lunklet in East Burrafirth and on the way there (or back) most people stop at the roadside fridge to choose some home bakes and a drink. There's an honesty box to leave your money in. You go through the village of Aith to get there.

Don't hesitate to ask anything you might be wondering about. Which ship are you on and what date do you arrive - if it's not too cheeky to ask?

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I have found this thread so helpful. Thank you all! We are coming to Lerwick on July 14 on the Viking Sea and I am so excited. We just booked the cruise two weeks ago, and as luck would have it, I was still in the middle of watching the BBC television show "SHETLAND" on Netflix and so I was absolutely delighted when I realized Lerwick was a stop on our itinerary :) PS, if you like BBC crime dramas, which I do, I recommend the Shetland series!

I do have a quick question: for those who have come into Lerwick via cruise ship and NOT done ship-provided shorex, I am curious about [generally] how long it took for you to disembark the ship once docked.

Thanks for any insight you can provide (I am curious about same info for Kirkwall too, in case any of you came into that port as well and did your own excursion.)

Andi

Andi2008, seeing you're enjoying the series "Shetland" you may be interested to know that Jimmy Perez's house is easily reached on foot in Lerwick. It's along the south end of the street (Commercial Street is locally known as "the Street" and is pretty much the only street for shops) at the Lodberries. It's a lovely walk and you can continue along there up to the Knab where you'll get a good view of your ship if it's anchored there.

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I hope this works ok. I never seem to be walking along the Lodberries on nice sunny days!

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Andi2008, seeing you're enjoying the series "Shetland" you may be interested to know that Jimmy Perez's house is easily reached on foot in Lerwick. It's along the south end of the street (Commercial Street is locally known as "the Street" and is pretty much the only street for shops) at the Lodberries. It's a lovely walk and you can continue along there up to the Knab where you'll get a good view of your ship if it's anchored there.

 

 

Rasmie: THANK YOU so much for sharing the info on Jimmy Perez's house and the photos! I will defintely be checking it out during the day we are there. PS, I just finished SHETLAND, and I am going through serious withdrawal, lol. Loved all the characters on that show. Excited I will be able to see Shetland in person in about 80 days! Thanks again for your help. --Andi

To the person on Viking Sky, hello! I'll be on Viking Star, visiting Lerwick June 22! If you have any questions, post here and if I see the questions and Viking's and Shetland's Wifi cooperate, maybe I can answer them. If not, enjoy the cruise and stop. I loved Lerwick when I was there before on Oceania (ship size around same as Viking) in 2013.

I'm guessing it won't take long for Sky or Star to tie up and receive the usual clearance from local authorities. (It will probably help that, at least on MY cruise, we will have already stopped in Scotland, as well as England, before getting to Lerwick). I cruised in the Med on Star in its first year of operation. Almost always, we got into port a little before the scheduled itinerary time, were cleared, and they let people start getting off at the scheduled itinerary time. I would guess that certainly within a half hour you'll be off the ship and at the dock. We tendered when we were on Oceania, and tendering always adds a bit of time, but since we're docking up near the northern most ferry port in Lerwick, there's no tendering. I'd rather be tendered into the middle of town, but others seem to hate tendering, so perhaps being farther away but at a dock is best. Anyway, if you rent a car or arrange for a private driver, you'll likely be able to meet someone off the ship by 8:15 or 8:30. Tour operators will normally monitor the ship's progress on Marine Traffic or one of the ship tracking sites, and if the ship is late, almost all tour operators will wait for you. If, however, you want to take a shuttle to the town center, I don't know when they'll start leaving. In the Med, in ports where Viking or the city provided a shuttle, they tended to leave within a half hour after the ship's arrival time. However, every port and situation is different, so this information is really just a guess, and things could be different. I think, however, someone who took "Midnight Sun" last year reported that Viking or the port arranged a shuttle to a location on the Esplanade & Charlotte Place, which is closer to a number of tourist-worthy sites in Lerwick. Just for your info if you haven't cruised Viking Oceans before, generally Viking required us to be back on board the ship a half hour before the scheduled departure time.

Rasmie, I'm trying to pare down my list of things I hope to see on the mainland and have a few questions. I'm hoping you're still monitoring this thread and can help.

One website or tour company mentioned you could glimpse Mousa Broch from an area around (I think) Fladdabister on (I think) 970. Is that possible? If so, is the Broch just a speck?! I'd love to see it, but won't have time to take the little shuttle boat over. However, if I know where to look for it, I might at least do that.

For lunch, I don't know where we'll end up, but of course I know about Braewick Cafe. Also, Sumburgh Head cafe in the lighthouse has been mentioned, which I assume offers some basic sandwiches or something besides tea and cake. Do you know of any places that are more middle-island in case we're there during lunch time? We ate in Scalloway before, and I think there's De Haaf if it's still open, plus a deli near the commercial marina, but was wondering about other alternatives. I know there are places to eat in Lerwick, but I'm more interested in finding out what's available without going back into town.

If we drive down to the circle where there's one place to (I think) start a walk to the Knab, must you walk down and around the cliff to see the horse, or can you see it from that parking circle?

Weather and rain/fog - I know you don't have a crystal ball, but is there any discernible pattern in the weather on the Shetland islands? I'll probably want to spend most of our time in the southern half of the mainland, and so we'd probably go to Sumburgh Head first. However, if it's really foggy there and we find that out before we go, we may head up north, as I love the scenery up at Eshaness. Should we just toss a coin as to which way to go first?

Thanks for any info/advice you can give me. I know I ask a lot of questions. If you can only answer a few, though, that's OK!

Oh, and Andi - I don't know about Kirkwall, but assume we'll be allowed off the ship within a half hour at very most. I hear there's a free shuttle from the port to city center near the bus center and tourist information center. It's a shortish ride. Shuttle operates from time we're scheduled to arrive and last one is 45 minutes before departure time. Therefore, if you take a shorex or private tour and want to stay in town, you can. St. Magnus Cathedral is less than 5 minutes walk from shuttle stop. We're going to take the included excursion in Kirkwall, but in my opinion, it sounds a little light on substance for those who want to see Neolithic stone sites. The included excursion in Lerwick, sounds pretty nice. We still plan to rent a car, though - we'll have much more fun and see much more.

To the person on Viking Sky, hello! I'll be on Viking Star, visiting Lerwick June 22! If you have any questions, post here and if I see the questions and Viking's and Shetland's Wifi cooperate, maybe I can answer them. If not, enjoy the cruise and stop. I loved Lerwick when I was there before on Oceania (ship size around same as Viking) in 2013.

 

I'm guessing it won't take long for Sky or Star to tie up and receive the usual clearance from local authorities. (It will probably help that, at least on MY cruise, we will have already stopped in Scotland, as well as England, before getting to Lerwick). I cruised in the Med on Star in its first year of operation. Almost always, we got into port a little before the scheduled itinerary time, were cleared, and they let people start getting off at the scheduled itinerary time. I would guess that certainly within a half hour you'll be off the ship and at the dock. We tendered when we were on Oceania, and tendering always adds a bit of time, but since we're docking up near the northern most ferry port in Lerwick, there's no tendering. I'd rather be tendered into the middle of town, but others seem to hate tendering, so perhaps being farther away but at a dock is best. Anyway, if you rent a car or arrange for a private driver, you'll likely be able to meet someone off the ship by 8:15 or 8:30. Tour operators will normally monitor the ship's progress on Marine Traffic or one of the ship tracking sites, and if the ship is late, almost all tour operators will wait for you. If, however, you want to take a shuttle to the town center, I don't know when they'll start leaving. In the Med, in ports where Viking or the city provided a shuttle, they tended to leave within a half hour after the ship's arrival time. However, every port and situation is different, so this information is really just a guess, and things could be different. I think, however, someone who took "Midnight Sun" last year reported that Viking or the port arranged a shuttle to a location on the Esplanade & Charlotte Place, which is closer to a number of tourist-worthy sites in Lerwick. Just for your info if you haven't cruised Viking Oceans before, generally Viking required us to be back on board the ship a half hour before the scheduled departure time.

 

Rasmie, I'm trying to pare down my list of things I hope to see on the mainland and have a few questions. I'm hoping you're still monitoring this thread and can help.

 

One website or tour company mentioned you could glimpse Mousa Broch from an area around (I think) Fladdabister on (I think) 970. Is that possible? If so, is the Broch just a speck?! I'd love to see it, but won't have time to take the little shuttle boat over. However, if I know where to look for it, I might at least do that.

 

For lunch, I don't know where we'll end up, but of course I know about Braewick Cafe. Also, Sumburgh Head cafe in the lighthouse has been mentioned, which I assume offers some basic sandwiches or something besides tea and cake. Do you know of any places that are more middle-island in case we're there during lunch time? We ate in Scalloway before, and I think there's De Haaf if it's still open, plus a deli near the commercial marina, but was wondering about other alternatives. I know there are places to eat in Lerwick, but I'm more interested in finding out what's available without going back into town.

 

If we drive down to the circle where there's one place to (I think) start a walk to the Knab, must you walk down and around the cliff to see the horse, or can you see it from that parking circle?

 

Weather and rain/fog - I know you don't have a crystal ball, but is there any discernible pattern in the weather on the Shetland islands? I'll probably want to spend most of our time in the southern half of the mainland, and so we'd probably go to Sumburgh Head first. However, if it's really foggy there and we find that out before we go, we may head up north, as I love the scenery up at Eshaness. Should we just toss a coin as to which way to go first?

 

Thanks for any info/advice you can give me. I know I ask a lot of questions. If you can only answer a few, though, that's OK!

Roothy, thank you for the info about Lerwick disembarkation. I appreciate your input. We will be arriving in Lerwick on July 14 on the Viking Sea (this will be our first Viking cruise (either ocean or river) and we are really looking forward to comparing it with our Oceania experience (which we loved!)

Oh, and Andi - I don't know about Kirkwall, but assume we'll be allowed off the ship within a half hour at very most. I hear there's a free shuttle from the port to city center near the bus center and tourist information center. It's a shortish ride. Shuttle operates from time we're scheduled to arrive and last one is 45 minutes before departure time. Therefore, if you take a shorex or private tour and want to stay in town, you can. St. Magnus Cathedral is less than 5 minutes walk from shuttle stop. We're going to take the included excursion in Kirkwall, but in my opinion, it sounds a little light on substance for those who want to see Neolithic stone sites. The included excursion in Lerwick, sounds pretty nice. We still plan to rent a car, though - we'll have much more fun and see much more.

Roothy, thank you again for helpful info. We have booked a private tour with a naturalist in Kirkwall so I am very excited as he will be able to show us both neolithic stone sites as well as historical and biological places of interest. Pretty excited about both Kirkwall and Lerwick at this point :)

Rasmie and Roothy123: Thank you for the ever so helpful information! Roothy, please forgive me for my delay in replying to you. I must have accidentally missed your postings, and they are full of so much great information. I think I'm just going print this thread and take everyone's advice with us to guide us as we drive. I'm really looking forward to our day in Lerwick. Looks like it will be unforgettable! I'll post more questions as they arise, and hopefully all of you will be able to help with those too.

Thanks,

Shelley

I've got a question already! Roothy123 - How many hours was your ship in port? It looks like our ship will be anchoring, and we are in port from 10 am to 6 pm. Will that be enough time to drive as far as you did? Even if you're not Roothy, but you have a response, please jump on in!

Thanks,

Shelley

We were anchored from 8 to 5. Tendering was not long as it's not far from where the ship anchors to Victoria pier. However, different cruise lines have different ways of tendering people who are not going on a ship's shore excursion. With Oceania (something like 1250 or 800 pax per ship), you can usually get on the first tender, even if they have a lot of people on early shore excursions that need to get ashore. However, on a larger ship or different cruise line things may take longer; I'm really not sure. We seldom have trouble getting ashore fairly early, so we made the reservation for 8:30 (half hour after scheduled arrival time) and that worked out well. A man from Bolts greeted us on the tender pier with a sign, so that went smoothly. Paperwork was completed and the car was very close by, so we got going fairly quickly. (Don't forget to drive on the "wrong" side of the road, and beware of roundabouts!) We headed up to Eshaness, spending maybe only 20-30 minutes there. at the lighthouse area. Then we drove to Scalloway, stopping for maybe 5 minutes along the road (couldn't really park very well, so couldn't stay long!) when we saw 2 ponies. We drove around down by the waterfront, seeing the castle but not going into it, and then went to a town not too far from Scalloway - Hamnavoe or Burravoe or something like that. I wanted to see the lighthouse there - not as interesting as the one in Eshaness, but worth a bit of navigating. We probably spent a half hour to 45 minutes on this little detour. Then we went into the town of Scalloway and looked for lunch. There was a little restaurant we tried, but they had no service as they told us their waitress recently quit. We went to a deli near by for sandwiches and ate on the dock admiring large fishing boats (ships?) It was a fairly quick stop for lunch.

Then we headed down to Sumburgh Head to visit the lighthouse and the puffins. (I forget when you'll be there, but hopefully not before early June and not after late August, as I think there's not much puffin activity except for peak summer months. By that time we didn't feel like we had much time, so I walked up to the lighthouse while my husband parked and sat in the car park at the bottom of the hill. I think I only spent about a half hour or maybe 45 minutes there, and could have easily spent more. If you want to go to Jarlshof ruins, you'll definitely want to spend more time in the area of Sumburgh head than we did. Also, you may want to go there first in case you run out of time later.

Eshaness area was very pretty, and you'll see some interesting things on the way up there. Scalloway (basically west, and kind of in the middle) is cool because you come down a road that gives you a nice view of the castle, water, and village. There's more to see in Sumburgh than the other two places, so I'd probably allow some time there, especially if you like puffins, lighthouses, and ruins! My husband also liked driving over runway 9 of the little airport there! Then we drove back up to Lerwick, my husband went to Victoria Pier to drop the car, and I went over to Market Cross, then up to the public library to use the internet/Wifi, and walked around Lerwick a little bit. We had to be at the tender spot by a half hour pre-departure, so I guess I was there at 4:30 for a 5:00 departure.

I think the drive from Sumburgh to Eshaness is an hour and a half, so you could probably do both, but I'd pick one as primary and allow more time for it than the other. Don't forget to allow time to find and fill up the tank. We stopped at a place across from Clickimin Broch as you come into Lerwick. There are not tons of gas stations, though, so some pre-planning might be best - or just ask the person from Bolt's where the stations are, coming from the north (Eshaness) or South (Sumburgh.

Here are 2 fun webcams: http://www.shetland.org/60n/webcams/tourist-office (can sometimes see ships at anchor onCity Hall cam) http://www.shetland.org/60n/webcams/cliff-cam-3

Thank you, Roothy123, for all of your advice. We will be in Lerwick on July 30, so I imagine we will be prime time for the puffins. What we are really looking to find is beautiful scenery. After traveling to Pompeii (twice), Ephesus (twice), Israel (where there are almost as many sights for viewing ruins as there are Starbucks in SoCal!), and places I can't even recall at the moment, I can honestly say that we are "ruined-out!" Ruins will not be high on our priority list. Given that information, would you still advise that we begin our day by driving south first because that is the most scenic, and then, to the extent that time allows, we can head north? We are expected to tender from the ship, but it would be extremely unlikely to have any issues with getting onto the tender whenever we want. While we won't need to explore all of the lighthouses, we may go at a little slower pace than you did to soak up the ambiance of each location. Please share with me your thoughts.

Thanks,

Shelley

Malibu - It's hard for me to say whichpart of the Shetland islands we visited were more scenic, as we liked north,south AND west (Scalloway and around). Really, as long as you don't expectlarge "wow" moments or look for lots to do, everywhere we went wasscenic in my opinion. I wouldn't say the southern part (down to SumburghHead) was any more scenic than other parts. I really wanted to go thereto see the puffins, and will likely go there again to see the puffins. However, if that's not high on your priority list, I would probably notgo all the way down there, but rather concentrate on going north up to Eshanesslighthouse, and possibly doing a bit of walking up there while there, althoughI honestly don't know exactly where you would walk. We just spent alittle time right at the lighthouse, which was a pretty area, but probably justthe start of a very pretty, rather rough area that (apparently) gets morescenic as you go even farther north. If you go to Eshaness, you'll go bysome nice areas, and if you want to, could stop at the Braewick Caravan Park& Cafe for views of some sea stacks offshore (though at a slight distance)and/or drop down to the Tangwic Ha museum (free, big red phone booth marks theturnoff for the road, I think) and nice water views. Then you could dropdown to Scalloway for a short visit, and perhaps go a bit more south, and west,to see Bigton and the Isle of Ninian, although to really experience it I thinkyou need to walk across the sand path, which might take more time than you wantto spend.

There is a loop that I wouldtake to see if you can see ponies at a big farm off of route 9122, which is notthe main road that goes north and south on the island, but loops around andruns into 970 (main road). It will takea little more for me to tell you how to get where I think you might see ponies,but if you remind me later on (maybe in a week or two) I should be able toprovide more info on that. Also, while we saw them in 2013 somewhere on the wayto Scalloway, I’ve read there are other places as well – Gulberwick & Quarf,perhaps?

I wish our local friend wouldcome back on here, as she could provide more info on what the most scenicplaces are. Really, though, I don’t think you’ll go wrong with just about anytravels you take. You might, however,want to plot out routes in advance, using Google or Google Earth or somethinglike that. Also, if you go on Google anduse the yellow man to ask “What’s here?” or download Google Earth Pro and putthe yellow man on a blue-marked road, you’ll get an idea of what the terrain islike in different parts of the island. Also,if you have chosen to have Google Earth display photos, you’ll see little boxeswhich indicate a photo. I usually justsnoop around Google Earth to see where people have taken pictures and thathelps me figure out where I want to go.

Generally, from Lerwick youcan get up to Eshaness lighthouse (cliffs and some nice scenery there) or downto Sumburgh each in an hour or less, and between Sumburgh and Eshaness is anhour and a half. If you go off toScalloway, it may be a bit more. Iplotted out a route from the ferry port in Lerwick (where we dock, but not allthat far from tender port, so timing’s probably very similar) to Eshaness,Scalloway, Sumburgh and back to Lerwick and it turned out to be about 3 hours10 minutes of driving.

I don’t know much about thearea north of where Eshaness is located, but I think it gets more rugged upthere. If that interests you, I’d justtry for seeing things up that way and not anything more. As forShetland (fat!!) ponies, I kind of disagree with our local friend that they areeverywhere. We only found them once.Places to eat lunch are not exactly everywhere either – but probably enough sothat you won’t starve! Gas stations aren’treally plentiful, but I see from Google that there’s one up near the Holmsgarthferry port north of Lerwick town center and one on the SW (I think) edge of Lerwick across from (free)Clickamin Broch. (Hope I spelled thatright!) I would fill up close to Lerwick and/or ask the car rental person wherethe closest stations are. I don’tremember seeing any right in town, but there may be; not sure. Hope this infohelps!

To the person on Viking Sky, hello! I'll be on Viking Star, visiting Lerwick June 22! If you have any questions, post here and if I see the questions and Viking's and Shetland's Wifi cooperate, maybe I can answer them. If not, enjoy the cruise and stop. I loved Lerwick when I was there before on Oceania (ship size around same as Viking) in 2013.

 

I'm guessing it won't take long for Sky or Star to tie up and receive the usual clearance from local authorities. (It will probably help that, at least on MY cruise, we will have already stopped in Scotland, as well as England, before getting to Lerwick). I cruised in the Med on Star in its first year of operation. Almost always, we got into port a little before the scheduled itinerary time, were cleared, and they let people start getting off at the scheduled itinerary time. I would guess that certainly within a half hour you'll be off the ship and at the dock. We tendered when we were on Oceania, and tendering always adds a bit of time, but since we're docking up near the northern most ferry port in Lerwick, there's no tendering. I'd rather be tendered into the middle of town, but others seem to hate tendering, so perhaps being farther away but at a dock is best. Anyway, if you rent a car or arrange for a private driver, you'll likely be able to meet someone off the ship by 8:15 or 8:30. Tour operators will normally monitor the ship's progress on Marine Traffic or one of the ship tracking sites, and if the ship is late, almost all tour operators will wait for you. If, however, you want to take a shuttle to the town center, I don't know when they'll start leaving. In the Med, in ports where Viking or the city provided a shuttle, they tended to leave within a half hour after the ship's arrival time. However, every port and situation is different, so this information is really just a guess, and things could be different. I think, however, someone who took "Midnight Sun" last year reported that Viking or the port arranged a shuttle to a location on the Esplanade & Charlotte Place, which is closer to a number of tourist-worthy sites in Lerwick. Just for your info if you haven't cruised Viking Oceans before, generally Viking required us to be back on board the ship a half hour before the scheduled departure time.

 

Rasmie, I'm trying to pare down my list of things I hope to see on the mainland and have a few questions. I'm hoping you're still monitoring this thread and can help.

 

One website or tour company mentioned you could glimpse Mousa Broch from an area around (I think) Fladdabister on (I think) 970. Is that possible? If so, is the Broch just a speck?! I'd love to see it, but won't have time to take the little shuttle boat over. However, if I know where to look for it, I might at least do that.

 

For lunch, I don't know where we'll end up, but of course I know about Braewick Cafe. Also, Sumburgh Head cafe in the lighthouse has been mentioned, which I assume offers some basic sandwiches or something besides tea and cake. Do you know of any places that are more middle-island in case we're there during lunch time? We ate in Scalloway before, and I think there's De Haaf if it's still open, plus a deli near the commercial marina, but was wondering about other alternatives. I know there are places to eat in Lerwick, but I'm more interested in finding out what's available without going back into town.

 

If we drive down to the circle where there's one place to (I think) start a walk to the Knab, must you walk down and around the cliff to see the horse, or can you see it from that parking circle?

 

Weather and rain/fog - I know you don't have a crystal ball, but is there any discernible pattern in the weather on the Shetland islands? I'll probably want to spend most of our time in the southern half of the mainland, and so we'd probably go to Sumburgh Head first. However, if it's really foggy there and we find that out before we go, we may head up north, as I love the scenery up at Eshaness. Should we just toss a coin as to which way to go first?

 

Thanks for any info/advice you can give me. I know I ask a lot of questions. If you can only answer a few, though, that's OK!

Hi Roothy

Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you. I'm not good at quick replies and will always want to give a full answer (with photos if possible) which means I need to set aside a lengthier time to reply and I don't always have that! [emoji1]

You mention seeing Mousa from the main road (better from the lay by just before the junction into Sandwick (where you catch the ferry to Mousa from) than from Fladdabister. You'll see Mousa from Fladdabister but offhand I can't think whether you'd see the broch. This is a photo of Mousa from the main road and to the right of the picture you can see the broch. You can see it from that distance but it's obviously not that close up.

I think I mentioned the Hoswick Visitors Centre in Sandwick which is a nice place to stop at for a cuppa. They do 2 soups of the day and a quiche of the day. We were there last week and I snapped a photo of the menu for you.

If driving south I would recommend the scenic route as I mentioned earlier. It takes slightly longer but is worth it. I would definitely take time to drive down towards St Ninians Isle beach. You can always drive on the main road back to get a view of the east side for a change.

There is a new cafe at Sumburgh Head and I've googled to see if they do sandwiches etc, besides cakes but I'm still not sure. The website would be worth a look though.

There is to be a new shop/cafe opening in Cunningsburgh (after Fladdabister but before Sandwick) this month (after the lambing is finished!). It's right next to the road just before and opposite the Cunningsburgh Hall. It's quite a large building so easy to spot.

You mentioned places to eat in Scalloway. There is a fairly new cafe now open there - Cornerstone. It's lovely. http://www.thecornerstonebandb.com/restaurant-cafe.html

One more place to eat quite centrally is Bonhoga in Weisdale. I was there a couple of weeks ago and took a couple of photos for you.

There's a lovely gift shop there and you can google to see what is on at the gallery while you're there. It's just off the main road west and in a lovely spot.

If anyone fancies heading west I'm going to add another post with some ideas for a drive/walk. Not sure if I have enough time just now before I go out but will do later tonight when I'm back in.

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Sorry forgot to add in answer to your post - not sure what you mean by the circle and parking and ponies!

Also, weather wise it is hard to predict whether you'll need tshirt and shorts or waterproofs and wellies! I was out sunbathing for a few hours yesterday but it was at most 16 degrees centigrade. [emoji4][emoji41]

May can be a good month but not quite warm enough. June is a hit or a miss. Last year was great. Sunshine nearly every day (and the sunniest place in the UK that month) but it can often be drizzly and misty. July wasn't as good last year as June. I would look up the forecast on the BBC weather website. You can look up Lerwick, Sumburgh or further north.

Almost always though if it's misty on the east side (Lerwick), you will find blue skies and sun on the west side. Worth bearing in mind. [emoji4]

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Rasmie,

I just found this thread and am so happy I did.

Thank you for all the information and pictures of your beautiful island.

I'm chomping at the bit in anticipation of my 2018 Celebrity cruise that stops in Lerwick!

Thanks, again.

Sue

Dallas, Texas

OMGGG Rasmie I'm so excited to go there. But not till next Sept. I'm going back to Mediterranean cruise this Sept. I'd buy you a drink. I'm going solo on this cruise. So excited

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I'm having trouble finding a tour company to book a tour with. I'm coming in on a Princess Ship Mon Sept 4, 2017 Just from 9-5 Tender, So the time is even less. Will there be buses/van's available to book a tour when we get off or do I need to prearranged on ? If so can someone recommend a company that will do 4 hour tours or less ?

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I'm having trouble finding a tour company to book a tour with. I'm coming in on a Princess Ship Mon Sept 4, 2017 Just from 9-5 Tender, So the time is even less. Will there be buses/van's available to book a tour when we get off or do I need to prearranged on ? If so can someone recommend a company that will do 4 hour tours or less ?

 

 

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When we were there we rented a car and drove around, so can't help with a recommendation for tour company. However in the past I've read that there are a few, mostly taxis I think. Maybe if you Google taxis or if nothing else contact Bolts car rental and ask them, you could find something. Or perhaps Google Lerwick or Shetland Islands tourism and email them. There will likely be some taxis right near where cruise ship passengers are tendered, but I don't know if they're willing to do tours or the cost. I would try to pre book, but wouldn't book anything that requires pre payment, as occasionally ships end up not visiting Lerwick. That just happened to us two weeks ago. Assuming Princess can tender you in within 30 or 40 minutes including time on the water, which I'd guess is less than 10 minutes, you could still see a good amount of the mainland and Lerwick. I would guess a four hour tour would be fine if you DO find a tour company. Then with any luck you would probably have a little time to walk around in Lerwick.

Google the Shetland webcams...fun.

Here's info I had from 4 years ago; can't hurt to try them: Ifyou want a private tour try http://www.shetlandtours.co.uk/ or http://www.seeshetland.shetland.co.uk/

visitshetland.com is a tourism site you could try - just ask them about tours

Thank you, Rasmie, for the information and photos of the Knab walk. We did exactly that from Victoria Pier to Clickimin Broch on the day we were in Lerwick (May 23, HAL Zuiderdam). It was the best walk on this trip. Totally worth the time and energy. We also had the best buy on wool sweaters in town.

OMG...just back from a Northern Europe and Baltic Cruise and the Shetland stop was one of my favorites! WOW. Jarlshof alone (4,000 years old!) and Sumburgh Head (puffins were nesting!), etc. were amazing. Les Sinclair, with Roundabout Shetland was our guide and was fantastic!!! Definitely get out of town!

We just found out Royal Caribbean canceled our Lerwick stop and substituted it for Invergorden, 45 minutes from Inverness in Scotland, to which we have already been. Just over 2 weeks to the cruise and they canceled it, plus reduced time in a couple ports. So disappointed we won't be going to Lerwick. We already had the day planned out, thanks to Ramie and had her notes already to go in our cruise folder.

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How disappointing. We missed Lerwick on our recent cruise, although it wasn't announced pre-cruise. I knew something was wrong when I saw the lighthouse on Bressay island (on the way to Lerwick) and it was on the wrong side of the ship. We were heading away from Lerwick. Captain said the weather inside the port area wasn't good. This was not on Royal Caribbean, but I guess it happens on all cruise lines once in a while. At least you'll have a day in Invergordon. We just had another day at sea (ugh).

We rented a car in Invergordon and drove around Loch Ness area. It was fairly easy to drive around there, and I enjoyed going to the castle that's near there.The town of Invergordon was mildly interesting, too - fun murals on buildings, and artists selling things in a community center, where there was also Wifi and free or inexpensive computer use.