Shore Excursion Kirkwall Small Group Highlights of Orkney

Kirkwall, Scotland

Great choice

5+ bookings last month.

6 hours (approx.)
Offered in: English

Overview

What's Included

Small group experience
All attraction admissions

Food and drink

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

Kirkwall Pier
Harbour St, Kirkwall KW15 1HU, UK
You will be met as you come off the tender ship by our guide.

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

Start time
.9:30 am

Itinerary

Italian Chapel

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Churchill Barriers (Pass By)

Scapa Flow (Pass By)

Ring of Brodgar (Pass By)

Standing Stones of Stenness

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Skara Brae

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Skaill House (Pass By)

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Near public transportation

Most travelers can participate
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 6 travelers

Supplied by

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Gallery picture 1 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 2 (from a traveler's review)

Reviews

4.8

based on 5 reviews

Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor

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Great tour, definitely a...

megan_b, Jul 2025

Great tour, definitely a small group. We were four and two others from our cruise. The guide did a great job of avoiding the larger groups at our stops and explaining everything. He was even able to add a stop at magnus cathedral since we were ahead of schedule and still got us back to the ship in time.

Well worth taking small group tour. More flexible and comfortable. Personable local guide. Highly recommended.

Evelyn_E, Jun 2025

Kirkwall was one port on our 12 day British isles cruise. We were happy that the tour driver picked us right at the ship just steps from the gangway and dropped us off back at the ship so we didn’t have to bother with queueing up to catch the shuttle to and from Kirkwall centre. This was the highlight excursion of our cruise. Other reviewers said these excursions were pricey but well worth it and I totally agree. This comes with a premium price tag but in this instance I really feel I got what I paid for. After travelling all this way I couldn’t see myself taking a lesser tour now that I was there!!! There were only 4 passengers in the car (max capacity 6) and the small group makes a difference. Our guide made adjustments to our route order to avoid the hoards alighting from the huge coach buses. We even made two impromptu quick stops to see cows in a pasture and at Highland Parks scotch distillery. Try doing that with the huge coach tours!!! Eye opening experience. Beautiful historic sites namely Skara Brae (5,000 yr old village) and my surprise site was the Stones of Stenness. My research wasn’t as comprehensive as it should have been and the Stones were a complete surprise. In my eyes these Stones just satisfied my bucket-list wish to see Stonehenge!! AND we are permitted to touch the Stones, unlike Stonehenge which is now cordoned off. Our guide Frank of Odin Tours provided a nice smooth and comfortable ride. The tour was well paced with sufficient time at each stop. The only minor shortfall was the commentary offered at each site. We happened to be in the Italian chapel when another tour group was going through and their guide was providing a much more polished and detailed description and history about the chapel. We had the same wonderful access to the chapel but a more complete story of the chapel would have added more to our experience. But I won’t say that our tour with Frank wasn’t wonderful nonetheless. This excursion of the Orkney Islands was by far the highlight of our 12 day 7 stop cruise.

Wonderful personal day in Orkney

Christi_R, Aug 2024

Frank from Odin Tours Orkney was our guide. We were on a semi-private tour with 1 other couple from our ship. We had a fabulous day. Frank is so very knowledgeable about Orkney (since he is a local) and the deep history. We had a wonderful day seeing Churchill barriers and learning the history behind their construction. Skara Brea, Ring of Brodgar (500 years older than Stonehenge) and the Big Dig (that has closed now after 20 years of exploration work). The Italian Chapel and learning the history of who built it and how it was constructed was heart touching. I highly recommend this tour.