The Pier Arts Centre is quite simply an amazing place to have somewhere as small as Orkney. It has…read morea world renowned collection, including works from the likes of Barbara Hepworth. There's the 'permanent collection' and it also hosts visiting exhibitions and exhibitions of local work throughout the year. There's lots of different rooms in the gallery - and a small courtyard outside right on the Stromness waterfront. There's a small shop - and the staff are knowledgeable, friendly and helpful. The extension to the gallery - built on reclaimed land - is also important architecturally and has won awards. The Pier Arts Centre hosts workshops at various times of the year - such as children's workshops in the school holidays. It is also often used as a venue during the Orkney Folk Festival.

A great wee museum - well worth the visit. It has a fascinating display of old radio equipment,…read moreinformation, etc. The museum is manned by a friendly and knowledgeable bunch of volunteers who can regale you with tales from Orkney's recent past related to telecommunications. A lot of the contents of the museum are related to Orkney's wartime history - don't miss out on finding out about it. Orkney (and Scapa Flow) played an important role in World War 2 and you'll find out more about it here. The museum may not sound like it's going to be interesting, and may not look like much from the outside, but it is worth the visit, especially for historians.

This is one of the best sites to see in Kirkwall. Amazing. You can take your time in a self-guided…read moretour with extensive access to both buildings. Photographs can be taken everywhere and you can get wifi access on the property to learn more about the site if you're interested during your visit. The courtyard is beautiful place for a quick packed lunch or snack if your on a schedule to see as much as possible in the area on a day out.

The Bishop's and Earl's Palaces are managed by Historic Scotland. I would recommend their ticket…read morethat gets you into all the Orkney monuments - it's much better value than paying for them separately. The staff in the kiosk will tell you all about it. There's a wee shop in the kiosk - and it sells Orkney ice cream (wonderful stuff). The Earl's and Bishop's Palaces are definitely worth the visit. The Earl's is by far the more complete - and there's good interpretation boards all over the place if you don't want to buy a guide book. The Bishop's Palace is more ruinous - but it's well worth the climb up the Moosie To'oer for the view over Kirkwall. This is also the best view you'll get of certain aspects of St Magnus Cathedral. If you're in Kirkwall, don't miss the palaces.

This is a really nice shop - packed with a huge amount of stuff. There's gifts galore - jewellery,…read moreceramics, CDs, books,, ornaments . In fact the biggest drawback is that there is so much stuff - and all packed into a relatively small space - that it's quite hard to take in. Also, because of this I would say it's not a great shop to visit with small children - and probably not wheelchair friendly either. Through the back of the shop if the gallery - which again is very small, but always has some lovely work on display. The gallery hosts different exhibitions throughout the year - which range from woodwork to ceramics, glass, photography and paintings. There's definitely something for everyone here - if you can find it

As above - this place is brilliant and gives you a real insight as to how people lived years ago -…read morein fact maybe not even that long ago! The smell of the peat fire is gorgeous and makes you feel at home instantly....so many nooks and crannies to explore and rekindle days of of yesterday. Another place is Kirkbister Farm Museum - very similar and well worth a visit.

A brilliant wee farm museum. And it's FREE! Stunning value! There's usually kittens, ducks and hens…read morearound - and there's several building to visit. There's a peat fire lit in the main room, and often there will be a kitten asleep in the cradle beside it. Cute. The custodian is a real character and extremely knowledgeable - try to have a chat with him if you can. Make sure you explore every nook and cranny - and if the kids don't like that sort of thing they can just play with the kittens.

I'll not say anything that the previous reviewer already said, but will add that you no longer need…read moreto pay to see the gallery of tapestries. In fact, there's an extension being built right now to house even more, plus art from Leila's daughter. The gallery now sells a huge selection of prints, as is, mounted or framed, plus 'hand tufted' rugs with designs from some of the tapestries. Definitely worth a visit if in the South Isles, though only really possible by car unless you want to spend the best part of a day walking there & back from St. Margarets Hope.

This is a lovely well gallery. It's a bit 'off the beaten track' but is signposted from the village…read moreof St Margaret's Hope. The views from the gallery are stunning - and you can continue on to Hoxa Head and see the remians of wartime buildings. Inside the gallery you can watch Leila Thomson working creating one of her huge tapestries. If you pay to go into the gallery you can see more examples of her work hanging - it's stunning. She sells postcards and prints of some of her tapestries so you can take a memento home - if you want to but a tapestry I believe you have to commission one and ther's a waiting list - yes, she is that good.

We just visited the amazing Duncansby Head and came here to enjoy some more views and countryside…read more The drive here is pretty impressive, lovely views and hills and small mountain lakes. Dunnet Head itself was somewhat disappointing. Yes, the views are great (you can see the Orkneys) and there are some nice walks around. There are cliffs and rock formations as well. But compared to Duncansby Head this is a bit of a let-down nonetheless. That one just offers so much more - with a lot less tourists (at least at the time we visited). Nothing really wrong with it - but we were glad we spent most of the time at Duncansby Head and the Stacks.

Not sure where that fist low rating came from, but I loved this place…read more This is it folks, end of the line. Yeah sure, John O'Groats gets all the fame and glory of being the "northernmost" point in the mainland UK, but what if if I told you that was a lie? And that around 20 minutes away , there was a gorgeous lighthouse, and WWII base that was ACTUALLY further north? It's true....and it's also less crowded. If you've hauled your rear all the way up here, you'd be foolish not to come say high to the landscape that makes up for Dunnet head; the cliffs are a sight to behold (hike up the hill for some truly stunning views of the surrounding region while your at it).

Very interesting archeological site and the visitor centre has been very carefully put together and…read moreprovides excellent information at just the right level for visitors of all ages. The tomb itself is quite small, but fascinating. The cliff walk is spectacular with great geological formations. The bronze age mound needs a bit more development - make sure you see it on way out to be able to enjoy cliff walk on way back. What could be better? Well I am slightly worried it will not withstand hundreds of visitors per day, a more robust surface for the trolley would be good and perhaps some wood and animal skins to cover the concrete roof on the inside to make it more authentic. On the other hand, the two senior school students working in the visitor's center could not have been more polite and helpful. The coffee machine is great and reasonably priced and some nice gifts.

A really interesting site. There's a visitor centre situated on the farm (family owned, not in the…read morecare of any charity or government body), then you walk out along a farm track to the 'shamrock house' and then out and along the cliffs (spectacular views) to the tomb itself. There's a narrow passageway to get in - you can put on knee pads (provided) and crawl or you can slide on the wee trolley! Great fun! It's well worth going inside - and it's bigger than you'd expect - you can stand up quite comfortably. Make sure you look into all the 'chambers' in the tomb - I'll not spoil the surprise by telling you what you'll miss if you don't