Orkney Islands

The Orkney Islands are an archipelago of over 70 islands some 10 miles off the north tip of mainland . They've been settled since the Neolithic period and have a remarkable collection of standing stones, early settlements and burial cairns, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
orkney.gov.uk
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Photo: Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 igo.
Photo: Massimo Telò, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Essential Destinations

Top destinations include Kirkwall and Stromness.

Photo: Gerd Eichmann, CC BY-SA 4.0.
is the chief town of the Orkney Islands, which lie off the north tip of mainland . With a population of about 10,000 in 2020, has accommodation and other amenities and is the obvious base for exploring these islands.

Photo: Wikimedia, CC BY 2.0.
is a port on the Mainland of the Orkney Islands, with a population of roughly 2200. To the Vikings, Straumsnes meant the headland just south, where a fierce tide rips between Scapa Flow and the Atlantic; get past that and you came safely into Hamnavoe or "peaceful harbour" where the town now stands.

Photo: Postdlf, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is the second largest of the Orkney Islands, extending 14 miles north-south by 6 miles east-west, but with a population of only 419 in 2011. The name means "high" and it's hilly and sparsely populated; its hills draw the clouds, drizzle and midges, and feels much more like the bleak Hebrides than the green, pastoral Orkneys.

Destinations to Discover

Explore places such as South Ronaldsay and Shapinsay.

Photo: Nachosan, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is the most southerly of the Orkney Islands, with its main settlement at St Margaret's Hope, and a population in 2011 of 909. Burray just north has always been joined by a sandy spit to .

Photo: Purplebaron, Public domain.
is one of the smaller Orkney Islands, a short ferry ride from Mainland Orkney. It measures about 7 miles north-south by 3 miles east-west, with a population in 2011 of 307, and Balfour the only village.

Photo: RoryCB, CC BY 2.0.
is one of the Orkney Islands of Scotland, with a population in 2011 of 588. The main settlement is Pierowall in the north of the island, but the ferry from Kirkwall lands at Rapness near its south end.

Photo: Jonesl84, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is one of the Orkney Islands, separated by a mile-wide strait from Orkney Mainland. Its name is Norse, Hrólfsey meaning Rolf's Island, and it's small and hilly, only 5 by 3 miles, with a population of 219 in 2011.

Photo: Kristel Jeuring, CC BY 2.0.
is one of the Orkney Islands north of mainland Scotland - nearly the northernmost, but North Ronaldsay edges it by half a mile. measures 4 miles north-south and a mile across, and is more low-lying and fertile than nearby Westray.

Photo: Greg Fitchett, CC BY-SA 2.0.
is the most northerly of the Orkney Islands of Scotland. It's 3 miles long by a mile wide, low-lying, and in 2011 had a population of 72.

Photo: Beep boop beep, CC BY-SA 4.0.
is one of the Orkney Islands of Scotland. It's about 15 miles north of the Orkney Mainland, 8 miles long by a mile wide but pinched in the middle: in Old Norse Eiðøy means "isthmus island".

Photo: Adam Ward, CC BY-SA 2.0.
is one of the Orkney Islands, with a population in 2011 of 349. It's low-lying, indented by three large bays, with its main settlement at Whitehall.

Photo: calflier001, CC BY-SA 2.0.
is one of the Orkney Islands, northeast of Orkney Mainland. It's a thin low-lying strap, about 12 miles long but seldom reaching a mile wide, flanked by sandy beaches.

Photo: Chmee2, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a small village on the north coast of Orkney Mainland. It's the site of the ruined Earl's Palace, and just offshore is the Brough of with medieval Norse remains.

Photo: Nachosan, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a small, scattered village in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, on the A965 main road between Kirkwall and Stromness. It has several UNESCO World Heritage Listed neolithic sights: the Stones, Maeshowe and Ring of Brodgar, with Skara Brae a few miles further north.

Orkney Islands

Latitude of center
59° north
Longitude of center
-3° or 3° west
Population
21,900
Elevation
95 feet (29 metres)
Abbreviation
“ORK”
Geo­Names ID
2640923
Wiki­data ID
Q100166
This page is based on GeoNames, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikivoyage.
We’d love your help improving our open data sources. Thank you for contributing.

Satellite Map

Discover Orkney Islands from above in high-definition satellite imagery.
© Stadia Maps, Airbus DS, CNES, PlanetObserver, and Copernicus

In Other Languages

From Afrikaans to Yue Chinese—“Orkney Islands” goes by many names.
  • Afrikaans: “Orkney Eilande”
  • Afrikaans: “Orkney-eilande”
  • Afrikaans: “Orkney, Skotland”
  • Afrikaans: “Orkney”
  • Afrikaans: “Orkneyeilande”
  • Amharic: “ኦርክኒ”
  • Arabic: “جزر أوركني”
  • Armenian: “Օրկնեյան կղզիներ”
  • Asturian: “Orkney”
  • Azerbaijani: “Orkney adaları”
  • Basque: “Orkada uharteak”
  • Basque: “Orkadak”
  • Basque: “Orkney Uharteak”
  • Basque: “Orkney”
  • Belarusian: “Аркнейскія астравы”
  • Belarusian: “Аркнэйскія астравы”
  • Bengali: “অর্কনি”
  • Bengali: “ওর্কনে দ্বীপপুঞ্জ”
  • Breton: “Enezeg Orc’h”
  • Breton: “Inizi Orc’h”
  • Breton: “Orc’h”
  • Breton: “Orkney”
  • Bulgarian: “Оркнейски острови”
  • Bulgarian: “Оркни”
  • Catalan: “Consell de les illes Òrcades”
  • Catalan: “Illes Orcades”
  • Catalan: “illes Òrcades”
  • Catalan: “Illes Òrcades”
  • Catalan: “Illes Orkney”
  • Catalan: “Orcades”
  • Catalan: “Òrcades”
  • Catalan: “Orkney”
  • Cebuano: “Orkney Islands (dapit sa konseho)”
  • Cebuano: “Orkney Islands (kapuloan sa Hiniusang Gingharian, Scotland, Orkney Islands)”
  • Cebuano: “Orkney Islands”
  • Cebuano: “Orkney”
  • Chinese: “Orkney”
  • Chinese: “奥克尼”
  • Chinese: “奥克尼群岛”
  • Chinese: “奧克尼”
  • Chinese: “奧克尼群島”
  • Croatian: “Orkneyski otoci”
  • Czech: “Orkadské ostrovy”
  • Czech: “Orkady”
  • Czech: “Orkneje”
  • Czech: “Orknejské ostrovy”
  • Danish: “Ørkenøerne”
  • Danish: “Orkney-øerne”
  • Danish: “Orkney”
  • Danish: “Orkneyøerne”
  • Danish: “Orknøerne”
  • Dutch: “Orcaden”
  • Dutch: “Orkaden”
  • Dutch: “Orkney eilanden”
  • Dutch: “Orkney-eilanden”
  • Dutch: “Orkneyeilanden”
  • Dutch: “Orkneys”
  • Esperanto: “Orkadaj Insuloj”
  • Esperanto: “Orkadoj”
  • Esperanto: “Orknejaj Insuloj”
  • Esperanto: “Orknejoj”
  • Esperanto: “Orkney”
  • Estonian: “Orkney saared”
  • Estonian: “Orkney”
  • Faroese: “Orkney Islands”
  • Faroese: “Orkney”
  • Faroese: “Orknoyar”
  • Faroese: “Orknoyggar”
  • Faroese: “Orknoyggarnar”
  • Faroese: “Orknoyggjar”
  • Fiji Hindi: “Orkney Islands”
  • Finnish: “Orkney-saaret”
  • Finnish: “Orkney”
  • Finnish: “Orkneynsaaret”
  • Finnish: “Orkneysaaret”
  • French: “Orcades”
  • French: “Orkney Islands”
  • French: “Orkney”
  • Galician: “Illas Orcadas”
  • Galician: “Illas Orkney”
  • Galician: “Orcadas”
  • Galician: “Órcadas”
  • Galician: “Orkney”
  • German: “GB-ORK”
  • German: “Orkaden”
  • German: “Orkadier”
  • German: “Orkney Islands”
  • German: “Orkney-Inseln”
  • German: “Orkney”
  • German: “Orkneyinseln”
  • German: “Orkneys”
  • Greek: “Ορκάδες”
  • Greek: “Όρκνεϊ”
  • Gujarati: “ઓર્કની આઇલેન્ડ્સ”
  • Hebrew: “אורקני”
  • Hebrew: “איי אורקני”
  • Hindi: “ओर्कने”
  • Hungarian: “Orkney-szigetek”
  • Icelandic: “Orkneyjar”
  • Indonesian: “Kepulauan Orkney”
  • Indonesian: “Orkney”
  • Irish: “Inse Orc”
  • Italian: “Isole Orcadi”
  • Italian: “Isole Orkney”
  • Italian: “Orcadi”
  • Japanese: “オークニー”
  • Japanese: “オークニー諸島”
  • Japanese: “オルカデス”
  • Kannada: “ಆರ್ಕನಿ ದ್ವೀಪಗಳು”
  • Kannada: “ಆರ್ಕ್ನಿ ದ್ವೀಪಗಳು”
  • Kirghiz: “Оркни аралдары”
  • Korean: “오크니 제도”
  • Korean: “오크니”
  • Kurdish: “Orkney”
  • Latin: “Orcades insulae”
  • Latvian: “Orkneju salas”
  • Lithuanian: “Orknio salos”
  • Lower Sorbian: “Orkney”
  • Macedonian: “Оркниски Острови”
  • Malayalam: “ഓർക്ക്നി”
  • Manx: “Inshyn Ork”
  • Manx: “Ny h-Inshyn Ork”
  • Manx: “Yn Orkaid”
  • Min Nan Chinese: “Orkney”
  • Minangkabau: “Orkney”
  • Northern Frisian: “Orkney Eilunen”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Orkenøyene”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Orknøyane”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Orknøyene”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Orknøying”
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: “Arcaibh”
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: “Orkney”
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: “Orknøyane”
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: “Orknøyene”
  • Norwegian: “Orknøyene”
  • Occitan (post 1500): “Orcadas”
  • Old English (ca. 450-1100): “Orcanege”
  • Ossetian: “Оркнейаг сакъадæхтæ”
  • Ossetian: “Оркнейы сакъадæхтæ”
  • Persian: “اورکنی”
  • Persian: “جزایر اورکنی”
  • Polish: “Orkady”
  • Portuguese: “Ilhas orcadas”
  • Portuguese: “Ilhas Orkney”
  • Portuguese: “Orcadas”
  • Portuguese: “Órcadas”
  • Portuguese: “Órcades”
  • Portuguese: “Orkney Islands”
  • Portuguese: “Orkney”
  • Portuguese: “Orkneys”
  • Pushto: “اورکني”
  • Romanian: “Insulele Orkney”
  • Romanian: “Orkney”
  • Russian: “Оркадские острова”
  • Russian: “Оркнеи”
  • Russian: “Оркнейские острова”
  • Scots: “Orkney Islands”
  • Scots: “Orkney”
  • Scots: “Orkneys”
  • Scottish Gaelic: “Arcaibh”
  • Scottish Gaelic: “Àrcaibh”
  • Serbian: “Orknijska ostrva”
  • Serbian: “Оркнијска острва”
  • Serbo-Croatian: “Orkney”
  • Serbo-Croatian: “Orkneyski otoci”
  • Slovak: “Orkneje”
  • Slovenian: “Orknejsko otočje”
  • Slovenian: “Orkneyjski otoki”
  • Slovenian: “otoki Orkney”
  • Spanish: “Islas Orcadas”
  • Spanish: “Islas Orkney”
  • Spanish: “Orcadas”
  • Spanish: “Órcadas”
  • Spanish: “Orkney Islands”
  • Spanish: “Orkney”
  • Spanish: “Orkneys”
  • Swahili: “Visiwa vya Orkney”
  • Swedish: “Orkney Islands (öar i Storbritannien)”
  • Swedish: “Orkney Islands Council”
  • Swedish: “Orkney”
  • Swedish: “Orkneyöarna”
  • Tagalog: “Orkney”
  • Tamil: “ஆர்க்கினி தீவுகள்”
  • Tamil: “ஒர்க்கனே தீவுகள்”
  • Telugu: “ఓర్క్నీకి ఐలాండ్”
  • Thai: “Orkney”
  • Thai: “The Orkney Islands”
  • Thai: “กลุ่มเกาะออร์คนีย์”
  • Thai: “หมู่เกาะออร์คนีย์”
  • Thai: “ออร์กนีย์”
  • Thai: “ออร์คนีย์”
  • Turkish: “Orkney Adaları”
  • Turkish: “Orkney Takımadaları”
  • Turkish: “Orkney”
  • Ukrainian: “Оркнейські острови”
  • Urdu: “ورکنے آئی لینڈز”
  • Venetian: “Ìzołe Orcade”
  • Venetian: “ìzołe Òrcade”
  • Vietnamese: “Orkney”
  • Vietnamese: “Quần đảo Orkney”
  • Waray (Philippines): “Orkney”
  • Welsh: “Orcni”
  • Welsh: “Orkney”
  • Welsh: “Ynysoedd Erch”
  • Welsh: “Ynysoedd Orcni”
  • Welsh: “Ynysoedd Orkney”
  • Western Frisian: “Orkney-eilannen”
  • Western Panjabi: “اورکنے”
  • Wu Chinese: “奥克尼”
  • Yue Chinese: “奧克尼”
  • “Orkney”

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