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Shetland Islands

The Shetland Islands are the most northerly part of the United Kingdom, a group of islands 100 mi north of mainland . The largest town, , is closer to Norway than to Edinburgh, and culturally and geographically they feel more Norse than Scottish.
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shetland.gov.uk
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Photo: Lis Burke, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Photo: juvlai, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Essential Destinations

Top destinations include Lerwick and Fair Isle.

Photo: Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
is the largest town and capital of the Shetland Islands, with a population of 6760 in 2022. It's the obvious base for touring Shetland.

Photo: Dpaajones, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is one of the Shetland Islands. It lies 24 miles south of Shetland Mainland, midway between Shetland and Orkney, and vies with Foula for the title of Britain's most remote inhabited island.

Photo: Wikimedia, Public domain.
is the most northerly inhabited island of the Shetland Islands, north of mainland Scotland, with a population of 632 in 2011. Life here was traditionally based on herring fishing: the herring now are sparse but small-scale fishing continues, along with sheep farming.

Destinations to Discover

Explore places such as Yell and Foula.

Photo: Wikimedia, Public domain.
is one of the North Isles of the Shetland Islands, north of mainland Scotland. It's 20 miles long by 5 miles wide, thinly populated: 966 as of 2011.

Photo: Ronnie Robertson, CC BY-SA 2.0.
is one of the Shetland Islands, some 20 miles out into the Atlantic west of Shetland Mainland. In 2011 it had a population of 30.

Photo: Ronnie Robertson, CC BY-SA 2.0.
The island of is in the Shetland Islands just east of Mainland, and is the most accessible island from . It's a peaceful place of lochs and sea caves, arches and migrating birds that is great for hikes, panoramas, historical sites, and wildlife.

Photo: Des Blenkinsopp, CC BY-SA 2.0.
is one of the Shetland Islands, 5 miles northeast of the Shetland Mainland, with a population of 1061 in 2011. It makes its living from fishing and crofting, and is seldom visited by tourists though it's easily reached.

Photo: Hajotthu, CC BY 3.0.
is a fishing village in the Shetland Islands. It was the capital of these islands until 1708 when Lerwick supplanted it. The population in 2011 was 900.

Photo: Rude Health, CC BY-SA 2.0.
are the easternmost of the Shetland Islands. There are three main islands: Housay and Bruray are joined by road, and in 2001 had a population of 30, while Grunay is no longer inhabited.

Photo: Ronnie Robertson, CC BY-SA 2.0.
is on Mainland of the Shetland Islands. It was a tiny fishing village then grew rapidly in the 1970s with the construction of Sullom Voe oil terminal, and in 2011 the population was 856.

Photo: Ronnie Robertson, CC BY-SA 2.0.
or Waas is a small fishing village on the west Mainland of the Shetland Islands. The main reasons to come are the Neolithic "Temple" and to take the ferry to , or the ferry from West Burrafirth to Papa Stour.

Photo: Hajotthu, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a village near the southern tip of Mainland in the Shetland Islands, with a population in 2011 of about 100. Its main attraction is Jarlshof, continuously inhabited for 4000 years.

Photo: Chris Combe, CC BY 2.0.
is a small village on the Mainland of the Shetland Islands. It's the main settlement on the Northmavine peninsula, connected to the rest of Mainland by the road along Mavis Grind, the narrow isthmus by the village of - so narrow you can almost hurl a stone from the Atlantic Ocean to the North Sea side.

Shetland Islands

Latitude of center
60.3333° or 60° 20′ north
Longitude of center
-1.3333° or 1° 20′ west
Population
22,900
Elevation
440 feet (134 metres)
Abbreviation
“ZET”
Open­Street­Map ID
node 302324070
Open­Street­Map feature
place=­county
Geo­Names ID
2638010
Wiki­data ID
Q47134
This page is based on OpenStreetMap, GeoNames, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikivoyage.
We’d love your help improving our open data sources. Thank you for contributing.

Satellite Map

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

In Other Languages

From Afrikaans to Yue Chinese—“Shetland Islands” goes by many names.
  • Afrikaans: “Shetland Eilande”
  • Afrikaans: “Shetland-eilande”
  • Afrikaans: “Shetland”
  • Afrikaans: “Shetlandeilande”
  • Arabic: “شتلاند”
  • Aragonese: “Islas Sealtainn”
  • Aragonese: “Islas Shetland”
  • Aragonese: “Shetland”
  • Armenian: “Շետլանդյան կղզիներ”
  • Asturian: “Islles Shetland”
  • Asturian: “Islles Xetland”
  • Azerbaijani: “Şetland adaları”
  • Basque: “Shetland uharteak”
  • Basque: “Shetland”
  • Basque: “Shetlandak”
  • Belarusian: “Шэтландзкія астравы”
  • Belarusian: “Шэтландскія астравы”
  • Belarusian: “Шэтланды”
  • Bengali: “শেটল্যান্ড”
  • Breton: “Sealtainn”
  • Breton: “Shetland”
  • Bulgarian: “Шетланд”
  • Bulgarian: “Шетландски острови”
  • Bulgarian: “Шетлънд”
  • Bulgarian: “Шетлъндски острови”
  • Catalan: “Consell de les illes Shetland”
  • Catalan: “Illes Shetland”
  • Catalan: “Shetland”
  • Cebuano: “Shetland Islands (kapuloan)”
  • Cebuano: “Shetland Islands”
  • Chinese: “Shetland”
  • Chinese: “士特蘭”
  • Chinese: “斯特兰特”
  • Chinese: “昔德蘭”
  • Chinese: “昔德蘭群島”
  • Chinese: “设得兰”
  • Chinese: “设得兰群岛”
  • Chinese: “设德兰”
  • Chinese: “设德兰群岛”
  • Chinese: “雪特蘭群島”
  • Croatian: “Shetlandsko otočje”
  • Czech: “Shetlandské ostrovy”
  • Czech: “Shetlandy”
  • Danish: “Hjaltland”
  • Danish: “Shetland”
  • Danish: “Shetlandsøerne”
  • Danish: “Zetland”
  • Dutch: “Hit-land” (historical)
  • Dutch: “Hitland” (historical)
  • Dutch: “Hitlandt” (historical)
  • Dutch: “Hjaltland”
  • Dutch: “Shetland Eilanden”
  • Dutch: “Shetland Islands”
  • Dutch: “Shetland-eilanden”
  • Dutch: “Shetland”
  • Dutch: “Shetlandeiland”
  • Dutch: “Shetlandeilanden”
  • Dutch: “Shetlands”
  • Dutch: “Zetland”
  • Esperanto: “Ŝetlandaj Insuloj”
  • Esperanto: “Ŝetlando”
  • Esperanto: “Ŝetlandoj”
  • Estonian: “Shetland”
  • Estonian: “Shetlandi saared”
  • Estonian: “Zetlandi saared”
  • Faroese: “Hetland”
  • Faroese: “Shetland”
  • Fiji Hindi: “Shetland Islands”
  • Finnish: “Shetland”
  • Finnish: “Shetlandin saaret”
  • Finnish: “Shetlandinsaaret”
  • Finnish: “Shetlandsaaret”
  • Finnish: “Shetlannin saaret”
  • Finnish: “Shetlanti”
  • French: “Archipel des Shetlands”
  • French: “Îles Shetland”
  • French: “Shetland”
  • French: “Shetlands”
  • Galician: “Illas Shetland”
  • Galician: “Setelanda”
  • Galician: “Shetland”
  • Galician: “Xetlandia”
  • German: “GB-ZET”
  • German: “Hjaltland”
  • German: “Shetland-Inseln”
  • German: “Shetland”
  • German: “Shetlandinseln”
  • German: “Shetlands”
  • German: “Zetland”
  • Greek: “Νησιά Σέτλαντ”
  • Greek: “Σέτλαντ”
  • Gujarati: “શેટલેન્ડ”
  • Hebrew: “איי שטלנד”
  • Hebrew: “שטלנד”
  • Hungarian: “Shetland Islands”
  • Hungarian: “Shetland szigetek”
  • Hungarian: “Shetland-szigetek”
  • Hungarian: “Shetland”
  • Icelandic: “Hjaltland”
  • Icelandic: “Hjaltlandseyjar”
  • Ido: “Insuli Shetland”
  • Inari Sami: “Shetlandsuolluuh”
  • Indonesian: “Kepulauan Shetland”
  • Indonesian: “Shetland”
  • Irish: “Inse Shealtainn”
  • Italian: “Isole Shetland”
  • Italian: “Isole Shetlands”
  • Italian: “Shetland”
  • Japanese: “シェットランド諸島”
  • Japanese: “シェトランド”
  • Japanese: “シェトランド諸島”
  • Kannada: “ಶೆಟ್ಲ್ಯಾಂಡ್”
  • Kazakh: “Шетланд аралдары”
  • Kirghiz: “Шетленд аралдары”
  • Korean: “셰틀랜드 제도”
  • Kurdish: “Shetland”
  • Latin: “Aemodae Insulae”
  • Latin: “Shetlandia”
  • Latvian: “Šetlandes salas”
  • Latvian: “Šetlendas salas”
  • Latvian: “Šetlendas”
  • Lithuanian: “Šetlandai”
  • Lithuanian: “Šetlando salos”
  • Low German: “Shetlaand”
  • Low German: “Shetland”
  • Low German: “Sjetlaand”
  • Lower Sorbian: “Shetland”
  • Macedonian: “Шетландски Острови”
  • Malayalam: “ഷെറ്റ്‌ലാൻഡ്”
  • Manx: “Shetlynn”
  • Marathi: “शेटलँड”
  • Min Nan Chinese: “Shetland”
  • Northern Frisian: “Shetland Eilunen”
  • Northern Sami: “Shetlánda”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Hjaltland”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Hjaltlandsøyene”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Shetland Islands”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Shetland”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Shetlandsøyene”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Shetlendar”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Shetlender”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Shetlending”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Zetland”
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: “Hjaltland”
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: “Hjaltlandsøyane”
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: “Shetland”
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: “Shetlandsøyane”
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: “Shetlandsøyene”
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: “Sjetland”
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: “Sjetlandsøyane”
  • Norwegian: “Shetland”
  • Occitan (post 1500): “Shetland”
  • Old English (ca. 450-1100): “Geltland”
  • Old English (ca. 450-1100): “Ȝetland”
  • Ossetian: “Шетландаг сакъадæхтæ”
  • Ossetian: “Шетланды сакъадæхтæ”
  • Persian: “شتلند”
  • Polish: “Szetlandy”
  • Polish: “Wyspy Szetlandzkie”
  • Portuguese: “Ilhas Shetland”
  • Portuguese: “Ilhas Shetlands”
  • Portuguese: “Shetland Islands”
  • Portuguese: “Shetland”
  • Portuguese: “Zetland”
  • Pushto: “شټلنډ”
  • Romanian: “Insulele Shetland”
  • Romanian: “Shetland”
  • Russian: “Шетландские острова”
  • Russian: “Шетланды”
  • Russian: “Шетлендские острова”
  • Samogitian: “Šetlanda salas”
  • Scots: “Shetland Islands”
  • Scots: “Shetland”
  • Scottish Gaelic: “Sealltainn”
  • Scottish Gaelic: “Sealtainn”
  • Serbian: “Шетландска острва”
  • Serbo-Croatian: “Šetland”
  • Serbo-Croatian: “Šetlandska ostrva”
  • Serbo-Croatian: “Šetlandski otoci”
  • Serbo-Croatian: “Shetland”
  • Serbo-Croatian: “Shetlandski otoci”
  • Sicilian: “Shetland”
  • Slovak: “Shetlandské ostrovy”
  • Slovak: “Shetlandy”
  • Slovenian: “otoki Shetland”
  • Slovenian: “Šetlandski otoki”
  • Slovenian: “Šetlandsko otočje”
  • Slovenian: “Shetlandski otoki”
  • Slovenian: “Shetlandsko otošje”
  • Spanish: “Hjaltland”
  • Spanish: “Islas Shetland”
  • Spanish: “Setelanda”
  • Spanish: “Shetland Islands”
  • Spanish: “Shetland”
  • Swahili: “Visiwa vya Shetland”
  • Swedish: “Hjaltland”
  • Swedish: “Shetland”
  • Swedish: “Shetlandsöarna”
  • Tagalog: “Kapuluan ng Shetland”
  • Tagalog: “Kapuluang Shetland”
  • Tagalog: “Shetland”
  • Tamil: “ஷெட்லன்ட்”
  • Tamil: “ஷெட்லேண்ட்”
  • Telugu: “శెట్ల్యాండ్”
  • Telugu: “షెట్లాండ్”
  • Thai: “เชตแลนด์”
  • Turkish: “Shetland Adaları”
  • Turkish: “Shetland”
  • Turkish: “Zetland”
  • Ukrainian: “Шетландські острови”
  • Ukrainian: “Шетлендські острови”
  • Upper Sorbian: “Shetlandske kupy”
  • Urdu: “شیٹ لینڈ”
  • Uzbek: “Shetlend orollari”
  • Venetian: “Isole Shetland”
  • Vietnamese: “Quần đảo Shetland”
  • Vietnamese: “Shetland”
  • Waray (Philippines): “Shetland”
  • Welsh: “Shetland”
  • Welsh: “Ynysoedd Shetland”
  • Western Frisian: “Sjetlâneilannen”
  • Western Panjabi: “شٹلینڈ”
  • Wu Chinese: “设得兰”
  • Yiddish: “שעטלאנד”
  • Yue Chinese: “昔德蘭”
  • “Šetlanda salas”

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About Mapcarta. Data © OpenStreetMap contributors and available under the Open Database License". Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, except for photos, directions, and the map. Description text is based on the Wikivoyage page “Shetland Islands”. Photo: juvlai, CC BY-SA 2.0.