5-Day Orkney Islands Private Tour

Day 1: Your Orkney adventure begins with a personal pick-up from your Edinburgh hotel and a scenic drive into Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park, often called 'the Highlands in miniature'. The road carries you through the brooding grandeur of Glencoe — the most dramatic valley in Scotland — to Fort William, beneath the bulk of Ben Nevis, with lunch along the way. From here you'll follow the Great Glen to the legendary shores of Loch Ness, where the ruins of Urquhart Castle stand watch and an optional cruise offers the chance to look for its elusive resident, before arriving in Inverness, the elegant capital of the Highlands.

Day 2: Today you’ll travel up Scotland’s dramatic eastern seaboard, crossing the Black Isle and the firths of Cromarty and Dornoch, with a stop at the fairytale spires of Dunrobin Castle, the largest house in the northern Highlands. Continuing through the wild landscapes of Caithness — with a relaxed lunch along the way — you’ll reach the far north and board the ferry across the Pentland Firth, watching for seals and seabirds on the crossing. Arriving on Orkney, you’ll cross the wartime Churchill Barriers to the beautifully decorated Italian Chapel, built by prisoners of war, before settling into Kirkwall, Orkney’s Viking capital and your home for the next two nights.

Day 3: A full day awaits among Orkney’s extraordinary ancient treasures, a UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the Heart of Neolithic Orkney. You’ll step inside Maeshowe, a 5,000-year-old chambered tomb aligned with the winter solstice and inscribed with Viking runes, and stand among the towering monoliths of the Standing Stones of Stenness and the great Ring of Brodgar. At Skara Brae — older than the pyramids and Stonehenge — you’ll walk through a Stone Age village so well preserved that its stone beds and hearths still remain. With a relaxed lunch along the way, the day also takes in the magnificent St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall and the sheltered waters of Scapa Flow, the great natural harbour at the heart of Orkney’s wartime story.

Day 4: After a leisurely morning in Kirkwall — time to browse its craft shops and ancient streets, or explore its working harbour — you’ll bid farewell to Orkney and board the ferry back across the Pentland Firth to the Scottish mainland. The journey south follows the rugged Caithness and Sutherland coastline, with sweeping sea views and the chance to discover hidden corners along the way. After a relaxed lunch, you’ll cross the Dornoch and Cromarty firths and the Black Isle, keeping an eye out for the dolphins of the Moray Firth, before returning to Inverness for the night.

Day 5: On your final day, a short drive from Inverness brings you to the haunting moor of Culloden, where the Jacobite cause met its tragic end in 1746. The journey south then carries you through the Cairngorms National Park, Britain's largest, and the charming Victorian spa town of Pitlochry, with lunch along the way, before you are returned to Edinburgh, your Orkney adventure complete and a wealth of unforgettable memories made.