Orkney & Shetland, Scotland — Bella Via Travels
Scotland
Orkney & Shetland
Where Scotland meets the Norse world
Orkney and Shetland are the northern isles — closer to Bergen than to London, shaped by Norse culture as much as Scottish, and home to some of the most extraordinary prehistoric monuments in Europe.
Orkney's Neolithic landscape is a UNESCO World Heritage Site: the Ring of Brodgar, the Standing Stones of Stenness, the chambered tomb of Maeshowe and the village of Skara Brae — a 5,000-year-old settlement preserved under sand for four millennia. No other area of comparable size in Europe has such a concentration of prehistoric monuments.
Shetland is further north still — 60 degrees of latitude, the same as Bergen and Anchorage — and has a character that is entirely its own. The Up Helly Aa fire festival in January, the Shetland ponies on the moorland, the dramatic sea stacks of Eshaness and the Viking longhouse at Jarlshof are all part of a culture that has been shaped by its position at the edge of the world.
Bella Via designs northern isles itineraries that combine Orkney and Shetland in a single journey, or focus on one in depth — staying in converted farmhouses, visiting the monuments at dawn, and taking the time to understand what makes these islands unlike anywhere else.
“Maeshowe at the winter solstice, with the setting sun illuminating the chamber — it is one of the great experiences of European travel, and almost no one knows about it.”
What to Expect
The Bella Via Experience in Orkney & Shetland
Skara Brae
A 5,000-year-old Neolithic village preserved under sand on the Orkney coast — older than Stonehenge and more intimate than any other prehistoric site in Europe.
The Ring of Brodgar
A Neolithic stone circle on a narrow isthmus between two lochs — one of the most atmospheric prehistoric monuments in Scotland.
Jarlshof, Shetland
A layered archaeological site spanning 4,000 years of occupation — Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Viking and medieval — in a single extraordinary location.
Eshaness Sea Stacks
The most dramatic coastline in Shetland — volcanic sea stacks, blowholes and cliffs that drop sheer into the Atlantic.
The northern isles are the Scotland that most visitors never reach. We will make sure you do — and that you arrive understanding what you are about to see.