We will be in Inverness for seven days in mid September.
We had hoped to take a day trip to the Orkney Islands but it seems they finish on August 31. Is there any alternative?
Ralph
Hi Ralph
I've been looking at route options myself, there appear to be 2 main ways to travel between Inverness and Orkney. Apart from the summer Orkney Express bus you mentioned, the alternative is is to take the X99 Inverness to Scrabster coach then hop on the ferry (90 mins crossing). However the journey times of around 4.5 hours each way means this is a bit unrealistic for a day trip.
This is a useful website to fine tune your planning: http://www.travelinescotland.com/
Good luck
NIna
If you have a car, it is more than doable.
I, too, am exploring ways to get to the Orkneys from Inverness. I was thinking that the train to Thurso and a car hire from that point to explore further. I am having a hard time finding a place to hire a car. Would it be better to hire a car in Inverness and drive North instead?
Thanks for any help that someone might have!
That's what we're doing — hiring a car. We're driving from Inverness to Gill's Bay/John O' Groats and taking the Pentland Ferry to St Margaret's Hope (just a 1 hr crossing, the Scrabster-Stromness Northlink ferry is longer).
There is still a day tour through the end of September to Orkney from John O' Groats, the Maxi Tour, but it looks like you have to get to John O' Groats yourself: http://www.jogferry.co.uk/Tours.aspx . There are trains and buses that run up there, but the JOGFerry leaves before they arrive. You could maybe do an overnight in JOG and then pick up the tour the next morning and then get transport back to Inverness. I think hiring a car and driving sounds easier, though.
#4 - your choices are hire a car in Inverness (which will need to be returned to Inverness or an alternative depot on the mainland) or, get yourself to Orkney by public transport - flying being the quickest - and hire a car on Orkney which you leave on Orkney.
If you want to use the train to Thurso, get the bus to the Scrabster ferry from the town, travel as a foot passenger and arrange for a rental car on arrival at Stromness.
If you hire in Inverness the Gill's Bay ferry is the quicker, cheaper route.
What is best depends on your time availability, budget, how long you are spending in Orkney...... etc.
Can i put a point right - very important to us in Orkney. We are either called Orkney or the Orkney Islands we are not the Orkneys. A lovely place to visit . If you are only spending a day in Orkney it would be much better to hire a car to get the most out of your visit.
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