Highlights: 

 

• Up Helly Aa - a weeklong celebration of all things community, Viking and heritage
• Shetland is one of the most beautiful places in the world - you'll see an enormous catalogue of geological, geographical and maritime natural features that you might not see anywhere else in the rest of Europe to this extent. 
• Attend a Burns' Supper - enjoy an excellent three course meal with the Scottish and international community that returns here from all over the world to celebrate their ancestry and life spent on the island. You'd never know, your dinner neighbour could be a New Zealander or Canadian whose great grandparents left the Shetlands in search of a new life. 
• Enjoy the fantastic live music on the island - Shetland is famous for the fiddle but there'll also be bagpiping, Shetland dancing (Highland Dancing) and the accordeon often comes into play.
• Enjoy the interplay of sunlight, water, spectacular cliffs, bogland, sandy beaches, sand dunes and much more - it's a truly spectacular landscape
• Spot some Shetland ponies and take some great pics. 
• Try all the local seafood - we can attest, it's the best in Scotland and maybe in northern Europe. Shetland has a tradition of fishing and maritime greatness as part of the British Empire. 
• Visit some of the excellent museums in Lerwick and elsewhere which document the Viking involvement in the island, the links to Scotland and the rest of the UK. There are excellent weaving workshops to visit, of course Shetland is known for its production of high quality sweaters. 
• Form a bond with the locals and maybe even get lucky enough to spot a pod of Orcas, they are constantly seen really close to the coast. 

 

Included:

 

• 4 Star Accommodation on a Bed and Breakfast Basis
• Meet and Greet at Edinburgh Airport
• Flights to and and from Sumburgh from Edinburgh Airport. It's about a 1 hour flight. 
• Transfers to and from hotel
• Expert driver/guide
• Comfortable touring vehicle
• Local knowledge, recommendations and help with any bookings you want to make
• Porterage - 1 piece per person in and out of hotels

 

Not included

 

• Flights - purchase your own flights in and out of destination 
• Gratuities -  minimum recommended $20 per person per day
• Lunches and Dinners - we like our guests to be able to choose their own dining options
• Any entrances to museums, attractions and concerts - most of what you're looking for will be free entrance anyway. 

 

Detailed Itinerary:

 

Day 1

 

Fly into Edinburgh International Airport, meet in the arrivals area and spend some time with the guide who will meet you there. You'll be able to sit down for a coffee and discuss the itinerary whilst waiting for the flight to Shetland, as well as asking any questions you might have about the trip. It's also an opportunity to get to know the guide and your fellow travellers. Arrive in Sumburgh Airport south of Lerwick (capital of Shetland main island) and continue with your guide to the hotel with our touring vehicle. Tonight, you're close to the main street in case you wish to have a wander but make sure to rest as tomorrow we'll hit the ground running. 

 

Day 2

 

Today we'll go down the coast past Sumburgh to the lighthouse and Royal Society for Protection of Birds nature reseve, and Jarlshof (Earl's House) which is more of a castle than anything else. On the way back north we'll stop in Sandwick and meet with a friend of ours who will give us a lot of the history on the island. We'll stop for tea and cake at his home - he's a fascinating gentleman who has been a commercial diver (including salvaging the wreckage of The Lusitania off Cork, Ireland), an airline pilot, a fish farm owner, a hotel owner and much, much more. Nothing can replace life experience and our contact has a lot of it. He'll explain the history of Sandwick. 

We'll then head to the best Tombolo in the UK, St. Ninian's Isle, where you'll have the opportunity to understand the history of Irish Saint Ninian (follower of St. Colm Cille) whose treasure was found at an archaelogical dig in the late 20th century on the island bearing his name. We love it here, it's an incredible place to walk on the sandy beaches and soak up the history of Celtic Christianity. 

Following this, it's back to the hotel in Lerwick. 

 

Day 3

 

Today is an opportunity for you to explore the museums and galleries in Lerwick. One of our favourite museums is the Shetland Musuem and Archives, with an excellent cafe full of Scottish products and thousands of artefacts explaining Dutch influence, Herring fisheries, Viking ancestry, Industrialisation, the impact of WW1 and WW2, the Merchant Navy, Cruel Clan Lairds and Revolt on the island for a fair system, Shetland Sweaters, Lighthouses, helping the Norwegians fight Hitler and much much more. See the film "The 12th Man" about how Shetland helped the Norwegian Resistence Movement in WW2. 

We'd then suggest meeting across the road in the Douglas Arms (considered the best pub in Shetland ) for a coffee and a chat about the trip so far. If you're up for it, we want to take you to our favourite brewery on the island, which makes incredible brews, Lerwick Brewery. It has a boutique style artisan brewer and makes very interesting products, as well as being owned by two local brothers. The head brewer is also a local so this is your chance to understand how industry and commerce works in such a remote location. For example, none of the barley can be grown on Shetland. 

 

Day 4

 

Today we're over to Scalloway to one of our favourite places on the island, soaking up more culture. Here there are two historical focal points to visit - Scalloway Musuem and Scalloway Castle (16th Century Earl's home). Scalloway Musuem is a true treasure trove of pictures, obejcts and fascinating discovery of island life. Following our two visits here we'll bring you to a great place for seafood, soup and some excellent drinks with great hospitality - the Scalloway Hotel. The fish and seafood are truly sumptuous, tasty, fresh and locally landed. 

 

Day 5

 

Today is a day of geological and landscape exploration. We're going to stop in Brae for the best fish and chips we've ever had on the way back from an incredible journey to Eschaness - a fascinating area of incredible maritime and geological features. We'll stop on the way back to Lerwick at a really interesting place - Shetland Jewellers - it's an educational place where you'll meet the expert artisan jewellers, learn their stories and we'll get a private explanation in their atelier. We'll also go to Bonhoga Gallery to understand what it's like to be an artist in such an interesting place where the light, sun, reflections, water and landscape are constantly changing. 

 

Day 6

Today we'll take two short ferries (5-10 minutes each) to the island of Unst and spend two nights up here. 

 

Day 7

 

We'll stop to meet some local people and hear stories of what it's like living here. We'll have a tour of the island and visit some of the best places for sightseeing and great photographs. There's a Gin Distillery (the most northerly one in the UK) and we'll tour it.

 

Day 8

 

Today we'll take one ferry back to the island of Yell which we haven't yet discovered.  We'll get all the pictures of Shetland ponies, iconic sights and unspoiled nature today. 

 

Day 9 

 

Today is also spent on Yell discovering the archaelogical and cultural gems the island has to offer. 

 

Day 10

 

We'll take the short ferry back to the mainland of Shetland and visit the Cabin Musuem before learning more about Whalsey Island and heading back down to Lerwick. 

 

Day 11

 

Today, we'll head back to Sumburgh for the flight back to Mainland Scotland and it's homeward bound or onwards to the next Global Dream Travel trip in Europe. We would recommend Iceland or the Faroe Islands.