Shetland Islands - 52 Attractions You Must Visit

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About Shetland Islands

Shetland , also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated in the Northern Atlantic, between Great Britain, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost part of Scotland and of the wider United Kingdom.

Types of Attractions in Shetland Islands

Activities Around

List of Attractions in Shetland Islands

Balta, Shetland

Balta is an uninhabited island in Shetland . It lies off the east coast of Unst and Balta Sound. It has an area of 80 hectares (200 acres).There is a natural arch on the eastern side of the island.Balta Island Seafare and Skaw Smolts are the most northerly fish farm and fish hatchery in Britain

Bobby's Bus Shelter

Bobby’s Bus Shelter in Unst has become a Shetland attractionin recent years, and arguably one of the most visited and photographed attractions on Shetland’s most northerly island. It might be the only bust stop in the world that is visited by bus loads of tourists every day during the summer. The shelter is equipped with a sofa and a television. It is furnished and redecorated periodically.

Bound Skerry

Bound Skerry

Outdoors- Other

Islands

Bound Skerry is part of the Out Skerries group in the Shetland Islands. As well as being the most easterly island of that group, it is also the easternmost point of Scotland. It comprises of a lighthouse and The island was bombed twice in World War II by the German Luftwaffe.

Breckon Sands

This is a white sand beach in the North of Yell, which has the largest area of shell sand dune and dune grassland in Shetland. The beach is well sheltered from most wind directions and the dunes provide an infinite variety of picnic places on good days. The sand, a mixture of rock and shell particles, is piled deep and shelves quite steeply.

Bressay Heritage Centre

Bressay Heritage Centre

Museums

Old Ruins

The Bressay Heritage Centre, situated at the Bressay ferry terminal, is a local exhibition space, which shows Bressay life and history, as well as information about the mysterious Bronze Age mound that has been relocated alongside. Current displays include information and photographs documenting Bressay’s role in WW1, photographs of Bressay’s flora and a lovely ‘ben end’, a 1960’s living room – Bressay style.

Broch of Mousa

Brochs are a kind of Iron Age roundhouse found only in Scotland, and Mousa is the best-preserved of them all. It is the tallest broch still standing and amongst the best-preserved prehistoric buildings in Europe. It is thought to have been constructed c. 100 BC, and is one of more than 500 brochs built in Scotland. The site is managed by Historic Environment Scotland as a scheduled monument.

Clickimin Leisure Complex

Clickimin Leisure Complex

Man-made Structures- Other

The Clickimin Leisure Complex holds the biggest versatile space within Shetland, catering for the isles ever growing sports calendar and also for large and small-scale concerts and cabaret events. It houses a 25-m swimming pool, complete with flumes and an outdoor lagoon. There is also a sauna, steam room and spa pool, together with a 6-court sports hall, a bowls hall, squash courts, climbing wall and fitness centre.

Clickimin Loch

Clickimin Loch

Lake/ River/ Ponds

Clickimin Loch is a loch in Shetland, Scotland, west of Lerwick. A Pictish fort from the 6th century called Clickimin Broch is located on a small islet at the southern end of the loch. During the winter months the loch is visited by large numbers of wildfowl and close by there is a camp site and a leisure complex.

Clumlie Broch

Clumlie Broch

Outdoors- Other

Old Ruins

Clumlie Broch is an Iron Age broch standing on the Mainland of Shetland. The broch is to be found on Dunrossness, on the southern part of the island, about five miles north of Sumburgh Airport. It stands on a low rise on flat arable ground. The broch is at the centre of an abandoned croft, which encroaches upon the ruins.

Croft House Museum

Shetland Museum and Archives is a five star VisitScotland rated Visitor Attraction, which welcomes an average of 86,000 visitors per year.The restored buildings that form this museum include not only the immediate steading with its house, byre and barn but also a typical corn mill, and the whole complex allows a fascinating insight into rural life in Shetland a hundred years ago. The furniture and fittings are mostly original to the house.

Culswick Broch

Culswick Broch

Outdoors- Other

The Broch of Culswick is an unexcavated coastal broch in the Shetland Islands of Scotland.This broch has a massive triangular lintel stone over the entrance, which is partly filled with rubble. It has good views all around, including Foula and Vaila isles, and Fitful Head and Fair Isle in the south.

Da Gairdins

Da Gairdins

Outdoors- Other

This is a beautiful 60 acre site of which one third is maintained woodland and gardens for the enjoyment of all. Since 1991 thousands of trees and shrubs have been planted to attract wildlife, creating a combination of garden and environmental areas with sheltered walks.

Fair Isle North Lighthouse

Fair Isle North is one of two lighthouses on the remote island of Fair Isle, between Orkney and Shetland. It’s located at Skroo at the north eastern most tip of the island. However, the North Lighthouse is a much smaller tower, only 14m in height because it can take advantage of the 65-m high cliffs on which it stands, to elevate the light giving a range of 25 miles. A foghorn is located further out on The Nizz, accessed by a path marked by iron railings.

Fair Isle South Lighthouse

The Fair Isle South Lighthouse is the tower is the tallest in Shetland at 25.9m (85 feet). Powered by diesel generators, the light has a range of 25 miles and is visible in Orkney. It was the work of David A. Stevenson and Charles Stevenson, and first illuminated in 1892.

Fetlar Interpretive Centre

Fetlar Interpretive Centre

Iconic Buildings

Museums

This Interpretive Centre is located at the Beach of Houbie, and it is a community museum awarded a Visit Scotland four-star tourist attraction. The museum itself contains various displays on island history, including the award-winning section on Sir William Watson Cheyne and his contribution to antiseptic surgery. There is an Information Point for visitors with a comprehensive range of maps and brochures. There is options for walking , birdwatching and so more.

Fitful Head

Fitful Head

Outdoors- Other

Fitful Head is a 283-metre-high headland at the southwest corner of Mainland, Shetland, Scotland, some 6 kilometres northwest of the island's southernmost point at Sumburgh Head. Its summit is crowned by a trig point adjacent to a NATS installation served by a restricted access vehicular track which ascends from the hamlet of Quendale to the east. There are numerous islets and sea stacks at the foot of the 3-kilometre stretch of cliffs which form the coast here.

Forewick Holm

Forewick Holm is a 1-hectare island in the Sound of Papa in the Shetland islands, Scotland. Located between Papa Stour and the Sandness peninsula. Since 2008, it has also been referred to as Forvik Island as a result of Stuart "Captain Calamity" Hill's protest around constitutional matters.

Foula

Foula

Islands

Foula is one of the most picturesque islands in Shetland, with the second highest sea cliff in Britain, and home to an array of seabirds, which attract visitors from around the world. It has a population of 38 people, living in Hametun and Ham. Islanders previously made a living from fishing – first for whitefish, then lobster. Today, most islanders are crofters with income from sheep farming and birdwatching tourism.

Grunay

Grunay

Islands

Grunay is an uninhabited island in the Out Skerries group, the most easterly part of Shetland, Scotland. The island is the site of the lighthouse keeper's house for the lighthouse on the nearby Bound Skerry. This house was abandoned following the automation of the light in 1972.

Hildasay

Hildasay

Islands

A beautiful uninhabited island off the west coast of the Shetland Mainland. Hildasay is north of Hoe Skerry. It has an area of 108 hectares, and is 32 metres in elevation at its highest point. It consists of red-green granite that was quarried for many years. The island's former industries included curing herring and quarrying granite. The remains of a railway line leading from the quarry to the harbour can still be seen

Map of attractions in Shetland Islands

Comments

For more information about Shetland Islands, visit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shetland