Sumburgh

Getting there

1 Sumburgh Airport (LSI IATA). This is the main airport for Shetland: see Shetland Islands#By plane for flight connections, and car hire and taxis. (updated Sep 2024) Bus 6 runs from Lerwick daily every 90 min or so, stopping at the airport, Jarlshof and hotel. 2 Grutness is the ferry port for Fair Isle. May to Sep the ferry sails once on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, taking 2 hr 40 min; a day trip is not possible. Every two weeks, one sailing is from Lerwick instead of Grutness.

Getting around

The airport, hotel and Jarlshof are a short walk apart. You need wheels to reach the further sights. The main road crosses the airport perimeter and is briefly closed when flights are landing or taking off.

See

1 Jarlshof, Sumburgh ZE3 9JN, ☏ +44 1950 460112. Apr-Sep daily 9:30AM-5:30PM, Oct-Mar Tu-Sa 10AM-12:30PM, 1:30-PM. A site with over 4000 years of human habitation, with structures from the Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Viking and Medieval eras. Adult £7.50, conc £6, child £4.50. (updated Sep 2024) 2 Sumburgh Head, Sumburgh ZE3 9JN. Th-M 10AM-5PM. The Head has a lighthouse and visitor centre open in summer, and Nature Reserve open all year. Take care near the east cliffs, which not for nothing are called "The Slithers". Adult £6, conc £4. (updated Nov 2021) 3 Old Scatness, Sumburgh ZE3 9JW. mid-May to Aug. An Iron Age Broch and village, discovered when the main road was built in the 1970s. It was re-used in the Pictish, Viking, medieval and early modern eras. (updated Nov 2021) 4 Ness of Burgi is the peninsula west of Sumburgh, with a stout fort from 100 BC. This was not designed for defence and may have been built to impress, an early "bling-castle". It's free to enter, follow the grassy path from Scatness. The peninsula ends in rocks ("Hog of Ness") with Horse Island half a mile further south. Lady's Holm and Little Holm are the islets west of the Ness, with a teensy-weensy Holm closer inshore. 5 Quendale Watermill, Dunrossness ZE2 9JD (4 miles north of airport), ☏ +44 1950 460969 (when open), +44 1950 460550 (at all other times). Mid-Apr to mid-Oct: daily 10AM-5PM. Restored corn mill, built in 1867. Adult £4, conc £3, child £1. (updated Nov 2021) The Lost Town of Broo obviously can't be shown on the map, but it's somewhere around Quendale, buried by sand in the 1700s. Work continues to map its extent, and to understand why it was so rapidly engulfed, so you may see archaeologists busily burrowing. Fitful Head is the line of cliffs reached by the track west of Quendale.

6 Crofthouse Museum, Boddam, Dunrossness ZE2 9JG, ☏ +44 1595 694688. May-Sep daily 10AM-1PM, 2-4PM. Small museum in a traditional croft house, restored as for 1870. Donation. (updated Sep 2024)

Do

Say hello to Shetland ponies, they seem to appreciate this, but don't feed them. See Bressay for their history.

Buy

Souvenirs are available at Jarlshof and the hotel.

Eat

Sumburgh Hotel has the West Voe restaurant.

Drink & nightlife

Sumburgh Hotel has a small public bar independent of the dining room.

Sleep

1 Sumburgh Hotel, ZE3 9JN, ☏ +44 1950 460201, [email protected]. Baronial-style small hotel with decent bar and restaurant. Very near Jarlshof and airport. B&B double £140. (updated Sep 2024) The lighthouse has self-catering accommodation. They also run Bressay and Eshaness lighthouse accommodation.

Go next

Go north by road to Lerwick and the rest of Mainland Shetland. Take the ferry to Fair Isle, but you'll have to sail back here.