Time for a summary of the nuts and bolts of my visit to Orkney in July 2019.
I flew from Aberdeen to Kirkwall (and vice versa) with Loganair. Aberdeen is not the closest airport to home (it is Edinburgh) and whilst Loganair does fly between Edinburgh and Kirkwall, the flight times from Aberdeen suited me better.
The flights cost £146 return, and that ticket class includes a checked in bag.
It is possible to drive to Orkney obviously, with several ferry options from the north coast. However, it is a journey of close to 7 hours each way and for a short weekend break, that makes no sense.
I stayed overnight at Aberdeen Airport on the outward trip, at the Moxy Hotel. It cost £51, with breakfast (£12) and parking (£5) extra.
I arranged parking at Aberdeen Airport with Park and Depart whilst I was in Orkney. It cost £20 from first thing Friday until Sunday evening.
In Kirkwall I stayed two nights at the Storehouse, which I did a stand alone review of in my last blog post.
I took the public bus between the airport and the town centre. It runs every 30 minutes most of the time – less on Sunday. The journey takes less than 15 minutes.
I also used the public bus to visit Stromness – a 30 minute trip each way. I am the proud owner of a Scottish Government bus pass (free to all over 60s), so I paid nothing.
I had booked flights to and from North Ronaldsay for the Saturday. It is the most northerly of the islands, with Loganair’s Inter Island service being the alternative to the twice weekly ferry. It cost £18 each way. Sadly, they could not fly that day due to mist and low cloud on North Ronaldsay.
ⓒ iain taylor, 2019
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