Brough of Birsay

Nice easy walk and free access to a good example of a neolithic village, and a cool little lighthouse. Apparently good for seeing nesting puffins & other seabirds, but not many when we were there in early April as a bit early in season. Good views of surrounding coastline. Make sure you check the tide for access across the waterway & don't get stuck!

A very special place. Well worth visiting the puffins sitting along the Clifftops In the month of June/ July. Always be careful on the tide times before setting across to the Island as you can get stuck if the tide comes In. Check local tide times first to be safe.

Incredible! A must visit if you’re on the island, such amazing views and the wildlife is awesome, the puffins are so cool! Double check the tide times for Birsay rather than Kirkwall/stromness as they are slightly different.

Beautiful place. So much to see

Excellent location, Iron Age village on the island can be visited. Check tide times because the causeway is submerged at high water. Charges apply in summer Good parking facilities

Beautiful place to see. Luck with the tijding so we can walk to the brough of Birsay. Wonderful!

This was the first stop on our whirlwind two days on Orkney a few summers ago. We raced there on the recommendation of the Tourist Information Office and weren't disappointed. Beautiful coastal scenery combined with the Viking remains provided a great location for a walk and picnic. As the island is only accessible at low tide, make sure you check the tide times in order to plan your visit.

Stunning views, amazing place, it’s definitely a stop to see on the tour on the Orkney Isles

Cool island only reachable at low-tied with some ~1000-year-old ruins and a lighthouse. Fun, but not the most amazing example of any of the three. So, the coolest part about this is that it's kind of a magic island that you can only get to for about an hour either side of low tide. That's just really cool and appeals to kids especially. It's basically a secret island. Beyond that, there's some ruins of a church and settlements that go back, but they are far from the most interesting such ruins on Orkney. There's also a cool old lighthouse, but again, probably not the coolest lighthouse and you can't go in or tour it. Lastly there's some sea cliffs and rugged Scottish coast, but again not the best you can find--even on Orkney. You can combine it with a visit to the tea room (which has a view of the Borough) and wander around the Earl's palace ruins, which make it a more full outing, but the key thing is whether you like the idea of a secret island you can only reach a low tide or not.

The Brough of Birsay (pronounced broch by the way) is a tidal island. There's various remains on it - all in the care of Historic Scotland. The archaeology dates from a number of different periods and includes a Pictish symbol stone (or a replica of it, the original is in the museum). There's a wee 'hut' run by Historic Scotland which has information panels in it about the archaeology and history of the island, and there's one or two interpretation panels amongst the remains too. The 'opening times' vary with the tide times - and the tide times are announced daily on Radio Orkney in the summer and on The Orcadian website. The causeway over to the island can get quite slippery at times so you do have to take care - and you really have to be aware of the tide times as the tide comes in and covers the causeway much quicker than you might think. Away from the archaeology, you can walk across (or around) the island to the lighthouse. There's several colonies of nesting seabirds there too - and if you're lucky you might even see puffins. Just don't get so engrossed that you forget about the tide though!