Car Rental in Orkney Islands

[Bsanr]

We will be in Kirkwall for about 10 hours on our British Isles cruise this summer. We are thinking about renting a car for the day to see all the sights. Has anyone done this? Is it easy to get around the island? Thanks for any info you can give.

[aquilegia]

You would probably be better off posting this in the Britain Ports of Call forum.

[cougfan]

Bsanr,

 

Back in 2000 my daughter and I rented a car in Kirkwall for basically an overnight stay. We had plenty of time to see the sights on the main island (Skara Brae, Maeshowe, Broch of Gurness, Ring of Brodgar and Standing Stones of Stenness) in the morning on the day we left. We rented the car from JD Peace. http://www.orkneycarhire.co.uk/ It is very easy to drive on the island because there is not a lot of traffic. You just have to be careful to stay on the left side of the road. When we were there the fellow at the information booth by Maeshowe told us to go to Skara Brae first because the tour busses came to Maeshowe first in the morning and Skara Brae afterwards.

 

Julie

[PennyAgain]

The driving is fairly easy but I ran into heavy (for Orkney) traffic that slowed down the whole process. Reversing the order as above might help.

 

I do recall some failry long walks from the parking lots to the sights.