Northern Lights Forecast for Kirkwall

Northern Lights in Kirkwall

Kirkwall is Orkney’s main town, on the north coast of Mainland, the largest island in the group. Orkney is low-lying and open, with wide skies and very little light outside the towns. Locally the aurora is known as the merry dancers.

Orkney is a little over a degree of latitude south of Shetland, so the northern lights here usually come with stronger geomagnetic activity. A typical display is a low arc or glow over the northern horizon, often faint to the naked eye but clearer on a camera. Bright, colourful nights do happen when a big storm comes through, but they are not a regular thing.

The Ring of Brodgar, Stenness and North Ronaldsay

Kirkwall’s lights wash out weaker displays, but darker ground is close by. Wideford Hill and Inganess Bay, both just outside town, are the quickest options.

About 20 minutes’ drive west, the Ring of Brodgar and the Stones of Stenness give you an unlit horizon with Neolithic standing stones in the foreground, which is why so many Orkney aurora photos are taken there. The Ring of Brodgar is free to visit all year and has a car park. On the north and north-west coasts of Mainland, the Broch of Gurness and the shore by the Brough of Birsay are also used for their open views north.

The darkest skies in the islands are on North Ronaldsay, Orkney’s northernmost island, which was recognised as an International Dark Sky Community in 2021. It is a short inter-island flight from Kirkwall. For alerts and local sightings, Orkney’s aurora watchers share updates in the Orkney Aurora Group on Facebook.

St Magnus Cathedral, the Ba’ and Maeshowe at midwinter

The centre of Kirkwall is built around St Magnus Cathedral, a red sandstone cathedral founded in 1137, with the ruined Bishop’s and Earl’s Palaces next door. On Christmas Day and New Year’s Day the town plays the Ba’, a mass street game between the Uppies and the Doonies that starts at the Mercat Cross outside the cathedral.

The main day trip is the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site in the West Mainland, which includes the village of Skara Brae and the chambered tomb of Maeshowe. For a few days either side of the winter solstice, the setting sun shines down Maeshowe’s entrance passage and into the chamber. Visits are by guided tour from the visitor centre in Stenness, so book ahead around the solstice.

Ferries from Aberdeen and across the Pentland Firth

Some NorthLink sailings from Aberdeen call at Kirkwall late in the evening before continuing overnight to Lerwick. From the north coast of mainland Scotland, NorthLink’s Scrabster to Stromness crossing takes 90 minutes and passes the Old Man of Hoy, and Pentland Ferries sails from Gills Bay to St Margaret’s Hope. Kirkwall Airport, a few miles south-east of town, has Loganair flights from Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness.