Walking tours and audio guides
Explore Kirkwall with self-guided audio tours that connect historic streets, major landmarks, and local stories at your own pace.
Tour languages
Better in the app
Get the smoother mobile experience and save tours offline before you head out.
A tighter heritage walk focused on medieval and early-modern Kirkwall: the cathedral as the anchor, the ruined palaces as political theatre, narrow lanes and older civic buildings as the texture, and small historic remnants such as Watergate House or the Groatie Hoose where they fit. The narration should feel like decoding a tiny Norse-Scottish capital, not simply listing old buildings.
A town-and-harbour walk about Kirkwall as Orkney's connected island hub: radio and wartime communications at the Orkney Wireless Museum, the harbour and bay, civic memorials, local shops and benches, and the way Scapa Flow memory sits behind everyday Kirkwall. Keep the route walkable from the centre and harbour; do not drift into a scattered island driving tour.
A first-visit walking tour through Kirkwall's compact historic centre: begin with the red sandstone presence of St Magnus Cathedral, move through the Bishop's and Earl's Palaces, cross into the Orkney Museum and Tankerness House Gardens, then finish by the civic streets and harbour that made Kirkwall Orkney's working capital. The tone should explain why this small town feels outsized: Norse earls, medieval church power, island trade, and everyday Orkney civic life all compressed into a few streets.
Explore Kirkwall's most characterful landmarks on your own schedule.
Follow a self-guided route instead of waiting for a fixed group tour.
Open tours instantly on your phone and explore at a slower, more enjoyable pace.
Featured route
A tighter heritage walk focused on medieval and early-modern Kirkwall: the cathedral as the anchor, the ruined palaces as political theatre, narrow lanes and older civic buildings as the texture, and small historic remnants such as Watergate House or the Groatie Hoose where they fit. The narration should feel like decoding a tiny Norse-Scottish capital, not simply listing old buildings.
City tour collection
These routes turn Kirkwall into a place you can explore more slowly and remember more vividly, whether you want history, architecture, local neighborhoods, or a first-time orientation tour.
A tighter heritage walk focused on medieval and early-modern Kirkwall: the cathedral as the anchor, the ruined palaces as political theatre, narrow lanes and older civic buildings as the texture, and small historic remnants such as Watergate House or the Groatie Hoose where they fit. The narration should feel like decoding a tiny Norse-Scottish capital, not simply listing old buildings.
A town-and-harbour walk about Kirkwall as Orkney's connected island hub: radio and wartime communications at the Orkney Wireless Museum, the harbour and bay, civic memorials, local shops and benches, and the way Scapa Flow memory sits behind everyday Kirkwall. Keep the route walkable from the centre and harbour; do not drift into a scattered island driving tour.
A first-visit walking tour through Kirkwall's compact historic centre: begin with the red sandstone presence of St Magnus Cathedral, move through the Bishop's and Earl's Palaces, cross into the Orkney Museum and Tankerness House Gardens, then finish by the civic streets and harbour that made Kirkwall Orkney's working capital. The tone should explain why this small town feels outsized: Norse earls, medieval church power, island trade, and everyday Orkney civic life all compressed into a few streets.