The Pier Arts Centre is quite simply an amazing place to have somewhere as small as Orkney. It has…read morea world renowned collection, including works from the likes of Barbara Hepworth. There's the 'permanent collection' and it also hosts visiting exhibitions and exhibitions of local work throughout the year. There's lots of different rooms in the gallery - and a small courtyard outside right on the Stromness waterfront. There's a small shop - and the staff are knowledgeable, friendly and helpful. The extension to the gallery - built on reclaimed land - is also important architecturally and has won awards. The Pier Arts Centre hosts workshops at various times of the year - such as children's workshops in the school holidays. It is also often used as a venue during the Orkney Folk Festival.

From the owner: The Pier Arts Centre in Stromness, Orkney was established in 1979 to provide a home for an…read moreimportant collection of British fine art donated by the author, peace activist and philanthropist Margaret Gardiner. The Collection includes works by major 20th Century artists Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson and Alfred Wallis amongst others, as well as contemporary art and local artists. Although small, it is regarded as one of the finest collections of the period in the UK. The Pier is also a partner of Tate, and exchanges programmes, ideas and skills with the Plus Tate network of visual arts organisations across the UK. The Centre also curates a year round programme of changing exhibitions and events for the education and enjoyment of the general public.The Pier Arts Centre acts as a focal point for the local artistic community. It has a valuable library and archive which is accessible to the public, and runs a programme of education and outreach activities for groups of all ages.

A great wee museum - well worth the visit. It has a fascinating display of old radio equipment,…read moreinformation, etc. The museum is manned by a friendly and knowledgeable bunch of volunteers who can regale you with tales from Orkney's recent past related to telecommunications. A lot of the contents of the museum are related to Orkney's wartime history - don't miss out on finding out about it. Orkney (and Scapa Flow) played an important role in World War 2 and you'll find out more about it here. The museum may not sound like it's going to be interesting, and may not look like much from the outside, but it is worth the visit, especially for historians.

As above - this place is brilliant and gives you a real insight as to how people lived years ago -…read morein fact maybe not even that long ago! The smell of the peat fire is gorgeous and makes you feel at home instantly....so many nooks and crannies to explore and rekindle days of of yesterday. Another place is Kirkbister Farm Museum - very similar and well worth a visit.

A brilliant wee farm museum. And it's FREE! Stunning value! There's usually kittens, ducks and hens…read morearound - and there's several building to visit. There's a peat fire lit in the main room, and often there will be a kitten asleep in the cradle beside it. Cute. The custodian is a real character and extremely knowledgeable - try to have a chat with him if you can. Make sure you explore every nook and cranny - and if the kids don't like that sort of thing they can just play with the kittens.

My wife loves fossils and I love my wife... which is why I visited this museum. I was astonished at…read morehow great this museum was. There is something for everyone, from a terrific WWII diorama to a brief history of Earth, to a mesmerizing collection of Zippo lighters (WHO KNEW?). It's small enough that you can't get lost and dense enough to get real value for your admission ticket.

Cool island only reachable at low-tied with some ~1000-year-old ruins and a lighthouse. Fun, but…read morenot 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…read more- 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!

This is an amazing site. In addition go a small museum with background material on the settlers at…read moreSkara Brae, there is a replica residence since you can't enter/destroy the actual Neolithic site (although you can view it from above). You can take a public bus from Kirkwall that will drop you at Skara Brae for about an hour before continuing on to the Ring of Brodgar.

This is situated in the west mainland of Orkney - not in Kirkwall…read more A fascinating site - a real must-see on a trip to Orkney. The visitor centre and audio-visual display are good. There's plenty of activities to try - such as the interactive reconstructing a pot or building a Skara Brae house. Outside there's a replica house which you can go into. Then you walk back in time, past man on the moon, past the pyramids, stonehenge and back to Skara Brae (the timeline walk has stones alongside telling you what date/event you are passing). You can't go inside the village - and one of the houses now has a turf roof to protect it, but you can look down into the rest and try to imagine life in Skara Brae - and wonder why it was abandoned Make sure you take a warm top - it can be pretty windy (and cold) at the Bay of Skaill). Parking, toilets and cafe are all available at the site too.