This is the Orkney Islands chapter from Lonely Planet’s Scotland’s Highlands & Islands guidebook.

An archipelago of mostly flat, green-topped islands stripped bare of trees by Atlantic gales and ringed with red sandstone cliffs, the Orkney Islands is a place of Viking heritage, sublime sandy beaches and spectacular coastal scenery.

• travel back in time at Skara Brae, a village of prehistoric perfection that pre-dates the pyramids
• maps
• plunge down the passageway into spooky Maes Howe, a vast Stone Age  tomb with bawdy Viking graffiti
• transport
• dive the sunken WWI warships of Scapa Flow
• restaurants & accommodation

Coverage includes: Stromness, West Mainland, Heart of Neolithic Orkney, Birsay, Evie, South Coast, Kirkwall, East Mainland to South Ronaldsay, East Mainland, Lamb Holm, Burray, South Ronaldsay, South Isles, Hoy & South Walls, Graemsay, Flotta, The North Isles, Shapinsay, Rousay, Egilsay & Wyre, Stronsay, Eday, Sanday, Westray, Papa Westray and North Ronaldsay.