Lerwick

Lerwick (Norwegian: Leirvik, "clay bay") is the largest town and capital of the Shetland Islands, with a population of 6880 in 2016. It's the obvious base for touring them.

Understand
The town dates back at least 3000 years, initially centred a little to the west by the freshwater Clickimin Loch. A wooden town grew up but was burned down by the inhabitants of Scalloway in the 17th century, ostensibly because they objected to the drunken immorality of the Lerwick sailors. Their real motive was fear that Lerwick would supplant Scalloway as capital of Shetland, as indeed it did in 1708. Stone buildings came to predominate in the 18th and 19th centuries and Lerwick became a busy fishing and shipping port. It still is.

Visitor information

 * Lerwick visitor information webpage
 * The tourist information centre is the VisitScotland iCentre on Market Cross, south end of the harbour. It's open Apr-Sep: M-Sa 9AM-5PM, Su 10AM-4PM; and Oct-Mar: M-Sa 10AM-4PM.

By plane
[[Sumburgh] Airport ] is Shetlands' main airport, 25 miles (40 km) south of Lerwick. This airport has flights by Loganair from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness, Kirkwall and Bergen. One flight a day is local, to Lerwick-Tingwall. Bus 6 runs between Sumburgh and Lerwick (every hour or two; 60 min), and there is car hire at the airport.

Flights between the Shetland Islands fly from  4 miles north of Lerwick. These serve Fair Isle, Foula and Sumburgh; the flight to Papa Stour was axed. Day-trips either way are often possible. Flights are operated by Airtask on behalf of Shetland Islands Council, using a couple of BNF Islanders, so they're small and not infrequently grounded by the weather. Bus 21 / 23 (Lerwick to Brae, Hillswick or Toft) and Bus 9 (Lerwick to Walls) pass near the airport, but better take a taxi. By car follow A970 north, turn left onto A971; parking here is free.

By boat
Northlink Ferries sail overnight from Aberdeen. These carry vehicles and sail every afternoon: on 4 days direct, the other 3 days via Kirkwall in Orkney. See Shetland page for practical info. Ferries no longer sail to Scandinavia, Faeroes or Iceland.

is the ferry pier, on A970 main road about 2 miles north of Lerwick centre, opposite the Shetland Hotel. Bus 4 (Lerwick to Scalloway) runs past the terminal every hour or so and there are taxis. Cruise ships often visit Shetland in summer and may dock here, or anchor up and bring passengers into Kirkwall by tender.

By car
Most visitors either fly into Sumburgh and hire from the airport, or bring their own car on the ferry: for a family the extra fare is more than offset by the convenience and saving of self-driving to Aberdeen. This means that Lerwick has only a small hire fleet, which is also serving the airport, so you need to book. As of 2021 the car hire firms in Lerwick are Europcar, Grantfield Garage, and Bolts who are agents for Avis. They're all open M-Sa 9AM-5PM and closed on Sunday.

By bus
You're unlikely to use the bus within town, but for Holmsgarth Terminal use Bus 4 hourly towards Scalloway. Bus 1 circles town hourly and runs north near the terminal and south by Broch of Clickimin. Bus 6 hourly to Sumburgh also passes the Broch. For timetables see Zetrans

is north end of the centre, just beyond Fort Charlotte.

By boat
The only inter-island ferry from Lerwick is the hourly ten-minute crossing to Bressay. It's a little roll-on, roll-off ferry sailing from the harbour in town centre, not Holmsgarth.

The other inter-island ferries ply from different points around Mainland, but their sailing status is shown on a big display board at the harbour, worth checking if the day looks doubtful. Those ferry piers are sometimes altered in rough weather, and Lerwick is a "port of refuge" for the Out Skerries ferry — don't go visiting in such conditions.

By taxi
Taxi firms in Lerwick include Sinclair's +44 1595 696060, Allied Taxis +44 1595 690069, and Ace +44 1595 693030.

There's a taxi rank by Victoria Pier in town centre, and taxis await the ferry from Aberdeen.

See
Lerwick is mostly a modern industrial town, with quays and marine industries sprawling along the shoreline. Scenically the best of it is one block back from the quay, along pedestrianised Commercial Street. Follow this past various Victorian buildings south out of town, onto Twageos Road, then out to the breezy headland of The Knab.

Do

 * Up Helly Aa events are held around New Year in several locations in Shetland, but by far the biggest and most spectacular is in Lerwick. The name means "end of holidays" but it's slipped back in the calendar to attract more visitors, and is nowadays on the last Tuesday in January. The programme starts with a morning procession at 9AM, followed by a civic reception before the "guizers" embark on a series of visits to schools, care homes and the hospital. The evening torchlight costume procession starts at 7:30PM (by which hour it's black night in Shetland), culminating in burning the Viking longship. The guizers are then entertained at a series of "Halls": private receptions to thank volunteers for their work over the year.
 * Screenplay Film Festival is held at Mareel, late Aug to early Sep.
 * And see Shetland Islands for multi-venue events.
 * Garrison Theatre is on Market St behind Fort Charlotte.
 * Golf: Shetland GC is 3 miles west on A970. It's 5562 yards, par 68, visitor £32 per day.
 * Golf: Shetland GC is 3 miles west on A970. It's 5562 yards, par 68, visitor £32 per day.

Buy
Lerwick has the best shopping in Shetland... since it's the only shopping. There's Tesco near the south end of town, plus a variety of shops in town centre.


 * at 26 North Rd has some two dozen shops within. Open 9AM-5:30PM, a good refuge if the weather turns bad.
 * at 26 North Rd has some two dozen shops within. Open 9AM-5:30PM, a good refuge if the weather turns bad.
 * at 26 North Rd has some two dozen shops within. Open 9AM-5:30PM, a good refuge if the weather turns bad.
 * at 26 North Rd has some two dozen shops within. Open 9AM-5:30PM, a good refuge if the weather turns bad.
 * at 26 North Rd has some two dozen shops within. Open 9AM-5:30PM, a good refuge if the weather turns bad.
 * at 26 North Rd has some two dozen shops within. Open 9AM-5:30PM, a good refuge if the weather turns bad.
 * at 26 North Rd has some two dozen shops within. Open 9AM-5:30PM, a good refuge if the weather turns bad.

Splurge

 * At the bus station are Great Wall (Chinese) and Raba (Indian / Nepalese), both open daily.

Drink

 * Grand Hotel, Queens Hotel and Shetland Hotel have bars, see Eat and Sleep.
 * Lerwick Brewery is 2 miles east of town on Ladies Drive and has tours.
 * Grand Hotel, Queens Hotel and Shetland Hotel have bars, see Eat and Sleep.
 * Lerwick Brewery is 2 miles east of town on Ladies Drive and has tours.
 * Grand Hotel, Queens Hotel and Shetland Hotel have bars, see Eat and Sleep.
 * Lerwick Brewery is 2 miles east of town on Ladies Drive and has tours.
 * Lerwick Brewery is 2 miles east of town on Ladies Drive and has tours.

Connect
As of Nov 2021, there is 4G in Lerwick with all UK carriers, but the signal is patchy. 5G has not reached the Shetlands.



Go next
Most of Shetland can be visited on a day-trip from Lerwick. Highlights include:
 * Jarlshof, the prehistoric settlement at Sumburgh, next to the main airport 30 miles south.
 * Scalloway, Shetland's second largest town and home to Scalloway castle, is a 6-mile drive.
 * Trondra, Burra and East Burra are three small isles on the west coast, connected to Scalloway by road.
 * Noss is a small island nature reserve with spectacular sea-cliffs, reached via the island of Bressay, a short ferry-ride from Lerwick.
 * Yell and Unst are the two islands north of Mainland, linked by short ferry crossings; here you reach the north tip of the British Isles and UK.

Further out, Foula and Fair Isle vie with each other for the title of "Britain's most remote habitation". So they need a longer stay; nevertheless by air a day-trip may be possible.

Otherwise, return south (perhaps via the Orkney Islands) to the Scottish mainland. You have to return there to reach other island groups such as the Hebrides.