Private Guided Orkney Tours with a Local Orcadian

Odyssey tour
A carefully paced half-day introduction to Orkney for travellers wanting depth and clarity within limited time. Includes all tickets.

Showcase Tour
The most complete private day in Orkney, bringing together the islands’ essential sites with depth, context, and proper pacing. Includes all tickets.

Build Your Own Orkney Day
Design your own private Orkney tour, tailored to your interests, pace and passions. History your way, no compromises.

The Norse Legacy Expedition
Walk in the footsteps of the Orkneyinga Saga on a private tour exploring Orkney and Shetland's powerful Norse legacy.
Our approach: Story-driven, flexible & personal
For those who have travelled far to reach Orkney, the difference between simply seeing the islands and experiencing them properly matters.
Our tours provide depth, context and unforgettable island storytelling.
Private guided tours across Orkney’s ancient sites
- Local Orcadian guide with deep historical insight
- Tours tailored to your interests and pace
- Full-day, half-day and custom itineraries available
Each journey is planned and delivered personally, with the entire day shaped around your pace, interests, and the conditions on the ground. Only one private tour is undertaken per day by choice, ensuring your time here is handled with full attention and never reduced to a rushed schedule.
For many guests, travelling to Orkney is a significant journey. How that time is handled matters. Careful preparation, clear understanding of the landscape, and genuine local knowledge ensure your visit feels considered from the outset and rewarding long after it ends.
What makes these tours different
Our tours provide depth, context and unforgettable island storytelling.
For those who have travelled far to reach Orkney, the difference between simply seeing the islands and experiencing them properly matters.
From initial enquiry through to final drop-off, every aspect of your experience is handled directly and with full responsibility. This continuity allows the day to unfold naturally, with the flexibility to respond to weather, light, and the rhythm of the islands.
The aim is not simply to visit notable locations, but to reveal how Orkney fits together as a place shaped by landscape, history, and living community. Fewer places, understood properly, will always outweigh a long list visited quickly.
Born and raised in Orkney, my guiding is shaped by lifelong familiarity with these islands and by generational heritage rooted in people and place. That continuity brings depth and perspective to each journey, offering the level of context many travellers hope to find when coming this far north.
A considered experience
Every element of your day is approached with care and quiet precision. Preparation begins well before your arrival and continues throughout your time here, ensuring clarity, adaptability, and a calm sense of direction.
Your experience is shaped around what matters: the right pace, the right moments, and the right understanding. Nothing is forced. Nothing is hurried. The islands are allowed to speak.
Read more about our standards and mission
Trusted by travellers
Over time this approach has established Historic Orkney as a trusted choice for travellers seeking a deeper and more considered experience of the islands. Many guests arrive having travelled a long distance and want the reassurance of knowing their time here will be well used and properly handled from the outset.
With more than one hundred five-star reviews built steadily over the years, visitors consistently describe these experiences as among the most memorable parts of their time in Scotland. Reliability, preparation, and professional standards remain central to every tour delivered.
If you are considering a private tour, the best next step is simply to choose the day that fits and enquire. Availability is intentionally limited.
Reviews & testimonials
See what other people like about Historic Orkney private tours


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Orkney is not a place you simply visit.
It is a place you learn to read.
Stone. Sea. Weather. Silence.
A landscape where history is not behind glass, but under your feet and written into the land itself.
Experienced with depth, clarity, and genuine local insight, the islands begin to reveal how everything connects - landscape, story, and living community.
There are many ways to see Orkney.
Very few ways to experience it properly.
Get a free 20min trip consultation
Schedule a free 10 minute call lets you ask questions and explore options. We’ll cover sites, timings, cruise schedules, accessibility and special requests, so your Orkney experience is thoughtfully planned and truly memorable.
