Hoy is the second largest of the Orkney Islands, extending 14 miles north-south by 6 miles east-west, but with a population of only 419 in 2011. The name means "high" and it's hilly and sparsely populated; its hills draw the clouds, drizzle and midges, and Hoy feels much more like the bleak Hebrides than the green, pastoral Orkneys. Its northern part is an important breeding ground for birds, and RSPB reserve. Together with nearby Mainland, Hoy encloses Scapa Flow, a wartime naval anchorage, so it has military heritage.

South Walls was a tidal island joined by a shingle strand. In the late 19th century a firm road causeway was built, passable at all tides, so Hoy and South Walls are now a single island.

Graemsay is a small farmland island a mile off Hoy. Flotta island is best known for its oil terminal, but beyond is farmland.

Hoy Orkney has online visitor information, including job vacancies.

Get in

There is no air service to Hoy. There are two ferry routes from Mainland Orkney: until April 2025 the return fare for either is adult £6.10, child £3, car £19.40.

1 Lyness to the south has a ro-ro car ferry from Houton near Stromness via Flotta. It sails 5-6 times a day M-F, 2-3 times Sa Su, taking 45 min. The ferry passes by the uninhabited little islands of Holm of Houton, Cava and Fara. The first and last ferry of the day extends to Longhope on South Walls. Lyness pier has a waiting room with toilets.

2 Moaness in the north has a ferry from Stromness via Graemsay, for foot passengers and bicycles only. (Vehicles may be carried between Stromness and Graemsay, but there's no car ramp at Moaness.) May-Sep it sails 4 or 5 times M-F, twice Sa Su, taking 20 min. Moaness pier has a waiting room with toilets.

Kayakers should heed local advice on safe crossing times from Mainland. There are fierce rip tides as Scapa Flow floods then drains, and the ebb might carry you off to the Faeroes.

Get around

You need your own wheels, cycling is good until the rain comes on.

Community Bus 1 plies year-round between Lyness and Longhope five times M-F, taking 35 min.

Bus 2 runs between Longhope, Lyness and Moanness. It runs twice on Sunday year-round, and Tu & F May-Oct Tu & F.

Both buses are hail-and-ride anywhere on their route and connect with the ferries.

See

• 1 Old Man of Hoy is the island's icon, a spectacular 137-m sea stack. It's easiest seen from the Scrabster-Stromness ferry - see below for the hiking route. Enjoy it while it lasts: it was created late 18th-century by erosion of the sea cliffs, and its crumbly sandstone is under continual attack by the sea and by rock-climbers' pickaxes. A painting of 1817 shows it as much wider, with a flat head and two stout legs straddling an arch, like Frankenstein's monster. (Lurid scenes in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein are set in the Orkneys, and as a teenager she lived awhile in Dundee and heard all the sailors' tales, so here may be her inspiration.) A few years after the painting, the Old Man suffered a stroke so only one slender half of him survives.
• Scapa Flow Museum, Lyness (by Lyness pier), ☏ +44 1856 791300. Mar Apr Oct Nov Tu-Sa 9:30AM-4PM, May-Sep daily 9:30AM-4PM, Dec Th-Sa 9:30AM-4PM. Museum of First and Second World War naval history. Scapa Flow was a major British naval anchorage in both wars and the German fleet was scuttled there after World War I. Part of the museum is in the pumphouse which fuelled ships from underground tanks. Free. (updated Jul 2024)
• 2 Longhope Lifeboat Museum, Brims. Apr-Sep M-F 11AM-4PM. A lifeboat has been stationed here since 1874, at Brims south of the causeway not in Longhope. In March 1969 the lifeboat put out in a raging sea to help a drifting freighter. It was lost with all eight men aboard, a quarter of Longhope's population, while the freighter drifted onto rocks at South Ronaldsay and the crew scrambled to safety. Free. (updated Jul 2024)
• 3 Hackness Martello Tower, South Walls, ☏ +44 1856 701727. Apr-Sep M-Th tour at 10:15AM, noon & 2:15PM. One of scores of Martello towers built in 1815 against Napoleonic attacks. This one was refurbished and fitted with an artillery battery in 1866. Adult £7.50, conc £6, child £4.50. (updated Jul 2024)
• 4 Cantick Head Lighthouse was built by Thomas and David Stevenson and lit in 1858. The keepers' cottages are now self-catering accommodation.
• Switha is the uninhabited island seen a mile east of Cantick Head. It has neolithic cairns but no known permanent residents for 1000 years back, just grazing land. It's now a bird reserve.
• 5 Betty Corrigan's Grave is midway up the island road by the Water of Hoy. In the 1770s a sailor done her wrong. She took her own life and so wasn't allowed a church burial, so here in this lonely spot she lies.
• 6 Greenhill Broch at Quoyness is a 4 m high mound.
• 7 Braebister Mound is just a grassy lump, but probably the ruin of another Iron Age broch. You only come for the view from the north tip of the island.

The Old Man of Hoy

• 8 Dwarfie Stane is a large slab of sandstone hollowed out into a Neolithic burial chamber. A large rock 30 m away probably once sealed the entrance. Graffiti within include that of Major William Mounsey from 1850, a former spy in Afghanistan and Persia, who wrote in beautiful Persian calligraphy that "I have sat two nights and so learned patience." (He meant the midges, but they couldn't read Farsi and failed to take the hint.) The stone is reached by a boardwalk off the lane to Rackwick.
• 9 Graemsay is the island between Stromness and north Hoy, extending about 2 miles east-west and one mile north-south. It's low-lying farmland over red sandstone, so it's more like pastoral Mainland than soggy Hoy. The ferry lands to the east near the High Lighthouse. The Low Lighthouse is northwest; both were built in 1851 by Alan Stevenson to guide the herring fleet. No visitor amenities here, just make a quiet leisurely circuit of the island lanes. Keep orbiting until the next ferry hoves into view: the timetable gives you two to ten hours ashore so you might wear a groove.
• 10 Flotta is the island 2 miles east of Lyness, served by the ferry from Houton. This lands at the north end, an industrial zone with a big oil terminal. Follow the lane south to escape into pleasant farmland, with Whome the tiny main settlement. Flotta Heritage Centre and Museum is open M-Sa 10AM-PM, Su noon-PM.
• Fara between Lyness and Flotta lost its population in 1960. It has various ancient remnants, but all have sunk into the heath with little to see nowadays, even the diesel-hauled railway.

Do

Oil to Flotta Flotta oil terminal, operational since 1976, receives crude oil pumped undersea all of 130 miles from Piper and other North Sea oil fields. But the raw crude contains a lot of highly explosive light gas, which is what destroyed Piper Alpha oil platform in 1988. The role of Flotta is to stabilise it by taking off the gas, which is mostly methane and ethane - some of this finds a use while the excess is flared. The stabilised crude is then safe to store until it's taken away in tankers to the refineries.

And see Hoy Orkney for community events.

• 1 Ward Hill at 1578 ft / 481 m is the highest point in Orkney, and draws the cloud and drizzle. The trail starts from the parking lot for Dwarfie Stane, and is a straight very steep ascent, then a more gradual but boggy descent. Hiking from Moaness pier, reckon on a round trip of 8 miles in 5 hours. It's claimed that from the summit you can see all but one of the other islands, so the trick is to avoid coming to blows with your midge-maddened companions over which one is not visible.
• Hike to the Old Man of Hoy. First cycle or drive to Rackwick along the little lane that branches off the B-road just south of Moaness. It's then a clear and signposted but eventually steep path, 6 miles or 3 hours round trip, to view the Old Man. The walk can be extended to the cliffs of St John's Head, allow an extra two hours.
• Bird-watching: the RSPB reserve is on the slopes on Ward Hill, reached from the lane to Rackwick, but much of the island has similar upland terrain, with resident and migratory species.

Buy

• Island folk do their shopping in Stromness or Kirkwall.
• John M Groat is a convenience store by Longhope ferry pier, open M-Sa 9AM-12:30PM, 2-6PM.
• Wild Heather Crafts is next to Emily's tea shop, same hours.

Eat

Moaness pier has no car ramp

• Emily's Tea Room is half a mile north of Lyness, open Apr-Oct Tu-Sa 10:30AM-8:30PM.
• Beneth'ill Cafe near Moaness ferry pier is open Apr-Oct daily 10AM-6PM.

Drink

• BYOB, there's no bar on the island.

Sleep

• 1 Hoy Hostel, Hoy Outdoor Centre KW16 3NJ, ☏ +44 1856 850907. Comfy spacious 32-bed hostel open all year, run by Orkney Council. Adult £30, under 18 £23. (updated Jul 2024)
• 2 Rackwick Hostel (take lane from Moaness), ☏ +44 1856 850907. Away from it all 8-bed hostel open all year, run by Orkney Council. Adult £23.60, under 18 £20.60. (updated Jul 2024)
• 3 Stromabank Hotel, Longhope, ☏ +44 1856 850907. Quiet little hotel on South Walls open Apr-Sep. B&B double £110. (updated Aug 2024)
• Self-catering: a dozen cottages around Hoy and South Walls, with the pick being Cantick Head Lighthouse.
• The Hoy Hotel remains closed for building work in 2024.
• Royal Hotel in Longhope is closed and up for sale.

Connect

No broadband? - Huh, I'm not staying In 1957 Fara's population looked set to disappear, but a phone line was installed for the five remaining households, and assigned the number "Fara 1". They left anyway.

As of July 2024, there is no mobile signal from any UK carrier on Hoy, South Walls, Flotta or Graemsay. So for all the telecom companies' boasts about their infrastructure, they might as well stick their new transmitter masts up, hmm ahem, they might as well advise you to send a postcard from the Post Office north end of Hoy, near the hostel.

Go next

Back to Orkney Mainland either to Stromness or Houton.