Best B&Bs and Guest Houses in Orkney 2026

A good Orkney B&B is still the best-value bed in the islands, and often the most useful one, because the host knows which road is flooded, which ferry is off and where to find the crab sandwiches. The difficulty is telling a real bed and breakfast from a spare room with a kettle in it. So we opened the photo gallery of every B&B and guest house on the site, all 26 of them, and kept only the ones whose own pictures show hosted guest accommodation. Then we went back to each live listing and read what 2,313 guests actually scored them on. Thirteen made it through both. 13 did not, and below we say exactly why.

Two Tests, Not One

Booking listings are loose with the words "B&B" and "guest house". Both get attached to self-catering annexes, whole-house lets and one-room flats with a kitchenette, none of which give you the thing people actually book a bed and breakfast for. So the first test was what the gallery shows, not what the listing claims:

• At least one made-up guest bedroom, presented for a guest rather than lived in: linen turned down, towels folded, a tea tray or an information card.
• Plus one of a breakfast or dining room, a shared guest lounge, or a signed house frontage. That is what separates a hosted stay from an annexe with its own front door.
• No credit for scenery. Several galleries were padded out with puffins, sunsets and harbour shots. Those prove nothing about the bed, so we did not count them.

The second test was the live listing itself, and it caught things a gallery cannot. One property in an earlier version of this guide turned out to have been delisted from Booking.com entirely — its link now bounces to a search page. Another was carrying a guest score with no reviews behind it at all. Both are gone. Every score, review count and category breakdown below was read from the live listing rather than from our own database, which had drifted badly: one guest house here had 132 reviews on file and 283 in reality.

Thirteen properties were cut, and the reasons are worth knowing because they tell you what to look for yourself. Four were self-catering wearing a B&B label: a full fitted kitchen or a private kitchenette, no breakfast room, no shared space anywhere in the set. Two had galleries too thin to judge. Two showed bedrooms but nothing that settled the question, one with no communal space pictured at all and one where the breakfast table sat in an open-plan room with the kitchen visible behind it. One registered guest house had a laid breakfast table and a tourist-board plaque but not a single photograph of a bedroom. One had a picture in its gallery carrying a rival hotel's car-park signage, so we could not vouch for the set. One had only thirteen reviews. And the two the live check removed. None are necessarily bad places to stay — we simply could not prove what they were. If a hotel room suits you better, our separate guide to hotels in Kirkwall covers that end of the market.

The Thirteen Compared

Scores, review counts and category ratings were read from each live Booking.com listing on 14 August 2026. Booking breaks every property down into seven categories — staff, cleanliness, comfort, facilities, value for money, location and wifi — and those sub-scores are far more useful than the headline number. A 9.3 that is dragged down by wifi is a different proposition from a 9.3 dragged down by cleanliness. Each pick below carries its full breakdown.

Kirkwall B&Bs and Guest Houses

Eight of the thirteen sit in Kirkwall or on its immediate edge. Where the listing carries coordinates, none is more than about two kilometres from St Magnus Cathedral in a straight line; one gives only the postcode district, so ask the host if you want to be certain of the walk. That concentration is no accident: Kirkwall is where the airport, the Aberdeen ferry and the bus network all meet, which makes it the easiest base for a first visit. For the wider list rather than just the verified picks, the site keeps a full page of bed and breakfasts in Kirkwall.

Heatherlea is a sandstone terrace house in Kirkwall with its name on a sign by the door, which is worth more than it sounds: it tends to mean a place that has been doing this long enough to have had one made. The gallery is unusually convincing for a small B&B. Three made-up guest bedrooms with tea trays, a matching ensuite in every room shot, and a full cooked Scottish breakfast, haggis and black pudding included, laid at a table by the window. The listing gives the postcode district rather than a street, so confirm the exact spot with the host if walking distance matters to you.

What guests single out: the welcome, particularly for guests turning up late off the Aberdeen boat; parking right at the door; the spread at breakfast; and how little walking it takes to reach the town.

Aultnagar is a large modern house set back behind its own gates on Sunnybank Road, about two kilometres out from the cathedral, with fields falling away towards the water. Guests score its facilities a flat ten out of ten, the only perfect facilities mark in this guide. The photographs bear that out: grey-toned loft-style bedrooms, a hospitality tray in each, a shared breakfast buffet sideboard and a branded sign at the entrance. The listing covers a single guest room, so it is not the one for a party of four.

What guests single out: the elevated position and the view down over Kirkwall, the harbour and the sea, hosts who will cook a gluten-free or dairy-free breakfast without fuss, and easy parking.

Ardconnel sits on Craigiefield Road on the northern edge of Kirkwall, a few hundred metres from the centre with open fields and the sea close at hand. Two differently decorated guest bedrooms, both made up, both ensuite, in a pebble-dashed dormer bungalow with a garden. What settled it was breakfast: the gallery carries two separate cooked-breakfast photographs, a smoked salmon and scrambled egg plate and a full Scottish fry-up, which is about as direct as photographic proof of a served breakfast gets.

What guests single out: hosts who wait up for the late NorthLink sailing, the view down to the water and across to Shapinsay, and a properly home-cooked breakfast. Several add that you can walk into town, but not comfortably with heavy bags.

The Royal Oak is a big white house with a red-clad gable on Holm Road, on the southern edge of Kirkwall under a kilometre from the centre, with its own parking. It is the second most-reviewed property here. The photographs show several made-up bedrooms in different sizes, a shared lounge and dining space, and a self-serve breakfast counter with a coffee machine, toaster and cereal jars. Practical rather than pretty, and an easy base if you are driving and would rather not hunt for a space in town.

What guests single out: the car park and the purpose-built rooms, and a breakfast cooked to the table rather than left on a counter. More than one guest notes it is a walk downhill into the centre.

Shorelands is a traditional detached house on George Street, about half a kilometre from the cathedral, and it has the most characterful interior of the thirteen. The guest lounge is wood-panelled with Chesterfield sofas and a grand piano in the corner. Behind it sits a proper breakfast room with several tables laid for service, which is the mark of a B&B running at real scale rather than letting a spare room. Ensuite bedrooms, and a flat ten out of ten from guests for the wifi.

What guests single out: hosts who come out to greet you and show you round, a downstairs sitting room worth using, and rooms bigger than expected. One party was collected after a delayed ferry.

Grainbank Mews is a converted stone steading a little over a kilometre west of the cathedral, and it is the best-looking building on this list. The exterior shows a run of numbered guest doors along the old steading front. Inside, the bedrooms carry those same numbers, and the breakfast room has an arched window with tables laid and the cereal bowls already out. Guests rate the staff highly and value for money lowest of its seven categories, which is the usual shape for a smart conversion.

What guests single out: the restoration of the old steading, hosts who answer quickly and take a late arrival in their stride, and a short walk into town.

Polrudden is a purpose-built guest house on Peerie Sea Loan, a kilometre from the centre behind a curving path and lawn. It is the most hotel-like of the Kirkwall picks, a plain modern block from outside, but with numbered room doors, matching tea trays in every room and professionally made-up twin and double bedrooms with guest information cards on the pillows. The room count and the easy parking make it the sensible choice when the small two-room B&Bs cannot take a family.

What guests single out: the shared kitchen and dining room — several guests self-cater here and eat alongside other guests, which is unusual for a guest house. Roughly ten to twenty minutes on foot from the centre, and handy for the airport road.

Sanderlay has been tested harder than anything else in this guide: 495 guest reviews, more than five times the Kirkwall average here. It is a white dormer bungalow on Viewfield Drive, a quiet residential street, with one nicely presented stone-feature-wall bedroom, a tidy garden and a cooked breakfast in the gallery. The score is the lowest of the Kirkwall picks and location is its weakest category, which fits a residential street twenty minutes' walk from the middle of town. What you are buying is a very well-proven welcome rather than a smart interior.

What guests single out: spotless, unusually large rooms, a proper cooked breakfast, and clear instructions for letting yourself in late. Parking is limited, and the walk into the centre is the longest of the Kirkwall picks.

B&Bs Across the Rest of Orkney

The other five run from Burray in the south to Westray in the north. Only one is on an outer isle you reach by boat or plane, which changes the shape of a trip considerably, so it is worth reading alongside our guide to getting around Orkney without a car if you are not bringing one. And if you are still weighing up whether to base yourself in Kirkwall or Stromness, that guide pairs neatly with this one.

The Old School holds a perfect ten out of ten from its guests, the only property in this guide that does, and it is on Burray rather than the Mainland, about fifteen kilometres south of Kirkwall over the Churchill Barriers. The village's former schoolhouse has been turned into a private suite for two, so you get your own bedroom, sitting room, conservatory tea nook and ensuite rather than a shared breakfast table. Hosted, in other words, but not communal. You will spot it from the road by the pale-blue gate and the hand-painted sign.

What guests single out: having the run of your own space — bedroom, sitting room and sun room — the garden, and a breakfast cooked to order. Guests describe being welcomed into a home rather than checked into a room.

If you have a picture in your head of what an Orkney B&B ought to be, Viking's View is close to it. A modern detached house on a green hillside in the West Mainland, twenty-five kilometres from Kirkwall and a short run from Birsay, with farmland running out towards the sea. The gallery shows two guest bedrooms with matching Highland-cow prints, two dining tables laid at a picture window, a guest lounge with board games and guidebooks, and a rack of local leaflets by the door. Guests give it a spotless ten for cleanliness.

What guests single out: the sunset over the Brough of Birsay from the bedroom window, a fridge in the room for fresh milk, and a host who is generous with advice on where to go. Remote, but straightforward by car.

Lindisfarne is the most reviewed B&B in this guide bar one, and the only Stromness property that cleared the gate. The gallery shows a cream harled dormer house, three made-up guest bedrooms, a round-table breakfast room looking out over open country and a navy-leather guest lounge. Stromness is where the Scrabster ferry docks and where the Hoy passenger boat leaves from, so it is the obvious base if you are arriving from Thurso or heading for the Old Man.

What guests single out: comfortable beds, the guest lounge, the island reading material left out for visitors, and hosts who have waited up to midnight for a late arrival.

Mara Lodge is a large modern lodge on Northbigging Road at Dounby, in the middle of the West Mainland and about sixteen kilometres from Kirkwall. That puts Skara Brae, the Ring of Brodgar and Birsay all within a short drive. Three differently decorated bedrooms with their own ensuites, a shared lounge looking out over farmland and a loch, and a stone marker at the entrance with the name cut into it. Cleanliness scores near-perfect, but the review count is still only in the twenties, so read the overall score as promising rather than proven.

What guests single out: the views and the quiet, high-spec fittings and a powerful shower. Several guests also mention a hot tub, though none of the listing photographs show one, so treat that as reported rather than confirmed. You will want a car — the nearest shops are about a mile off.

No 1 Broughton stands at the water's edge in Pierowall, the main village on Westray, thirty-seven kilometres north of Kirkwall by ferry or on the Loganair inter-island run. It is a tall white house with a big glazed conservatory built onto the front, and that conservatory is the breakfast room: the gallery shows the table laid with preserves under the glass, looking straight out over the bay. It is the lowest-scoring property in this guide and cleanliness is its weakest category by some way, so go for the position and the conservatory rather than the finish.

What guests single out: seals on the shore outside the door, breakfast in the conservatory with home-baked bread and hot-smoked salmon taken at a shared table, and a host full of local knowledge whose own artwork hangs on the walls.

When to Book, and How to Get There

• Tell the host your ferry. The NorthLink sailings into Kirkwall arrive late at night, and guests at seven of these thirteen describe hosts waiting up, leaving late check-in instructions, or collecting them after a delayed crossing. It is the single most-praised thing across the whole review set. Mention it when you book, not on the day.
• These are small houses. Most have between two and five guest rooms, so they fill in a way hotels do not. June to August is the squeeze, and the Orkney Folk Festival in late May and the St Magnus International Festival in June tighten Kirkwall and Stromness first.
• One pick needs a crossing. No 1 Broughton on Westray is reached by inter-island ferry from Kirkwall or a short Loganair hop, so build the sailing into the plan before you book the room. The Old School on Burray is different: the Churchill Barriers carry a road, so you simply drive.
• Check parking if you are in town. Kirkwall street parking is tight in summer. The Royal Oak, Polrudden, Heatherlea and Sanderlay all show or mention their own parking; the most central picks generally do not.
• We do not quote rates here. Every name above links to its full page on this site, which carries the property's own photographs and its Booking.com link, and that is where live rates and dates are. We take an affiliate fee from Booking rather than from any property, so nothing here is a paid placement.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are there B&Bs and guest houses in Kirkwall?

Yes. Eight of the thirteen properties in this guide are in Kirkwall or on its immediate edge, and every one that publishes coordinates sits within about two kilometres of St Magnus Cathedral. Ardconnel and Shorelands are closest to the centre, Shorelands has the best guest lounge, Grainbank Mews is a converted stone steading just west of town, and the Royal Oak, Polrudden and Sanderlay all have parking.

What is the best-rated B&B in Orkney?

The Old School on Burray holds a perfect 10 out of 10 from 59 guest reviews, the only property here to do so, though it is a self-contained private suite for two rather than a shared-table B&B. On the Mainland, Heatherlea in Kirkwall scores 9.9 from 97 reviews and Viking's View in the West Mainland scores 9.8 from 73.

Do Orkney B&Bs wait up for the late ferry?

Several do, and guests mention it constantly. The NorthLink sailings into Kirkwall dock late at night, and reviewers at Ardconnel, Heatherlea, Shorelands, Lindisfarne, Grainbank Mews, Polrudden and Sanderlay all describe hosts waiting up, giving late check-in instructions or, in one case, collecting guests after a delayed crossing. Tell the host your sailing when you book rather than on the day.

Do Orkney B&Bs serve a cooked breakfast?

Most of these do, and we only say so where a photograph shows it. Ardconnel and Heatherlea both picture a full cooked plate. Viking's View, Lindisfarne, Shorelands, Grainbank Mews and No 1 Broughton all show a laid breakfast room, and Aultnagar and the Royal Oak show a self-serve buffet or breakfast counter. Polrudden is the exception: it has a shared self-catering kitchen, and several guests cook for themselves. Confirm what is included when you book.

Are there B&Bs on the smaller Orkney islands?

Fewer than you would hope. No 1 Broughton on the seafront at Pierowall on Westray is the only outer-isles property in this guide, reached from Kirkwall by inter-island ferry or a short Loganair flight. The Old School on Burray is linked to the Mainland by road over the Churchill Barriers, so you can drive to it. A Sanday B&B appeared in an earlier version of this guide but has since been delisted from Booking.com.