What luxury looks like up here
The honest definition of a luxury Orkney stay
Orkney has zero five-star chain hotels. There is no Mandarin Oriental, no Six Senses, no Marriott — and there never will be. The islands are too small, too remote, and too proudly independent for the kind of standardised luxury you find in Edinburgh or the Highlands. What that means in practice is that the best stays in Orkney are private. They are owned by the people who built them, fitted with things those owners would actually want for themselves, and rated by guests who know exactly what they are getting.
The properties we list as luxury share a fairly tight set of features. A hot tub or sauna in roughly half the cases. A working wood-burning stove or open fire — Orkney evenings are cool even in July. A genuine sea view, harbour view or open landscape view, not a car park. A fully equipped kitchen with proper knives and a decent oven, because the best food on Orkney is bought from the harbour, the farm shops and the bakers, then cooked at home. And consistent Booking.com guest scores of 9.5 or above, often with several years of reviews to back them up.
The standout category is self-catering. Buxa Farm Chalets in Orphir won Destination Orkney's Best Self-Catering award in 2024 and quietly outscores every hotel on the islands. The Orkney Lux Lodges in Stromness, the Aurora cottage near Kirkwall, and the Loanside and Rockworks chalets at the southern end of the Mainland all deliver the same standard. For couples without a hire car who want to be on foot, the boutique B&Bs — Heatherlea overlooking Kirkwall Marina, the Old School five-room private suite on Burray, Aultnagar in Kirkwall — are the next-best class. The two genuinely premium hotels, Stronsay Hotel and Lynnfield in Kirkwall, anchor the top of the full-service category.
Pricing in Orkney does not follow city logic. A £180 night here typically buys a whole two-bedroom cottage with a private garden and views you would pay £600 for in St Andrews. The proper luxury upgrade is not a chandelier — it is a private pier, a wood burner, and the right to drink coffee in your dressing gown while watching seals on the rocks below.
