If you had to pick a vacation to: The Orkneys, Shetlands, or Outer Hebrides, which would you choose, and why?

Question

(all destinations in the far north of Scotland)

Answer 1

I haven't been to Shetland (yet) but of the other two,although, it's a hard decision as I like both, I think I would go with Orkney. The main sights on Lewis are the fabulous Callanish Stones,the broch of Carloway, Arnol blackhouse. On Orkney there are several big stone circles,loads of ancient tombs you can go into, the italian chapel, a fairly big town (Kirkwall) with medieval ruins, a preserved stone age village & an interesting Iron age village.So a bit more to see.

Answer 2

it would have to be either the Orkneys or Shetlands ... I did a day trip over to the Orkneys when we were in Inverness, I thought it would be a bunch of fairly barren islands but how wrong could I have been !! I'd love to go back see more ... I've heard about Up Helly Aa on the Shetlands and would love to go there too, I believe the culture there is very different