Islands in Orkney IslandsOrkney Islands, Scotland

Orkney's main island, home to Kirkwall's St Magnus Cathedral, Stromness and the Neolithic sites of Skara Brae, Maeshowe and Brodgar

517 km² · Finstown

Tidal island off Birsay with Pictish and Norse ruins, a 12th-century church, a lighthouse and puffins on its cliffs

0.21 km² · Birsay

Orkney's hilliest island, walked for the Old Man of Hoy and Rackwick's bay, with Scapa Flow's wartime base at Lyness

132 km² · Lyness

Small island with the Knap of Howar, among north-west Europe's oldest houses, St Boniface Kirk, and the world's shortest scheduled flight

8.6 km² · Pierowall

Moorland island of the Eday Heritage Walk, passing the Stone of Setter, Vinquoy's chambered cairn and red-throated divers on Mill Loch

28 km² · Orkney Islands

Hilly island with Midhowe's broch and stalled cairn, Taversoe Tuick's two-storey tomb and the Westness heritage walk along the shore

47 km² · Evie

Low island ringed by white-sand beaches, with the Quoyness chambered cairn, grey seals and a tidal walk to Start Point lighthouse

50 km² · Orkney Islands

Low Orkney island 25 minutes by ferry from Kirkwall, with the estate village of Balfour, a Baronial castle and Burroughston Broch

27 km² · Balfour

Barrier-linked island with St Margaret's Hope, the Tomb of the Eagles clifftop cairn and wartime batteries on Hoxa Head

49 km² · St Margaret's Hope

Island of sandy bays with the Vat of Kirbister sea arch, seabird cliffs and Whitehall, once a busy herring port

34 km² · Orkney Islands

North Isles island with Noltland Castle, Pierowall village, puffins at Castle o'Burrian and the RSPB seabird cliffs of Noup Head

48 km² · Pierowall

Barrier-linked island with blockship wrecks, the dune beach at the fourth barrier, a fossil and heritage centre, and the causeway to Hunda

9.6 km² · Burray Village

Where Earl Magnus was killed in 1117, with a roofless round-towered church, a memorial on the spot and an RSPB reserve for waders

6 km² · Orkney Islands

Small Scapa Flow island whose wartime trail passes gun batteries, the Stanger Head signal station and the Cletts sea stacks

9.3 km² · Lyness

Small farming island in Hoy Sound with two Stevenson lighthouses, a quiet road circuit and close views of Hoy's hills

3.9 km² · Stromness

Seaweed-eating sheep kept to the shore by a stone dyke, the UK's tallest land-based lighthouse and a bird observatory for migrants

7.6 km² · Orkney Islands

Tiny island with Cubbie Roo's Castle, one of Scotland's oldest stone castles, a Norse-era chapel and Edwin Muir's childhood farm

3 km² · Evie