📌 Birsay, Orkney Mainland
★★★
Birsay is located at the northwest tip of Orkney Mainland, attracting history buffs, ornithologists and Viking enthusiasts alike. You can’t miss the Earl’s Palace as you approach; it dominates the village from the west. This once-opulent, now ruined residence of the tyrannical Robert Stewart dates to the late 1500s. Top Gear fans should detour a little way north to Zanzibar Cottage; this wooden house was the destination when James May and Richard Hammond raced Royal Mail to deliver a letter the length of the UK (and lost).
🌍 Location
📌 A966, Birsay village centre, Orkney Mainland
🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: HY 248278
🛰️ GPS coordinates: 59.129958,-3.315347
🚌 Bus to Birsay
🚗 Verge parking
📝 Key info
⌚ Always open
🎫 Free
