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Photo by Mænsard Vokser, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Best time to visit Shetland
United Kingdom · Europe
All twelve months scored on daily temperature, rainfall, humidity and holiday crowding.
The year in Shetland
Tap a month for its page
- JanJShetland in January: avoid
- FebFShetland in February: avoid
- MarMShetland in March: avoid
- AprAShetland in April: sweet spot
- MayMShetland in May: sweet spot
- JunJShetland in June: ok, busy
- JulJShetland in July: ok
- AugAShetland in August: sweet spot
- SepSShetland in September: ok
- OctOShetland in October: avoid
- NovNShetland in November: avoid, busy
- DecDShetland in December: avoid
- Sweet spot
- Good
- OK
- Avoid
- Busy
Plan this trip
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Flights from
Flights
Your city is a guess from your time zone. Choose your city
Where are you flying from? Choose your city for its flights and fares.
Book with the airline
Where to stay
Book direct
Luxury
Things to do
Car hire
Rent direct
Travel insurance
Check whether your bank card or home insurance already covers this trip.
If the trip needs a visa, the travel agent or visa centre usually sells the cover it asks for.
Mobile data (eSIM)
Your own plan's EU roaming may already cover this.
Renting a pocket Wi-Fi is the other common way to stay connected.
These are sites people in book with. Each opens in a new tab, on the site's own pages.
Things to do in Shetland
- Foula Island of the Shetland Islands, Scotland, UK
- Unst Northernmost island of the Shetland Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom
- Yell Island of the Shetland Islands, Scotland, UK
- Bressay Populated island in the Shetland Islands, Scotland, UK
- Whalsay Island, one of the Shetland Islands, Scotland, UK
Tours and tickets in Shetland
Each site opens on its own search: choose your dates there. A few open on their home page, where you type the place too. Links marked Ad pay us a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you; most pay nothing, and what a site pays never decides whether it is listed or where. How we rank
Sights and their lines from Wikivoyage, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, and Wikidata; in order of how often each one's Wikipedia article was read on phones in the last 12 months.
Month by month
No fare history for this route yet, so this ranking is climate and crowds only — the price column will fill in as the scanner collects.
| Month | Max °C | Rain days | Humidity | Sun h/day | Verdict | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 6° | 16d | 80% | 2.2h | avoid | 6C max, 16 rainy days |
| Feb | 6° | 14d | 79% | 4.1h | avoid | 6C max, 14 rainy days |
| Mar | 7° | 14d | 79% | 5.9h | avoid | 7C max, 14 rainy days |
| Apr | 9° | 10d | 78% | 8.7h | sweet spot | 9C max, 10 rainy days |
| May | 11° | 11d | 81% | 9.5h | sweet spot | 11C max, 11 rainy days |
| Jun | 14° | 12d | 84% | 10.2h | okbusy | busier than usual |
| Jul | 15° | 12d | 85% | 9.4h | ok | 15C max, 12 rainy days |
| Aug | 15° | 12d | 85% | 8.4h | sweet spot | 15C max, 12 rainy days |
| Sep | 14° | 14d | 84% | 6.9h | ok | 14C max, 14 rainy days |
| Oct | 11° | 16d | 82% | 4.4h | avoid | 11C max, 16 rainy days |
| Nov | 8° | 13d | 81% | 2.8h | avoid busy | busier than usual |
| Dec | 7° | 15d | 81% | 1.7h | avoid | 7C max, 15 rainy days |
Rain days are the days with at least 1 mm of rain, as a weather station counts them.
Weather read at Lerwick, 32 km from the airport (LSI): ten years of ERA5 and ERA5-Land reanalysis, through Open-Meteo's open data.
A busy month is a crowded one, not a bad one — usually it is crowded because the weather is good. It is flagged rather than scored down, and crowds alone never make a month “avoid”: that is reserved for weather worth skipping.
How busy it gets
Then and now
Shetland's June days now average 13.8°C, 3.2°C warmer than in 1981–1990. 8 of 12 months are clearly warmer.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981–90 | 6.1° | 5.9° | 6.0° | 6.8° | 8.7° | 10.6° | 12.4° | 12.8° | 11.5° | 10.2° | 8.2° | 7.0° |
| 2017–26 | 6.2° | 6.4° | 7.2° | 8.7° | 11.2° | 13.8° | 15.1° | 15.0° | 13.5° | 10.9° | 8.5° | 7.0° |
| Change | +0.1° | +0.5° | +1.2° | +1.9° | +2.5° | +3.2° | +2.7° | +2.2° | +2.0° | +0.7° | +0.3° | +0.0° |
The average daily high, month by month, for the nearest ERA5 grid cell. Bold is a clear change; grey is within the ordinary spread between years. Every destination, ranked.
Getting there
How far Shetland is, and what it costs, depends on where you set off from — the months above do not.
- from Dublin
- from Amsterdam
- from Copenhagen
- from London
- from Stockholm
- from Brussels
- from Paris
- from Frankfurt
Open in Rome2rio for every way from to Shetland, flying or not.
Before you go
Type G plugs at 230 V. Drives on the left. The currency is the Pound sterling. Everything for United Kingdom: cost of living, languages, emergency numbers and health.
Being there
On arrival
- Paying — Contactless cards and phones work almost everywhere, and some places no longer take cash. Small shops and pubs may set a card minimum of about £5.
- UPI, for visitors from India — Not accepted for paying here; bring a card that works abroad.
- Tipping — 10 to 15% in restaurants for good service, unless a service charge is already on the bill. Rounding up a taxi fare is usual but not expected.
Getting around Shetland
- Apps — Rides: Bolt, FreeNow, Uber. Maps: Google Maps, Apple Maps. Messages: WhatsApp.
ZetTrans is Shetland's transport partnership for all modes of public transport. Shetland Travel Information has timetables for buses, inter-island ferries and inter-island plane flights. More on Wikivoyage
From the Wikivoyage article on Shetland Islands, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Help
- Emergency — 999 or 112 (any emergency).
TravelCharika is not an emergency service: we cannot call for help or send anyone. Numbers can change; if one fails, ask someone local or your hotel.
Your embassy — : how to reach your embassy or consulate abroad. A guess from your city, : a city is not a passport.
Put together by hand from the sources listed, checked 7 October 2026. Apps, cards and rules change, so check before you rely on one.
Sources (48)
- gov.uk/guidance/999-and-112-the-uks-national-emergency-numbers
- tfl.gov.uk/fares/ways-to-pay/pay-as-you-go
- en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/United_Kingdom
- bolt.eu/en/cities/london
- free-now.com/cities
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WhatsApp
- developers.google.com/maps/coverage
- apple.com/ios/feature-availability
- lothianbuses.com/contactless
- lothianbuses.com/fares-and-tickets
- lothianbuses.com/our-services/airport-buses
- lothianbuses.com
- edinburghtrams.com/tap-tap
- edinburghtrams.com/tickets/ticket-options
- manchesterairport.co.uk/getting-to-and-from/by-tram
- visitmanchester.com/visitor-information/travel-information/getting-around
- visitliverpool.com/visitor-information/travel-information/travel-in-liverpool
- visitliverpool.com/visitor-information/travel-information/travel-to-liverpool
- liverpoolchamber.org.uk/news/2026/03/racegoers-encouraged-to-follow-travel-tips-ahead-of-this-years-grand-national-festival
- liverpoolchamber.org.uk/news/2025/12/tap-go-statement-phase-2-contactless-payment-devices-and-cards
- liverpoolchamber.org.uk/news/2025/08/faster-smarter-simpler-mayor-launches-tap-and-go-travel-on-the-merseyrail-network
- hellorayo.co.uk/greatest-hits/manchester/news/bus-single-cap-two-pound-concessionary
- bus-news.com/greater-manchesters-bee-network-set-to-introduce-simpler-fares
- en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Manchester
- en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Liverpool
- spt.co.uk/tickets/subway-tickets
- spt.co.uk/about-us/news/subway-goes-contactless
- firstbus.co.uk/greater-glasgow/tickets/ps2-fare-cap
- firstbus.co.uk/greater-glasgow/tickets/tap-tap
- firstbus.co.uk/greater-glasgow/routes-and-maps/glasgow-airport-express
- transportforcornwall.co.uk/tap-cap
- transportforcornwall.co.uk/adult-fares
- transportforcornwall.co.uk/ride-cornwall
- gwr.com/your-tickets/choosing-your-ticket/rangers-and-rovers
- visitcornwall.com/things-to-do/travel/st-ives-bay-line
- cornwallairportnewquay.com/transport-and-directions/public-transport
- translink.co.uk/tickets/ways-to-pay/contactless-payment
- translink.co.uk/tickets/Ways-to-Pay
- translink.co.uk/using-translink/accessibility/accessible-goldliner-bus-stop-check/service-300
- translink.co.uk/tickets/travelcards/belfast-visitor-pass
- translink.co.uk/using-translink/airport-services
- visitbelfast.com/plan/getting-to-belfast-travel-options
- en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Belfast
- firstbus.co.uk/bristol-bath-and-west/tickets/tap-tap
- firstbus.co.uk/bristol-bath-and-west/your-services/airport-flyer-services
- pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2286608
- nipl.com/uploads/Towards_Greater_Digital_Public_Good_NPCI_International_Q3_Newsletter_2025_7304ea22c0.pdf
- nipl.com/uploads/NPCI_Press_Release_India_s_NPCI_International_signs_Pay_Xpert_as_UK_s_first_acquirer_for_UPI_and_Ru_Pay_5b4922d4c2.pdf
Shetland in pictures
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Virtual-Pano, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Virtual-Pano, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Graham Uney, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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ken taylor, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Julian Paren, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
What Shetland is like
The Shetland Islands are the most northerly part of the United Kingdom, a group of islands 100 mi (160 km) north of mainland Scotland. The largest town, Lerwick, is closer to Norway than to Edinburgh, and culturally and geographically they feel more Norse than Scottish. More on Wikivoyage
- Worth seeing
- Shetland Museum and Archives in Lerwick is a good start, with excellent displays on the geology, natural environment, and long history of these islands. More on Wikivoyage
- Worth doing
- Sea kayaking hire and guided tours are available from Sea Kayak Shetland. They're based in Frakkafield north of Lerwick, with access to either coast according to sea conditions. More on Wikivoyage
- Getting in
- Shetland has few international links so you need to travel via the Scottish mainland. Sumburgh Airport (LSI IATA) is at the southern tip of mainland Shetland in the village of the same name, 25 miles south of Lerwick. More on Wikivoyage
- Staying safe
- For emergency services (police, ambulance, fire & rescue, coastguard) ring 999. More on Wikivoyage
From the Wikivoyage article on Shetland Islands, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the full article has far more. The numbers above are measured; this is experience.
Around Shetland
Also in United Kingdom
- Bath best May, Jun, Jul
- Belfast best May, Jul, Sep
- Brighton best Apr, Jun, Jul
- Bristol best Apr, May, Jun
- Cardiff best Apr, May, Jun
- Cornwall best Apr, May, Jul
- Cotswolds best May, Jun, Jul
- Derry best Apr, May, Jul
- Edinburgh best Apr, May, Jun
- Glasgow best Apr, May, Jun
- Isle of Wight best Jun, Jul, Sep
- Liverpool best Apr, May, Jun
- London best May, Jun, Aug
- Manchester best Apr, May, Jun
- Newcastle upon Tyne best Apr, May, Jun
- Oxford best Apr, Jun, Aug
- York best Apr, May, Jun
Nearby
- The Faroe Islands Faroe Islands · 366 km
- Oslo Norway · 660 km
- Isle of Man Isle of Man · 697 km
- Gothenburg Sweden · 799 km
Kind of place
Shetland is in United Kingdom, Europe. Distances are great-circle, so a short one can still be a long way round.
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