Shetland Islands by land · By land in Shetland Islands
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By land in Shetland Islands
By land in Shetland Islands
The roads are kept in an excellent condition which most of the rest of UK can only envy. The main road is the A970, which runs from Sumburgh Airport in the South mainland, right up to Isbister in the north. For the majority of its length it is a fine two lane road (with even a short stretch of dual carriageway coming out of Lerwick to the north), although once it enters Northmavine it becomes partially single track. The same can be said for the main roads in the North Isles, but it is worth noting that even if a road is designated as 'A' on the map, it may still be single track and unfenced. Traffic is sparse (except for a brief 'Lerwick rush hour' which lasts all of 15 minutes around 9am and 5pm on the A970) and once off the main roads, it is polite to wave at drivers approaching from the other direction, paricularly if they have pulled into a passing place on a narrow road. Note that if you are driving slowly and admiring the scenery, it is also polite to pull over to allow locals in a hurry (who know the road conditions far better than you) to get past.
There are no fixed speed cameras, though hand-held radar or, rarely, a mobile camera, may sometimes be seen. The police presence is generally light in Shetland, but note that national UK speed limits and rules on drink driving apply here as much as anywhere else.
Petrol and diesel is widely available (although petrol stations are smaller and less frequent away from Shetland) although is more expensive (roughly 10p/litre) than in mainland Scotland.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Shetland Islands
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Shetland Islands - updated May 2024
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Shetland Islands Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.