The Island Trails Team photographed by Ben Mullay.
What we do
Island Trails offers...
Bespoke Tours
With so much beauty and history before you, it can be hard to choose where to visit in Shetland. Whether you have a week, a couple of days or even just an afternoon, Island Trails can ensure that your experience is a truly magical one. We can tailor a unique tour meaning that you'll make the most of your precious moments on the Islands, ensuring you catch as much as possible of its magnificent landscape, its history, its people and its stories. We would be pleased to guide you around Shetland in your own car or provide the transport for you. Please contact us to discuss your needs and aspirations. The price depend on the the number in your party and nature of the tour but begin at £45 per person per day.
Guided Walks
Elma has joined forces with other Shetland experts to offer an even wider range of guided tours that give you a unique insight and experience of Shetland life in times gone by as well as the present.
Local historian, columnist and acknowledged expert, Douglas Sinclair, will accompany you around the Lanes of Lerwick
Lodberries Trail
Step back in time to the days of smugglers and press gangs in old Lerwick during the 18th Century. Douglas will recall tales of mystery and strife as you walk along some of our oldest street and absorb its atmosphere. Tea will be served at the beautiful St Magnus Church.
By arrangement from May to September, leaving from
VisitShetland Office, Market Cross, Lerwick.
Cost: Adults £10.00 Children £4.00
Da Street Trail
Experience a people's story of life as it was two centuries ago. Douglas will take you into a dark smugglers' cellar beneath old Lerwick town. Who knows what might be down there?
By arrangement from May to September, leaving from
VisitShetland Office, Market Cross, Lerwick.
Cost: Adults £10.00 Children £4.00
Dutch Connection
Information on this tour can be found on Douglas Sinclair's own website, click here.
By arrangement from May to September, leaving from
VisitShetland Office, Market Cross, Lerwick.
Cost: Adults £10.00 Children £4.00
James Tait
James Tait, a local crofter and naturalist, will take you over the hills and sands of the South Mainland visiting prehistoric sites and the best places to spot Shetland's glorious wildlife. Highly recommended is the guided walk of St. Ninian's Isle where James will show you the site where the famous St. Ninian's Isle treasure was found in 1958. During the walk you will here stories of shipwrecks and smugglers who landed on the Isle.
James' tours start at £10 per person
Click here for further information.
In Aboot da Night
Join legendary Shetland storyteller Elma Johnson in her Bigton home for a delicious, traditional Shetland meal, overlooking the beautiful St Ninians Isle, with the distant island of Foula on the horizon. You will enjoy a traditional Shetland supper of soup, bannocks and heather-fed lamb whilst listening to Elma tell a myriad of stories of the early settlers, Vikings, feuding families and mischievous trows - Shetland's "little people." You will also be entertained by some of Shetland's finest musicians and there might even be dancing! Come, in aboot da night and experience Shetland's warmest hospitality, storytelling and fiddle music. It's sure to be a memorable evening. In Aboot da Night costs £45 per person, and this includes an abundant supper.
Elma Johnson and Island Trails have gone from strength to strength adding more stories, tours, locations and local experts, they are able to offer a comprehensive guide to the islands past and present.
Choose some or all of it, but don't miss this opportunity to engage with the real Shetland.