Shetland - and experience of taking dogs on the Aberdeen to Lerwick ferry?

LucyYorkshire

LucyYorkshire

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Hi all. I’ve just persuaded the partner to go to Shetland and we’re off in 7 weeks time. We regularly use Calmac ferries when we visit the Scottish Isles and they are so dog friendly with bespoke lounges for you and your pet to sit in. But Calmac don’t sail to Shetland. So I’ve just booked return tickets for the overnight crossing with NorthLink from Aberdeen to Shetland with my 2 dogs and booked a dog friendly cabin (my dogs are soft and wouldn’t survive in the car or in the on-board kennels - ok, I’m soft and wouldn’t survive with them being in either!). Different ferry company; different rules. The ferry is 13 hours - does anyone have any experience of toileting them etc? Was it stressful for them? Did you find dog friendly places on board or did they just stay in the cabin? Thanks in advance. Also we’ve booked Skeld and South Nesting campsites - anyone stayed at either? Any tips? Thank you in advance!
 
No idea about the ferry but Duthie Park is about 5 minutes from the terminal so you can park there and get them out to stretch their legs before the ferry. It’s a great park with plenty parking.
 
LucyYorkshire said:
Hi all. I’ve just persuaded the partner to go to Shetland and we’re off in 7 weeks time. We regularly use Calmac ferries when we visit the Scottish Isles and they are so dog friendly with bespoke lounges for you and your pet to sit in. But Calmac don’t sail to Shetland. So I’ve just booked return tickets for the overnight crossing with NorthLink from Aberdeen to Shetland with my 2 dogs and booked a dog friendly cabin (my dogs are soft and wouldn’t survive in the car or in the on-board kennels - ok, I’m soft and wouldn’t survive with them being in either!). Different ferry company; different rules. The ferry is 13 hours - does anyone have any experience of toileting them etc? Was it stressful for them? Did you find dog friendly places on board or did they just stay in the cabin? Thanks in advance. Also we’ve booked Skeld and South Nesting campsites - anyone stayed at either? Any tips? Thank you in advance!
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No experience of this route, but will be very interested in following as to how you get on as it’s a trip we have avoided doing with the dogs. We completely understand as we would never leave our dogs on the car deck either in the car or kennels, the noise is horrible for them.
 
scottk said:
No idea about the ferry but Duthie Park is about 5 minutes from the terminal so you can park there and get them out to stretch their legs before the ferry. It’s a great park with plenty parking.
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Thank you - that is so helpful. We’ll definitely stop there for a leg stretch before the ferry. Great advice.
 
BeagleMum said:
No experience of this route, but will be very interested in following as to how you get on as it’s a trip we have avoided doing with the dogs. We completely understand as we would never leave our dogs on the car deck either in the car or kennels, the noise is horrible for them.
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We’ll be back end of May - I’ll let you know how we get on! It’s a trip we’ve avoided too because of the dogs.
 
It is a long journey and sea can be rough. Also sea condition can result in you staying longer than intended with ferry cancelled as I know from experience. I never took my dogs but the staff were excellent.
 
LucyYorkshire said:
Thank you so much for that - really lovely to see your dog having such fun looking out the window!
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She really like Shetland. I do have to say that we find Shetland not so dog-friendly like f.i. Scotland. In only a handfull bars / restaurant dogs were allowed. We went all over the Island and like the walks along the coast.
 
Interested to hear about this too - since we live 45mins from Aberdeen and still haven’t been to Shetland yet
we have taken our dogs on ferry from Gills Bay (Caithness) to st Margerts hope on Orkney, ferry to Northern Ireland and channel tunnel, but all short crossings. Never tried an overnight crossing.
 
AndrewCook680 said:
Interested to hear about this too - since we live 45mins from Aberdeen and still haven’t been to Shetland yet
we have taken our dogs on ferry from Gills Bay (Caithness) to st Margerts hope on Orkney, ferry to Northern Ireland and channel tunnel, but all short crossings. Never tried an overnight crossing.
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Hi Andrew. I’ll be sure to update the post when we get back. Did the ferry to Ireland involve leaving the dogs in the car? I’ve looked at Ireland several times but I think it’s just kennel or car for the dogs and one of ours wouldn’t like that at all….
 
LucyYorkshire said:
Hi Andrew. I’ll be sure to update the post when we get back. Did the ferry to Ireland involve leaving the dogs in the car? I’ve looked at Ireland several times but I think it’s just kennel or car for the dogs and one of ours wouldn’t like that at all….
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yes the Ireland ferry from CairnRyan to Belfast - our lab had to stay in car, it was a 2 hour crossing and she seemed fine with it.
 
We have just returned from Unst, the most northerly of the Shetlands. Amazing place. It was for work but we managed to catch the New Year fire festival Up Helly Aa. We don’t have a dog at present but my wife says you specify a cabin for dogs and they come into cabin with you. North link was a pretty good operation. It was rough between FairIsle and Sumburgh. Other than that you are in the lee of mainland Scotland and then Shetland ‘mainland’. Worst part was, on the return leg we stopped to pick up more vehicles in Kirkwall around 11.30 , just as we had got to sleep! Wow, was that noisy. It sounded like they were rebuilding the ship, as all the lorries have to be chained down! Up Helly Aa pic attached.

7162082D-EA62-4093-A12E-98EC2B8E052E.jpeg
 
Jools said:
We have just returned from Unst, the most northerly of the Shetlands. Amazing place. It was for work but we managed to catch the New Year fire festival Up Helly Aa. We don’t have a dog at present but my wife says you specify a cabin for dogs and they come into cabin with you. North link was a pretty good operation. It was rough between FairIsle and Sumburgh. Other than that you are in the lee of mainland Scotland and then Shetland ‘mainland’. Worst part was, on the return leg we stopped to pick up more vehicles in Kirkwall around 11.30 , just as we had got to sleep! Wow, was that noisy. It sounded like they were rebuilding the ship, as all the lorries have to be chained down! Up Helly Aa pic attached.

View attachment 106721
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Wow! I’ve been reading about the fire festival - lucky you for being there to be able to see it. And what an amazing photo. We are in the midst of planning at the moment but Unst and Yell are defo on our list (along with about 500 other things!). Our loves are wildlife and history so I think we’re going to be very busy….
 
It’s about £25 for a ticket on the ferry from Mainland to Yell but that also gets you on the shorter Yell to Unst and both return legs included. In all it’s 2 hours or 21/2 from Lerwick to Baltasound if you catch the ferry times right. Only 3 shops on Unst , including the aptly named Final Checkout (UK’s most northerly shop) but you can get most things. The Hermaness nature reserve is a must see and the walk is spectacular including Muckle Flugga ( the opening sequence of Wild Isles episode one) We had 2 weeks of miserable weather so managed to miss the northern lights only for a perfect show the week after we left. Oh well , will have to go back.
 
Jools said:
It’s about £25 for a ticket on the ferry from Mainland to Yell but that also gets you on the shorter Yell to Unst and both return legs included. In all it’s 2 hours or 21/2 from Lerwick to Baltasound if you catch the ferry times right. Only 3 shops on Unst , including the aptly named Final Checkout (UK’s most northerly shop) but you can get most things. The Hermaness nature reserve is a must see and the walk is spectacular including Muckle Flugga ( the opening sequence of Wild Isles episode one) We had 2 weeks of miserable weather so managed to miss the northern lights only for a perfect show the week after we left. Oh well , will have to go back.
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This information is so helpful - thank you. We will have to visit the ‘Final Checkout’ on our visit and Hermaness and Muckle Flugga are at the top of our list when we’re on Yell and Unst. We go to Scotland a few times a year (almost always out of season) and we have missed the Northern Lights every.single.time! Either we’ve slept through the AuroraWatch alerts or the weather was cloudy only in the area we were staying. But it’s like you say…. It gives us a reason to go back! The summer dim on Shetland sounds lovely but not sure it’ll be that pronounced in May…we will see.
 
LucyYorkshire said:
This information is so helpful - thank you. We will have to visit the ‘Final Checkout’ on our visit and Hermaness and Muckle Flugga are at the top of our list when we’re on Yell and Unst. We go to Scotland a few times a year (almost always out of season) and we have missed the Northern Lights every.single.time! Either we’ve slept through the AuroraWatch alerts or the weather was cloudy only in the area we were staying. But it’s like you say…. It gives us a reason to go back! The summer dim on Shetland sounds lovely but not sure it’ll be that pronounced in May…we will see.
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When you’ve time please post regular updates of your journey, we are looking forward to following your adventure. :)
 
We’ve just got back from Shetland taking our 2 dogs in a dog friendly cabin on the North Link Aberdeen-Lerwick route. What a place Shetland is! Wow!

Some top tips for anyone interested in visiting with dogs:

Duthie Park (5 mins from terminal) is great for walking your dogs before and after the journey (thanks to scottk for this tip). Loads of space to park and free.

We booked pretty last minute and there was only an inside 4 berth cabin available but this actually worked well for us (don’t tell anyone but the dogs had the bottom bunks and we had the top bunks - we did cover the beds with throws though!). The fact that it was an inside cabin apparently means it’s better if you suffer from seasickness as the boat doesn’t move to and fro as much in the middle area as the outside (not sure about this though). Both journeys were calm for us with just a little swell on the way home. The cabins are situated near the door to the upstairs pet exercise deck (stairs are not steep to this deck). We were told any of the outside decks were pet friendly but there are very steep steps up to the top so only the Bedlington Terrier made it. We took a little water with us to wash down urine but no-one else did. It was pretty easy to toilet the dogs as they could smell other dogs so they produced quite easily! The ferry was full but we shared the outside area with a couple of dogs at any one time but usually we were on our own. (Thanks to pcevanrulo for the photos of the cabin etc above). It was all just pretty easy. Drive on the ferry, up stairs (or lift) to the cabin area with the dogs, dump bags, up stairs to dog area which is at the back of the boat right near the cabin. They’re not allowed anywhere else but by the time you leave Port at 7pm it’s sleep time for the dogs. We took food for all of us so that we didn’t have to leave them in the cabin but if your dogs settled well there are a couple of bars and a restaurant.

When we arrived in Lerwick we immediately parked on the seafront car park and walked to Bains Beach (5 mins) to give them a run (it’s just along from Jimmy Perez’s house in the Lodberries). An amazing little hidden gem of a beach.

We went over on the ferries from the mainland to Yell and Unst (thanks Jools for the tips!). We stayed in the car with the dogs for both (I think the first one was 30 mins then the second was about 10 minutes). Highly recommend this journey.

We don’t particularly eat out with the dogs so not sure about dog friendly places but Fjara just outside Lerwick have an area outside you can sit with the dogs and we sat overlooking the water and watched a lovely otter eating octopus so well worth a visit (and the food is amazing). In fact, we didn’t eat breakfast on the ferry but after getting off the ferry at 7am then walking the dogs on Bains beach we went to Fjara at 8am sharp for breakfast when it opens and by 8.10am it was full so if you want to do this I advise booking a table. We exercised them here on the way back too as there’s grassy areas and had a bite to eat before getting back on the ferry on the way home.

In fact we saw another place in Lerwick on our last day called The Dowry which had a big sign in the window saying dog friendly. It looked gorgeous and served meals and drinks and overlooked the marina.

I won’t go into all the touristy things we did as I’m sure you’ll have your own agenda. We went for the bird and wildlife watching which was excellent. I do recommend the Smuggler’s Cave walk at Burra though which not a huge amount of people seem to know about. And the Island Larder in Lerwick for gifts for friends and family (the Puffin Poo is their speciality and is like white chewy truffles - we were recommended it by a local and boy is it good! Friends have already put in repeat orders for when we return!).

We stayed at Cunningsburgh Marina campsite which was £20 and excellent with great showers. Quite sheltered too. And Skeld which also was excellent with excellent facilities (£25) and totally beautiful. Both had chemical waste disposal. We also stayed at an Airbnb called Shoormal which was dog friendly and the hosts were the nicest people. It was about £135 a night but beautiful place and setting. Highly recommend.

If anyone has any questions please don’t hesitate to ask. We loved Shetland and will definitely be back.

(Photo of van on Yell/Unst ferry)
IMG_5774.jpeg

IMG_5900.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Looks great - thanks for the update on the adventure with the dogs
 
LucyYorkshire said:
We’ve just got back from Shetland taking our 2 dogs in a dog friendly cabin on the North Link Aberdeen-Lerwick route. What a place Shetland is! Wow!

Some top tips for anyone interested in visiting with dogs:

Duthie Park (5 mins from terminal) is great for walking your dogs before and after the journey (thanks to scottk for this tip). Loads of space to park and free.

We booked pretty last minute and there was only an inside 4 berth cabin available but this actually worked well for us (don’t tell anyone but the dogs had the bottom bunks and we had the top bunks - we did cover the beds with throws though!). The fact that it was an inside cabin apparently means it’s better if you suffer from seasickness as the boat doesn’t move to and fro as much in the middle area as the outside (not sure about this though). Both journeys were calm for us with just a little swell on the way home. The cabins are situated near the door to the upstairs pet exercise deck (stairs are not steep to this deck). We were told any of the outside decks were pet friendly but there are very steep steps up to the top so only the Bedlington Terrier made it. We took a little water with us to wash down urine but no-one else did. It was pretty easy to toilet the dogs as they could smell other dogs so they produced quite easily! The ferry was full but we shared the outside area with a couple of dogs at any one time but usually we were on our own. (Thanks to pcevanrulo for the photos of the cabin etc above). It was all just pretty easy. Drive on the ferry, up stairs (or lift) to the cabin area with the dogs, dump bags, up stairs to dog area which is at the back of the boat right near the cabin. They’re not allowed anywhere else but by the time you leave Port at 7pm it’s sleep time for the dogs. We took food for all of us so that we didn’t have to leave them in the cabin but if your dogs settled well there are a couple of bars and a restaurant.

When we arrived in Lerwick we immediately parked on the seafront car park and walked to Bains Beach (5 mins) to give them a run (it’s just along from Jimmy Perez’s house in the Lodberries). An amazing little hidden gem of a beach.

We went over on the ferries from the mainland to Yell and Unst (thanks Jools for the tips!). We stayed in the car with the dogs for both (I think the first one was 30 mins then the second was about 10 minutes). Highly recommend this journey.

We don’t particularly eat out with the dogs so not sure about dog friendly places but Fjara just outside Lerwick have an area outside you can sit with the dogs and we sat overlooking the water and watched a lovely otter eating octopus so well worth a visit (and the food is amazing). In fact, we didn’t eat breakfast on the ferry but after getting off the ferry at 7am then walking the dogs on Bains beach we went to Fjara at 8am sharp for breakfast when it opens and by 8.10am it was full so if you want to do this I advise booking a table. We exercised them here on the way back too as there’s grassy areas and had a bite to eat before getting back on the ferry on the way home.

In fact we saw another place in Lerwick on our last day called The Dowry which had a big sign in the window saying dog friendly. It looked gorgeous and served meals and drinks and overlooked the marina.

I won’t go into all the touristy things we did as I’m sure you’ll have your own agenda. We went for the bird and wildlife watching which was excellent. I do recommend the Smuggler’s Cave walk at Burra though which not a huge amount of people seem to know about. And the Island Larder in Lerwick for gifts for friends and family (the Puffin Poo is their speciality and is like white chewy truffles - we were recommended it by a local and boy is it good! Friends have already put in repeat orders for when we return!).

We stayed at Cunningsburgh Marina campsite which was £20 and excellent with great showers. Quite sheltered too. And Skeld which also was excellent with excellent facilities (£25) and totally beautiful. Both had chemical waste disposal. We also stayed at an Airbnb called Shoormal which was dog friendly and the hosts were the nicest people. It was about £135 a night but beautiful place and setting. Highly recommend.

If anyone has any questions please don’t hesitate to ask. We loved Shetland and will definitely be back.

(Photo of van on Yell/Unst ferry)
View attachment 108825

View attachment 108826
Click to expand...
Many thanks for sharing, all useful information for our visit next year. Hopefully it will be as enjoyable as Orkney.
 
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