Three islands off Orkney's Mainland — Rousay, Wyre and Egilsay — are served by one 29-metre ferry from a slipway at Tingwall. Rousay gets a boat six times on a weekday; the two smaller islands are woven into the same runs, some of them only if somebody asks.
Winter timetable, effective 28 September 2026 to 1 May 2027. Read from the Orkney Ferries PDF and checked against the operator's online timetable search for 5–11 October 2026, on 25 September 2026. The summer timetable ends on Sunday 27 September. Orkney Ferries — Rousay, Egilsay and Wyre winter timetable 2026–27 (PDF) · 2026-09-25
Rousay lies off the north side of Orkney's West Mainland, separated from it by Eynhallow Sound, and two much smaller islands sit off its eastern flank: Wyre, a kilometre from the Rousay pier, and Egilsay a little further out. The ferry for all three leaves from Tingwall, a slipway in the parish of Rendall on the Mainland shore, and takes 25 minutes to Rousay.
This is not three ferries but one. MV Eynhallow spends the day shuttling between Tingwall and Rousay and, on some of those runs, swings round Wyre and Egilsay before coming back. On a winter weekday Rousay gets six departures from Tingwall, the first at 08:20 and the last at 18:00; Egilsay and Wyre get four or five, and some of theirs only happen if someone has booked them.
The winter timetable starts on Monday 28 September and runs until 1 May 2027, so the grid below is the one for the whole season ahead.
Orkney Ferries prints one Mainland fare for the whole Rousay, Egilsay and Wyre service: an adult pays £3.45, and a car of up to 5.5 metres £11.00. Once you are out there, moving between Rousay, Wyre and Egilsay is charged at the inter-island rate — £1.75 on foot, £5.50 with a vehicle — so a day that visits two islands costs less than two trips from the Mainland.
Orkney Ferries carries under-22s for nothing if they hold a National Entitlement Card or a Young Scot card. A return is two singles, and anyone who turns up unbooked settles up aboard, in cash or by card.
| Adult | £ 3.45 |
| Junior | £ 1.75 |
| Senior citizen, 65 and over | £ 2.60 |
| Registered disabled or blind | £ 2.60 |
| Under 5 | Free |
| Bicycle | Free |
| Adult inter-island | £ 1.75 |
| Junior inter-island | £ 0.85 |
| Vehicle inter-island | £ 5.50 |
| Car or van up to 5.5 m | £ 11 |
| Motorcycle | £ 5.80 |
| Motorhome up to 5.5 m | £ 11 |
| Motorhome 5.51–8 m | £ 27.25 |
Fares from 1 April 2026 (South Isles, Shapinsay and Rousay sheet, valid to 31 March 2027) Orkney Ferries — South Isles, Shapinsay and Rousay fares from 1 April 2026 (PDF) · 2026-09-25
Measured between the piers, Tingwall to Rousay is 5.7 kilometres and Tingwall to Wyre almost the same; Egilsay, the furthest out, is 9.4 kilometres from Tingwall and 3.8 from Rousay. The short hop between Rousay and Wyre is barely a kilometre. That geometry explains the timetable: the ship can call at Wyre on a Rousay run for a few minutes' extra, but Egilsay means a proper detour, which is why Tingwall to Egilsay can take anything from 45 minutes to an hour and forty, depending on the loop.
Tingwall is the Mainland end of all three island services, in the parish of Rendall, and it has its own Orkney Ferries phone line, 01856 751360. The timetable is built to meet the Service 6 public bus, which is the way to get here without a car. Vehicles must be ready to board 20 minutes before departure and foot passengers 10 minutes, and drivers should expect to reverse on: the ship loads from one end.
The Rousay pier is on the island's south-east shore, facing Wyre across a gap of about a kilometre, which is why the ship can call at Wyre and be back at Rousay twenty minutes later. Orkney Ferries' website gives no facilities list for the Rousay pier, so this page claims none. The chambered cairns in Historic Environment Scotland's care — Taversoe Tuick, Blackhammer and Knowe of Yarso — lie along the same south coast.
The early loop to Egilsay and Wyre must be requested by 17:00 the day before, and by 15:00 on Saturday for Sunday. The lunchtime and evening loops can be asked for up to an hour before the boat leaves Tingwall, either online or by ringing the office while it is open.
All vehicle bookings are due at least an hour before departure from Tingwall. Foot passengers can turn up and pay on board, but on a full sailing Orkney Ferries can refuse those without a booking.
The ferry times are set to connect with the Service 6 public bus at Tingwall. Details are on Orkney Islands Council's bus pages.
MV Eynhallow is loaded from one end, and the timetable warns drivers that they will have to back their vehicles on.
Rousay has Midhowe, one of the finest chambered cairns in Scotland, under a protective hangar; Egilsay has the roofless St Magnus Church with its round tower; Wyre has the ruin of Cubbie Roo's Castle. All three are in Historic Environment Scotland's care.
On 25 September Orkney Ferries' service update showed Rousay, Egilsay and Wyre running as scheduled. Changes are posted there and on the company's news page.
All three islands have a monument in state care. Historic Environment Scotland counts fifteen Neolithic chambered cairns on Rousay alone; the largest, Midhowe, held the remains of at least 25 people and now sits under a modern hangar, with the Iron Age broch of the same name close by on the shore of Eynhallow Sound. Egilsay is where Earl Magnus was killed in 1116 in a quarrel over who should rule Orkney; the church built about twenty years later, once he was recognised as a saint, still has its tall round tower. On Wyre, the Orkneyinga Saga records a Norwegian, Kolbein Hruga, building a stone castle in 1145 — Cubbie Roo's Castle, as the ruin is now called.
Orkney Ferries runs the other island services on this site the same way, with council-owned ships and fares set in Kirkwall: the north isles run to Westray from Kirkwall, and the South Isles ferry from Houton to Hoy and Flotta. Rousay's crossing is the shortest of the three.
Easily. On a winter weekday the 08:20 from Tingwall reaches Rousay at 08:45, and boats come back at 10:05, 11:15, 14:10, 15:20 and 17:30. An adult pays £3.45 each way, and the ferry times connect with the Service 6 bus at Tingwall.
No. On weekdays other than Wednesday Egilsay is reached from Tingwall at 08:20, 11:50, 16:05 and 18:00, and the 11:50 and 18:00 only call if requested at least an hour before they leave Tingwall. The first boat off Egilsay, at 07:10, must be booked by 17:00 the day before.
£1.75 for an adult and 85p for a junior, the inter-island rate. Taking a vehicle between the islands costs £5.50.
The car costs £11.00 if it measures 5.5 metres or less, and each adult £3.45, so the single comes to £17.90 and a return, exactly double, to £35.80.
Three each way: 10:40, 14:45 and 16:45 from Tingwall, and 10:05, 14:10 and 16:10 from Rousay. Calls at Egilsay and Wyre on a Sunday are on request.
The midday departure from Tingwall moves from 11:50 to 12:40, and the lunchtime loop round Wyre and Egilsay does not run. The rest of the day is the same as the other weekdays.
Yes, provided they have a National Entitlement Card or a Young Scot card with them. Without the card a junior pays £1.75 from Tingwall, and under-5s always travel free.