200,737 passengers and 53,232 cars crossed between Scrabster and Stromness in 2025, NorthLink's own count, which is almost exactly half of everyone the company carried to Orkney and Shetland that year. They all went on one ship, MV Hamnavoe, taking 90 minutes a crossing.
NorthLink 2026 and 2027 Pentland Firth timetables (calendar valid 1 January to 31 December each year), read on 13 October 2026 and shown here to 31 March 2027. Every departure was checked against the timetable PDF and the colour-coded calendar. NorthLink Ferries — Stromness–Scrabster timetables 2026 and 2027 · 2026-10-13
Those figures explain the ship. MV Hamnavoe was built for this route in 2002 by Aker Finnyards and entered service in 2003. CMAL, which owns her, lists room for 600 passengers and 98 cars on a hull 112 metres long, and her service speed is 19 knots. Serco has operated her, as NorthLink Ferries, since 5 July 2012.
In winter the timetable is lean. From Monday to Friday the ship leaves Stromness at 06:30 and 16:45 and Scrabster at 08:45 and 19:00. At weekends she starts later, at 09:00 from Stromness, and gives Scrabster a midday departure at 12:00; the October Saturdays still have a third return trip. The last boat of every day comes from Scrabster and the ship spends the night in Stromness.
The gaps are few but long. Hamnavoe stays in port on both Christmas holidays and both New Year ones (25–26 December, 1–2 January), and from 10 to 23 January 2027 the ship is in dry dock with no stand-in on this route.
NorthLink prices this route by season, and 1 November is the day it gets cheaper. Until 31 October the mid-season adult single is £23.95 and a car £74; from 1 November to 17 December the low-season figures are £22.10 and £72, before mid-season returns over Christmas from 18 December. Whoever drives is charged as a passenger as well.
Two adults travelling with a car therefore pay £121.90 one way this month and £116.20 in November. Returns are simply two singles.
| Adult, 16 and over | £ 23.95 |
| Child, 5 to 15 | £ 12 |
| Concession | £ 21.56 |
| Car under 6 m | £ 74 |
| Motorcycle | £ 23.95 |
| Adult, 16 and over | £ 22.10 |
| Child, 5 to 15 | £ 11.20 |
| Concession | £ 19.89 |
| Car under 6 m | £ 72 |
| Motorcycle | £ 21.20 |
| Infant, 0 to 4 | Free |
| Bicycle | Free |
| Magnus Lounge | £ 7.50 |
| Priority boarding, Stromness to Scrabster only | £ 19.65 |
NorthLink fares from 1 January to 31 December 2026, read on 13 October 2026; 2027 fares already published NorthLink Ferries — fares 2026, Scrabster to Stromness · 2026-10-13
From Scrabster the ship heads north across the Pentland Firth, the channel between the Scottish mainland and Orkney, and its course to Stromness runs beneath the high western cliffs of Hoy. That is why NorthLink can say this is the only crossing to Orkney that passes the Old Man of Hoy sea stack and the cliffs of St John's Head. The straight-line distance between the two terminals is a little under 42 kilometres. The shorter crossings from Caithness put you ashore in the south-east of Orkney instead.
Scrabster sits a mile and a half west of Thurso at the end of the A9. Note the two sites: foot passengers check in at the terminal on the pier, while vehicles check in 800 metres away, so leave time if you are dropping luggage and then parking. Free short-stay spaces are at the end of the terminal; the long-stay car park, 400 metres off, is run by Scrabster Harbour Trust at £15 a week or part of a week, paid with tokens from the terminal desk.
Thurso railway station on the Far North Line is about two miles away, and Stagecoach's X99 from Inverness takes just under four hours, some journeys calling at the terminal itself. The building has no left luggage, and its toilets close with the office.
In Stromness the terminal is on the waterfront at Ferry Road, a short walk from the town's cobbled streets. Orkney Islands Council's short-stay pay-and-display spaces are opposite, at the terminal car park and the Ferry Inn; leaving a car for longer is free at the Ferry Road car park to the north or the Old Academy car park off Back Road.
Buses wait across the road for the 16-mile run to Kirkwall by Stenness, and the terminal has tourist information, showers and a laundry. Orkney Ferries' small boats to Graemsay and Hoy leave from the same harbour.
Check-in opens 90 minutes before departure at both ends (60 minutes for the 06:30 from Stromness) and closes 30 minutes before. Drivers are advised to arrive an hour ahead.
The Hamnavoe B&B lets you board the evening before in Stromness, check in between 21:30 and 23:30, and wake up already on the 06:30; breakfast for two is included per cabin.
Scrabster's long-stay car park costs £15 per week or part week; drop people and bags at the terminal first, because it is 400 metres away.
Resurfacing near Spittal runs on weekdays until Friday 30 October with a convoy system. Allow extra time to make the check-in deadline.
The ship has a dog lounge, kennels from £9.85 and pet-friendly cabins. Bicycles travel free.
Hamnavoe has lifts, accessible cabins and Changing Places toilets, and both terminals have lifts and accessible entrances.
Stromness, the second town of Orkney, grew up in the seventeenth century around its sheltered harbour, and the ferry still docks within a few minutes' walk of its cobbled streets, shops and galleries. Because the evening run ends in Stromness, the ship's cabins can double as a bed and breakfast for anyone catching the 06:30 next morning.
This is not the only crossing of the Pentland Firth. Pentland Ferries sails a shorter route out of Gills Bay, further east along the Caithness coast, and once in Stromness you can carry on by the small passenger ferry to Graemsay and North Hoy, which leaves from the same harbour.
90 minutes in both directions. The 08:45 from Scrabster arrives at 10:15 and the 19:00 at 20:30.
06:30 from Monday to Friday, arriving in Scrabster at 08:00. At weekends the first departure is 09:00. If you are staying aboard the night before, cabin check-in is 21:30 to 23:30.
Not on four days: the Pentland Firth timetable is blank on Friday 25 and Saturday 26 December 2026 and again on Friday 1 and Saturday 2 January 2027. Christmas Eve and Hogmanay, both Thursdays, keep the normal weekday times.
Not on this route. From 10 to 23 January 2027 the Pentland Firth service stops; NorthLink adds extra calls at Kirkwall on its Aberdeen–Lerwick ships instead, and the Scrabster crossing restarts with the afternoon sailing on Sunday 24 January.
It is not. A car under 6 metres costs £74 single until 31 October and £72 from 1 November, plus the driver's passenger fare of £23.95 or £22.10.
Yes. Scrabster Harbour Trust's long-stay car park, 400 metres from the terminal, charges £15 a week or part week, with tokens sold at the NorthLink desk.
This one. The Hamnavoe's route up the west side of Hoy makes it the only Orkney crossing to pass the sea stack and St John's Head.