Broch of Gurness

PricingHalf price in your first year of English Heritage membership, then freeEH memberHalf, then freeNon-member£8.50

EH members: half price, then freeInfo

Half price, then free, for English Heritage members

This place is cared for by Historic Environment Scotland. First-year English Heritage members get 50% off the ticket price; members who have renewed get in free. Bring your valid membership card, and any pre-booked tickets, to ensure entry.

Pre-booking is recommended at Edinburgh Castle, Skara Brae, Stirling Castle, Blackness Castle, Urquhart Castle, Doune Castle and Maeshowe. Bookings are limited to six people per membership.
Bring the card itself: joint and family memberships admit the named holders only.
Historic Scotland does not offer reciprocal admission to National Trust properties, and a National Trust card is not accepted here.

More information

Entry

Non-member prices

Adult (aged 16 to 64)£8.50

Child (aged 7 to 15)£4.00

Concession (aged 65 and over)£6.80

Pricing details

In-person price; £7.50 booked online. One undated price table is published for the April to September season; recheck on reopening in 2027. Children under 7 free but need a ticket; up to two carers free per transaction; Young Scot card holders pay £1 online. Explorer Pass accepted in summer. No Orkney combined ticket, family ticket or audio guide. English Heritage members: half price in your first membership year and free after your first renewal, on showing a valid card; bookings capped at six people per membership. Historic Scotland members free.

In-person price; £3.50 booked online; under-7s free with a ticket. English Heritage members: half price in your first membership year and free after your first renewal, on showing a valid card; bookings capped at six people per membership. Historic Scotland members free.

In-person price; £6 booked online. English Heritage members: half price in your first membership year and free after your first renewal, on showing a valid card; bookings capped at six people per membership. Historic Scotland members free.

ParkingParking not known

The Trust's page does not say how parking is charged.

Parking details

Historic Scotland says the car park is level gravel and the broch is 180 m along a gravel path and through a kissing gate about 0.5 m wide, and that the roads around the site are not suitable for coaches, though minibuses up to 22 seats can be accommodated. No charge or free statement is published, so the status is recorded as unknown; OpenStreetMap tags the car park as Historic Scotland's and free, and visitors describe a large car park.

Driving pin: Historic Scotland's car park mapped on OpenStreetMap, 159 m west of HES's pin, about a 10 minute drive off the main road through farmland. Historic Scotland names only its journey planners for public transport.

About

The Broch of Gurness stands by Eynhallow Sound, about 2 miles north of Evie on mainland Orkney, looking across to the island of Rousay: one of the most outstanding later prehistoric settlements to survive in Scotland and its best-preserved broch village. Brochs are unique to Scotland, and Gurness is one of at least ten on the shores of the sound. Begun between 500 BC and 200 BC, the village sat within ditches and ramparts about 45 m across, with the round tower at its heart, once around 10 m tall, keeping its central hearth, stone cupboards, a sunken water tank and the stair within its double wall. Small stone houses with hearths, cupboards and sleeping spaces crowd round it, where people ate cod, whale and seal. After about AD 100 a single farmstead remained, a Pictish house now stands beside the visitor centre, and in the 800s a Viking woman was buried here with her tortoise brooches. Visitors love walking among the stones.

ClosedPick a day for times and prices

Until 31 Mar: Closed
From 1 Apr: Daily 10:00–16:30, last entry 16:00

Today, Saturday 24 October

Broch of GurnessClosed

Opening times may change at short notice.

1 April to 30 September daily 10am to 4.30pm; lunch closure 12.30pm to 1.30pm; last entry 30 minutes before closing; closed 1 October to 31 March. Historic Scotland recommends booking in advance. No works notice on 18 October 2026.

The broch is 180 m from the car park along a gravel path through a narrow kissing gate; there is a single step into the visitor centre; the site is uneven and mostly grass, with numerous steps and level changes in the ruins, narrow paths between buildings and much protruding archaeology. There are no toilets on site; the nearest public toilets are at Evie Pier. Small visitor centre with Iron Age finds and a shop; no cafe or audio guide. Dogs on leads outdoors.

Dogs: Dogs are welcome in the outdoor areas on a lead; HES's general guidance excludes them from visitor centres and roofed areas. The broch and village are outdoors, on a lead, with a ticket, in the April to September season.

Photo: The Broch of Gurness tower and surrounding Iron Age village above Eynhallow Sound, with grassy ramparts in front. Ellievking1, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Broch_of_Gurness_exterior_view.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.