On the last Tuesday of January, Lerwick hands its streets to the Vikings. Almost 1,000 guizers in costume march through the dark with blazing torches, then hurl them into a full-size replica longship until it burns. Build two days around it and you also get Shetland’s capital at its most welcoming: stone lanes, a harbour full of history and plenty of fish on the menu. It suits festival lovers, history fans and anyone happy to trade winter sun for firelight.
Why go
Promote Shetland calls Up Helly Aa Europe’s largest fire festival, and it is not a show put on for visitors. Squads of local guizers spend months preparing: the 46 squads other than the Jarl Squad start planning in early September, and the Jarl Squad begins work the February before. A new galley is built each winter in the Galley Shed on St Sunniva Street. The result is a whole town in costume for 24 hours.
Lerwick itself repays the trip. The old town grew up as a station for the Dutch herring fleet, which is why narrow lanes run down to the harbour. There is a 17th-century fort, sea-washed stone stores built for trade and smuggling, a free museum at Hay’s Dock and a 2,000-year-old broch at the edge of town. And Shetland’s larder is all about the sea: salmon, mussels, scallops and haddock.
Lerwick
Don’t miss
The places that make the trip, and why each one deserves your time.
Ian S / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 Commercial Street and the lanes
Lerwick's stone-flagged main street is the heart of the town, with Fair Isle knitwear in the shop windows and narrow lanes climbing away from it towards the upper town.
The Bill hangs at the Market Cross all festival day.
Lrs1572 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 de Fort Charlotte
A five-sided fort at the north end of Commercial Street, burned by the Dutch in 1673 and rebuilt in the 1780s, with views across the harbour to Bressay. Its guns never fired in anger.
Iain Lees / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 The Lodberries
Eighteenth-century trading booths built with their foundations in the sea, once handy for smuggling gin, tobacco and tea. One became Jimmy Perez's home in the BBC drama Shetland.
Balou46 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 Lerwick Town Hall
A sandstone Scots Baronial hall from 1883 whose stained glass tells Shetland's history. On Up Helly Aa night, the torches are lit on the Hillhead just below it.
Claim a spot nearby a little before 7pm.
Clemensfranz / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 Shetland Museum and Archives
A free museum at historic Hay's Dock, opened in 2007, where the Jarl Squad drops in on festival afternoon so you can meet the Vikings face to face.
The Jarl Squad visit is ticketed and goes quickly.
Ian S / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 The Knab
A short cliff-top walk on the south side of town with wide views over Bressay Sound, where common seals haul out on the sandstone slabs below.
Mike Pennington / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 Clickimin Broch
An Iron Age broch tower on a small holm in Clickimin Loch, roughly 2,000 years old and still debated by archaeologists, a short walk from the town centre.
Pair it with the walk around Clickimin Loch.
Up Helly Aa 2027: dates and what happens
Up Helly Aa 2027 is on Tuesday 26 January 2027, as confirmed on the festival’s official website. The festival is held in Lerwick on the last Tuesday of January every year.
Here is the shape of the day, from the official 2027 timetable and Promote Shetland’s guide:
- 6am, the Bill: The festival proclamation, kept secret until now, goes up at the Market Cross on Commercial Street. It usually pokes good-natured fun at the Guizer Jarl and other local figures, and it stays there until 5pm.
- 8.15am, the morning march: The Jarl Squad leaves Islesburgh Community Centre with a pipe band, marching through town with the galley. At 9.40am the squad heads along the Esplanade and Commercial Street, stops to sing at the Market Cross, then poses with the galley at the Bressay Ferry Terminal for photos.
- Daytime visits: After a civic reception, the squad visits schools, hospitals and care homes.
- 3.30pm, Shetland Museum: The squad’s last public appearance before dark.
- 5.30pm, the junior procession: The junior squads march from the Hillhead to the King George V playing field, where the junior galley is burned.
- 6pm: The galley leaves the ferry terminal for the Hillhead.
- 7.30pm, light-up: A signal rocket bursts over the Town Hall, the streetlights dim, and the guizers light their torches on the Hillhead. The procession takes around 30 minutes.
- The burning: The galley is hauled into the King George V playing field. The guizers circle it, the Jarl steps out, and the torches are thrown in while the crowd hears The Norseman’s Home. The burning site itself is closed to the public, so watch from the pavements along the route.
- The halls: From 9pm, the squads tour Lerwick’s halls in rotation, and each performs an act at every one. The Jarl Squad reaches its first hall at 9.15pm, and the squads usually finish around breakfast time.
Most halls are private parties, and tickets are extremely limited. A small number of late-night Lerwick Town Hall tickets are advertised on the Up Helly Aa website towards the end of the year. If you can’t get in, the evening procession has been streamed live in previous years, including on Promote Shetland’s Facebook page and YouTube channel.
The following Wednesday is a public holiday in Shetland, so plan for a quiet town that morning.
The 48-hour route
This route runs from Monday 25 to Tuesday 26 January 2027, so you arrive the day before the festival and are in place for the 6am start.
Day 1
Morning: Arrive on the overnight ferry from Aberdeen, which docks in Lerwick at 7.30am. Have breakfast in town, then walk Commercial Street, the stone-flagged spine of the old town. Duck into the lanes that climb from it, then head north to Fort Charlotte. Built in the 1660s, burned by the Dutch in 1673 and rebuilt in the 1780s, it looks across the harbour to Bressay.
Afternoon: Walk south to the Lodberries at the far end of Commercial Street. These 18th-century stores were built with their foundations in the sea, so boats could unload straight into them, which also made them handy for smuggling gin, tobacco and tea. Continue onto the cliff-top path at the Knab for views over Bressay Sound and the chance of seals on the rocks below. Then climb to the Town Hall, completed in 1883, whose stained glass shows figures from Shetland’s history. Promote Shetland says it looks best in late-afternoon light.
Evening: Dinner on Commercial Street. Take an early night: tomorrow starts at 6am.
Day 2
Morning: Set an alarm for the Bill going up at the Market Cross at 6am. After breakfast, find a spot on the Esplanade or Commercial Street for the Jarl Squad’s march at 9.40am, then follow the crowd to the Bressay Ferry Terminal, where the galley sits for photos until 6pm.
Afternoon: Walk out to Clickimin Broch, a round Iron Age tower on a small holm in Clickimin Loch, about 2,000 years old. Back in town, head to the Shetland Museum and Archives at Hay’s Dock, which is free to enter. The Jarl Squad arrives at 3.30pm, when you can meet the Vikings and try on helmets and axes.
Tip: Promote Shetland says selfie access to the Jarl Squad at the museum is by ticket and goes quickly. Watch the museum’s events page in the run-up to the festival.
Evening: Eat early. Catch the junior procession at 5.30pm, then claim your spot near the Hillhead, below the Town Hall, a little before 7pm. After the burning, go to the Town Hall if you have a ticket, or warm up indoors and toast the Jarl.
Tip: Stand back from the cordon for photos. You will feel the heat of the torches from the pavement, and you won’t get close to the guizers.
Lerwick weather in January
Pack for wind and rain. The Met Office’s 1991–2020 averages for Lerwick give January an average maximum of 6.09°C and an average minimum of 2.20°C. January has 27.36 hours of sunshine on average, 150.40 mm of rain and 22.00 days with at least 1 mm of rain. The mean wind speed is 18.29 knots.
Up Helly Aa goes ahead whatever the weather, so bring waterproofs, a warm hat and gloves.
Getting there
By ferry: NorthLink Ferries sails overnight from Aberdeen to Lerwick every evening on the MV Hrossey and MV Hjaltland, leaving at teatime and arriving at 7.30am. One ship sails direct while the other calls at Hatston in Orkney. NorthLink recommends booking a reclining seat, sleeping pod or cabin for the night.
By air: Loganair is the only airline with scheduled flights to Sumburgh Airport. Promote Shetland lists flights of about an hour from Aberdeen, about an hour and a half from Edinburgh and Glasgow, and 40 minutes from Kirkwall. Sumburgh is at the southern tip of Mainland, about 25 miles south of Lerwick, with buses, taxis and car hire for the onward trip.
For more of Scotland, start with our Edinburgh weekend guide or the best places to visit in Scotland.
Where to stay
Promote Shetland warns that Lerwick accommodation books up months in advance for Up Helly Aa, so sort your bed before anything else.
- Commercial Street and the old town: The waterfront heart of Lerwick, by the Market Cross and the morning march. Best for first-timers.
- The upper town around the Hillhead: Close to the Town Hall and the evening light-up. Best for anyone planning a late night.
- Hay’s Dock and the north harbour: Near the museum, Mareel and the ferry terminal. Best for ferry arrivals and early departures.
- Beyond Lerwick: If the town is full, look further afield on Mainland and allow time to drive in for the procession.
What to eat and drink
- Shetland salmon: Famous well beyond the islands, and often served simply grilled.
- Shetland mussels: Grown on ropes in the voes.
- Shetland lamb: Smaller than most mainland lamb and prized for its flavour.
- Hall suppers: On Up Helly Aa night, the halls serve soups, bannocks, pies and cakes to keep the party going.
- Sassermaet: Like a dense, full-flavoured square sausage, and a breakfast-roll favourite.
- Shetland Reel gin: Distilled on Unst with local botanicals such as apple mint and bladderwrack.
Where to go:
- The Dowry (Commercial Street): A café and bar known for haddock croquettes and haddock chowder, with Lerwick Brewery beer on tap and Shetland Reel gins.
- Fjarå Café Bar (Sea Road): A seaside café-bar opened in 2014, with coffee, cakes, cocktails and full meals, plus views of seals and crashing waves.
- Hays Dock Community Cafe (Shetland Museum): A self-service honesty café, open during museum hours.
Please drink responsibly. 18+ only.
The Up Helly Aa Food and Drink Market returns to the Shetland Museum in January 2027, with details due nearer the time.
Getting around
Central Lerwick is compact, and on festival day the best way to follow the action is on foot. Everything in the route, from the Market Cross to Clickimin Broch, is walkable. NorthLink’s festival guide asks spectators to stay on the pavements and keep King Erik Street clear during the procession.
Good to know
- The Wednesday holiday: The day after Up Helly Aa is a Shetland public holiday, so expect some closures.
- Hall tickets: Lerwick hall tickets are very limited. Watch the official tickets page later in the year.
- The Up Helly Aa Exhibition: The Galley Shed exhibition, with its full-size galley, opens in summer, not in January.
- Programmes: Official and souvenir programmes are sold in local shops including Harrys Department Store and the Shetland Times bookshop.
- More winter weekends: Compare a northern fire with the lights over Tromsø, and see this weekend’s picks and travel news for more ideas.
FAQ
When is Up Helly Aa 2027?
Up Helly Aa 2027 is on Tuesday 26 January 2027. The festival is always held on the last Tuesday of January in Lerwick.
Can visitors watch Up Helly Aa?
Yes. The morning march, the evening torch-lit procession and the galley burning can all be watched from the street. The halls are mostly private parties, with a few tickets released for the Town Hall.
What time does the Up Helly Aa procession start?
The torches are lit on the Hillhead, below the Town Hall, at 7.30pm, and the procession lasts around 30 minutes. Arrive a little before 7pm for a good spot.
Where is the galley burned in Lerwick?
At the King George V playing field. The burning site is closed to the public, so watch from the pavements along the route.
How do you get to Shetland for Up Helly Aa?
Take NorthLink’s overnight ferry from Aberdeen, which arrives in Lerwick at 7.30am, or fly with Loganair to Sumburgh from Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow or Kirkwall.
