Lerwick

Lerwick is the lively capital of Shetland, famous for the Up-Helly-Aa Viking fire festival in January.

Lerwick is centered around its busy harbour, particularly during the summer months, when cruise liners, yachts and motor cruisers arrive from ports all around the North Atlantic. Lerwick has a population of around 7500, approximately one third of Shetland's total population. The shops, pubs, restaurants, hotels and guesthouses bustle all year with locals, visiting businessmen, tourists and seafarers.

Places of interest include Clickimin Broch - an outstanding example of Bronze Age and Iron Age architecture; Fort Charlotte - built in 1665; the Bod of Gremista - an 18th century fishing booth; the picture-postcard Lodberries - old merchants' houses with their own piers; and the Museum, with a fascinating collection of artefacts illustrating Shetland's history, tradition and crafts - knitting, spinning, lace-making, fiddle music and Up-Helly-Aa.

Up-Helly-Aa, Britain's biggest and most spectacular fire festival, takes place in Lerwick on the last Tuesday every January. Featuring a torch-lit parade of almost 1000 people, dressed either as Vikings or in all manner of crazy fancy-dress costumes, the spectacular burning of a Viking galley, ceilidhs and all-night partying, Up-Helly-Aa is guaranteed to brighten up the January gloom.