FAQs

We can’t make individual recommendations, but Orkney has options for all preferences and budgets. Visit Orkney.com to find the perfect place to rest up after a busy day at the festival.

Use Orkney.com’s travel guide to plan your journey. There are a range of options available including daily flights and ferry connections. The ferries connect with rail and bus links to major Scottish cities so it’s possible to travel without a car. If you’re not sure where to start, local business Scapa Travel would be happy to help you plan your trip.

The festival doesn’t offer audience transport to venues. However there’s a good network of public buses between Stromness and Kirkwall and to other areas. You can find out more about our bus network on the Orkney Islands Council website. You might have a chance to do some island hopping by joining events happening in Orkney’s North or South isles. You can get to them using Orkney Ferries or Loganair inter-isles flights. We recommend planning ahead to make sure you know how and when you’re going to get to where you need to be.

Local taxi firms will be very busy over festival weekend, so we recommend booking ahead. There are several local firms including Craigies Taxis on 01856 878787, Orkney Cabs on 01856 875000 and Orkney Taxis on 01856 875511.

We don’t organise audience transport, but the local bus timetable currently has late night public buses. The X10 runs between Kirkwall and Stromness and back again after 11pm every day. The Kirkwall to Stromness route also has an X1 service each way after 1am on Friday and Saturday night. Some other parishes are also served by evening bus routes. Find information on public buses on the Orkney Islands Council website.

We’d recommend checking the event information in our festival programme to see which venues offer food and drink. This varies over the course of the weekend. Some of our venues have a bar and if food’s available it’s more likely to be a snack than a full meal.

Orkney offers high quality food and drink, so you’ll be spoilt for choice! There’s a range of excellent eateries, so check out Orkney.com’s eating out guide. Restaurants in Stromness are usually full during the festival so book in advance. There’s always takeaway options available throughout the town too.

The festival takes place the last weekend in May. It coincides with the late May UK bank holiday, giving you a day to recover from an action-packed weekend! We run more than 40 events during four days from the Thursday evening to Sunday evening. Check our website banner for the dates of the next festival, which we’ve agreed years in advance.

We offer a multi-event format. You buy tickets for individual events to tailor make your perfect festival experience. Events happen in venues across Orkney, but Stromness is its base. Lots of activity happens in the town’s Town Hall and Community Centre over the weekend. We don’t offer weekend or day tickets, so there’s no accommodation included with your ticket. This means you need to organise your own plans for somewhere to stay.

Orkney really does have something for everyone. We’re can’t make individual recommendations, so visit Orkney.com to plan your trip.

While we love dogs, we unfortunately can’t welcome them to the festival. We must follow the policies of the organisations who run our venues, so dogs can’t come to events. As our events are noisy and busy, we also couldn’t guarantee dogs would have a good experience joining you.

You can support an award-winning music festival run by a dedicated team of volunteers! You’ll also have the chance to access exclusive events, buy your tickets in advance and receive 10% off festival merchandise. NorthLink Ferries also usually offer us very generous travel discounts for Orkney Friends. Please note, as we apply for their sponsorship, this is not guaranteed year-on-year. Visit our Orkney Friends page for more information.

We offer five Orkney Friends membership levels – for up to two, four, six, eight or ten adults. The membership level you buy entitles you to pre-sale ticket access for that number of adults. Every membership level can also buy tickets for children.

Orkney Friend membership sales are open between 1 December 2025 and 28 February 2026 for the 2026 festival.

Orkney Friends is as an annual membership. Memberships start from the date you sign up as an Orkney Friend on our website and last for 12 months. At the end of the 12 months period you’ll receive an email inviting you to renew your membership. If you don’t renew, your membership will end and you’ll lose access to your benefits.

The pre-sale for Orkney Friends will begin at 10am GMT on Saturday 28 March for the 2026 festival. Tickets will then go on general release at 7pm BST on Wednesday 1 April.

Your account is very clever and already knows you’re an Orkney Friend! Use the login details you created when signing up for Orkney Friends to buy tickets. If you’ve forgotten your password reset it in advance of the sale to make sure you have no issues when tickets go live.

Our system restricts the number of adult tickets you can buy in each programme timeslot in the pre-sale. For example, if you have a membership for two adults, you can only buy two tickets for events at 7.30pm on Friday. Our system won’t let you put additional tickets in your basket for that timeslot. Please bear this in mind when planning what you’d like to attend.

Orkney Friends are able to book free tickets for our BBC Radio Orkney Live Lounge sessions. You can go behind the scenes on a live radio broadcast and enjoy bonus performances. These tickets are available on a first come, first served basis.

Orkney Friends can buy tickets for the number of adults in their membership level, plus children’s tickets. However, our system restricts the number of adult tickets you can buy in each programme timeslot in the pre-sale. For example, if you have a membership for two adults, you can only buy two tickets for events at 7.30pm on Friday. Our system won’t let you put additional tickets in your basket for that timeslot. Please bear this in mind when planning what you’d like to attend.

If you’d like to complete a group booking you should buy one of our larger Orkney Friends membership levels. Orkney Friends is available for groups of up to two, four, six, eight or ten adults. Each membership can also buy unlimited children’s tickets. Please think about how many tickets you’ll want to buy for your group when you sign up as an Orkney Friend. We’re unable to change your membership level once you’ve paid.

Stromness has a fantastic atmosphere over the festival weekend. Music pours out of pubs throughout the town. We’ll publish a schedule of planned informal, social tunes on our noticeboard and social media accounts during the weekend so you can see what’s happening when.

You can find the 2026 programme on our website.

The pre-sale for Orkney Friends will begin at 10am GMT on Saturday 28 March for the 2026 festival. Tickets will then go on general release at 7pm BST on Wednesday 1 April.

You’ll receive an email containing a link to your digital tickets once you’ve paid for your order. You can either download them and print a PDF, or save them to your Apple or Google Wallet. Make sure you take care of saving or printing your tickets well in advance of attending events. We can’t allow entry if you don’t bring your tickets with you. Please be aware there can be areas of patchy mobile signal in Orkney. We can’t guarantee that all mobile networks will have strong reception at our venues.

Select an initial seat on the plan. The system will then ask how many you want to buy. It’ll automatically add them in the area you chose, guaranteeing you can sit together. For example, if you want to buy four tickets together you click the initial seat, then select four in the pop up box. The seating plan will then reload with four seats held in the area you selected.

You can download and save an A4 PDF version of your tickets, which you can then print off. If you don’t have a printer, there are local businesses who can help you. Sinclair Office Supplies is in Stromness and Kirkwall and Orkney Office Supplies is in Kirkwall.

We’re working hard to reduce the environmental impact of the festival. One way we can do that is by reducing the number of tickets we print each year. Sending the tickets to you is also a much more efficient process. You receive your tickets within minutes of placing an order. It also reduces the amount of admin involved in the ticket process. It takes a lot of time for our volunteer team to print over 8,000 tickets in advance of the festival!

We understand that sometimes unexpected things happen and tickets get mislaid. However, we can’t allow anyone to enter a venue without tickets, so please don’t ask us to. If you need any help with your tickets contact us on tickets@orkneyfolkfestival.com.

Emailing digital tickets to you is secure, efficient and direct. You must look after your tickets in the run up to the festival, just like a paper copy. Don’t share your tickets with anyone who you aren’t planning to attend the event with. If someone gets a copy and uses it at the door of the event before you, we’ll unfortunately have to refuse you entry.

Our digital tickets work in a similar approach to larger companies like Ticketmaster. When you arrive, take out your ticket, either as a digital or printed copy. It’ll have a barcode on it, which one of our friendly volunteers will scan to allow you entry into the event.

We recommend saving tickets to Apple or Google Wallet. We can’t guarantee that you’ll have a strong enough signal to download tickets when you arrive at all our venues. Make sure you come prepared to avoid any disappointment.

All our tickets are non-refundable as outlined in our terms and conditions. Take care to only order tickets you actually need as we can’t offer you a refund for anything bought by mistake. However, you can visit our noticeboard in Stromness Ferry Terminal during the festival to list any you have for sale. Other customers can then contact you to ask about buying your spare tickets.

All our tickets are non-refundable, but you’re able to resell your tickets at your own discretion. We’re unable to do on your behalf either in advance of or during the festival. This includes at the doors of events if you have a last minute change of plans. Bear in mind that our team of volunteers can’t help you with any extra tickets you might have. However, you can visit our noticeboard in Stromness Ferry Terminal during the festival to list any you have for sale. Other customers can then contact you to ask about buying your spare tickets.

Check the ticket page of our website to see if it’s sold out or if there might still be tickets left on the door. If there are tickets available these will be on a first come, first served basis. We recommend getting to the venue as soon as the doors open to secure your space. Please note we’re only able to accept cash for tickets at the door of our venues.

Your account is very clever and already knows you’re an Orkney Friend! Use the login details you created when signing up for Orkney Friends to buy tickets. If you’ve forgotten your password reset it in advance of the sale to make sure you have no issues when tickets go live.

Our system restricts the number of adult tickets you can buy in each programme timeslot in the pre-sale. For example, if you have a membership for two adults, you can only buy two tickets for events at 7.30pm on Friday. Our system won’t let you put additional tickets in your basket for that timeslot. Please bear this in mind when planning what you’d like to attend.

Orkney Friends are able to book free tickets for our BBC Radio Orkney Live Lounge sessions. You can go behind the scenes on a live radio broadcast and enjoy bonus performances. These tickets are available on a first come, first served basis.

Our ticketing system is part of the Access Card scheme. It allows you to tell us about any accessibility requirements you have in advance of joining us at an event. Link your Access Card to your account so we receive your accessibility information. Our volunteers can then support any adjustments you need, so we can make sure you have a great festival.

We don’t offer a waiting list as all our tickets are non-refundable. Individual ticketholders can resell any tickets they’re unable to use. We can’t facilitate this between different groups of customers. However, during the festival people will list tickets for sale on our noticeboard. Visit it in Stromness Ferry Terminal to see if anyone is selling the tickets you’re looking for.

Orkney Friends can buy tickets for the number of adults in their membership level, plus children’s tickets. However, our system restricts the number of adult tickets you can buy in each programme timeslot in the pre-sale. For example, if you have a membership for two adults, you can only buy two tickets for events at 7.30pm on Friday. Our system won’t let you put additional tickets in your basket for that timeslot. Please bear this in mind when planning what you’d like to attend.

If you’d like to complete a group booking you should buy one of our larger Orkney Friends membership levels. Orkney Friends is available for groups of up to two, four, six, eight or ten adults. Each membership can also buy unlimited children’s tickets. Please think about how many tickets you’ll want to buy for your group when you sign up as an Orkney Friend. We’re unable to change your membership level once you’ve paid.

Please refresh your browser to see if your payment goes through or to reset the payment screen. Your tickets will stay in your basket and the payment won’t go through twice. If the issue persists please contact us on tickets@orkneyfolkfestival.com.

Our three busiest venues are in Stromness at the Town Hall, Academy and Community Centre. Our other venues across Orkney vary every year.

Most of our venues have step free access, unless otherwise marked in the programme. Stromness Town Hall has a small number of wheelchair user tickets in the seating plan. If you’re a wheelchair user going to other venues, please book a general admission ticket.

Our ticketing system is part of the Access Card scheme. It allows you to tell us about any accessibility requirements you have in advance of joining us at an event. Link your Access Card to your account so we receive your accessibility information. Our volunteers can then support any adjustments you need, so we can make sure you have a great festival.

We’d recommend checking the event information in our festival programme to see which venues offer food and drink. This varies over the course of the weekend. Some of our venues have a bar and if food’s available it’s more likely to be a snack than a full meal.

Stromness Community Centre is home to our Lounge venue (formerly known as the Festival Club). It’s a seated, intimate, cabaret concert. If you’re looking for something a bit livelier, the Stomps are the place to be. They give you the chance to burn off some energy dancing while enjoying local and visiting acts.

Flash photography and filming is prohibited. It’s also a distraction for artists and fellow audience members. Please keep your phones and cameras away so everyone can enjoy the event.

While we love dogs, we unfortunately can’t welcome them to the festival. We must follow the policies of the organisations who run our venues, so dogs can’t come to events. As our events are noisy and busy, we also couldn’t guarantee dogs would have a good experience joining you.

Let us know you’re interested by emailing volunteer@orkneyfolkfestival.com. We’ll be in touch when we begin to make arrangements for our next festival.

Volunteer tasks can vary. Most shifts involve front of house duties such as checking tickets and showing people to their seats. Other roles include working in our shop, driving artists and helping set up and clear venues.

You’ll often get to enjoy parts of performances, but you’ll be needed front of house for most of the event. If there are events you’re excited to see we recommend that you buy tickets rather than volunteering. We can’t guarantee how much of the event you’ll have to time to watch.

The majority of our volunteers live in Orkney, but we also have some visitors. Visiting volunteers must organise all their own accommodation and travel to/from Orkney. Both are in high demand, so if you’re visiting please don’t accept shifts without making plans. Please see our travel and accommodation FAQs to help you. You should contact us in the first instance by emailing volunteer@orkneyfolkfestival.com.

All volunteers are responsible for organising their own travel to festival venues. You can specify if you can only travel to certain parts of Orkney on our online volunteer form.

The festival programme launches in March. After this, volunteers receive an online form to fill in so we can begin rota planning. You’ll receive your rota in early May.

An Orkney Folk Festival representative will be present to run each event. You’re generally there to support them and won’t be alone or in charge of a task you’re uncomfortable with.

No, there are no discounts for volunteers.