The Sands Hotel in Orkney Islands

This hotel has very lovely rooms, all with an amazing view. The dining room has a conservatory with a view! Nicely decorated rooms with a tartan touch, comfortable beds, clean bathrooms, superb power showers and hot water, with good WiFi signal in the room. Food in the restaurant was delicious with lots of variety on the menu and the specials. Staff were all lovely, Warm, friendly, helpful and the service was excellent. Breakfast is pre-ordered the night before so it’s served very promptly at the time of your choosing. If you are stopping anywhere on the Islands, book a room at this hotel, you wont be disappointed.

Had the beef chilli. Very nice - would recommend.

Family of 3 (9yr old Son). Well what a fabulous stay from start to finish! Greeted with a warm welcome and shown to our room - so friendly but not overbearing. Food (breakfast and evening meal): so tasty, service A star and nothing was too much trouble! Happy for us to play games (cards) at the table once we had finished our meal which was lovely. Room was nice and clean and serviced everyday - staff friendly and chatty. Good location and came away wanting to return again - hopefully one day 😀

Great experience. Well appointed rooms and very helpful staff. We mentioned a problem with the bed and it was fixed that evening with an apology. Food was great - the main problem was choosing what to eat. Right on the beach, had a great walk along it and staff highlighted the local playground to us. Would happily return again.

Spent 3 enjoyable Nts, here on a family holiday whilst visiting Orkney. Hotel is only a 10 min drive from the Ferry Port and quirky situated beside a boat repair yard with stunning views across the sea. Hotel seems to have gone through a refurbishment and our Room/suite Scapa was stunning. Upstairs & downstairs rooms inc living area with stylish scandi arms chairs and log burner, kitchenette and good sized bathroom with both shower cubicle and a bath. All rooms were immaculate and furnished to a high standard. Breakfast was delicious and dinner had a good choice of usual Scottish Fayre. Staff were friendly and when we had an issue with sand coming in through the window frame, it was promptly dealt with. Good location for both staying and touring the island from. Would definitely book again.

Excellent accommodation food and service

The Sands has great food and a good selection of local beers and gins. The staff are always friendly and are happy to help. If you just fancy a pint pop into the bar and if you get peckish you can always order from the bar menu. Their menu uses locally sourced produce whenever possible and the a la carte menus offers Strongly recommend the curry which is a family favourite.

The food was lovely and the staff were so nice I will definitely go again

Our stay here was amazing. 5* we stayed in a twin room with an amazing view of the pier. Plus the staff were super kind and did such an amazing job. Also the food cooked was super and there was an amazing food. This hotel is super upmarket and is perfect even if you want to just go on a romantic date. The rooms were pristine and despite being quite far a way from Kirkwall it's an amazing place. You can see some of the block ships and you get to go over the Churchill barriers. Although if it is very stormy they might close the church hill barriers so be careful for that. Overall our experience was so good and I would recommend this place to anyone looking for a place to stay in Orkney. The food is great, the rooms were amazing and the staff put 110% all the time

Lovely place, food delicious, staff courteous, all food eaten

Well located for sightseeing. Free parking on site. Good views from room. Restaurant on site. Rather large portions but good fish and chips!

Ate here four times during our short break in Orkney. Lovely fresh food and excellent service. Recommend the haddock and chips, delicious.

Not our best experience of food on Orkney, rather a disappointment and spoilt by being sat next to a wall and rowdy people's voices being heard from the bar. Staff could not have been more helpful but the standard of food was not great - pre-cooked and then microwaved vegetables .......need I say more!

This hotel was recommended to me on our visit to Orkney, and I am glad that we went. The food was super and the service was really friendly and helpful.

Another Covid dining experience that really brought out the best in Orkney hospitality. Guided to distanced seating the menu had the classic grimbister crispy cheese and although perhaps a limited menu- plenty to choose from and a lovely 'Highland chicken' dish was had (creamy mustard sauce). Sticky Toffee pudding was great. Others food choices were also great, Orkney Gold draught beer was sublime and the waiting staff very friendly and attentive and careful about precautions. Will go again.

Ordered the Grimbister Cheese Tart for starters, it came and realised quickly that there was a bare slither of cheese over the top skimmed so it was basically just an onion tart. This was priced over £6 which was fine if it had the cheese in it to make it worth it. The pastry unfortunately was fairly hard and overcooked and slightly burned on the bottom. The salad with it was salad. The main was monkfish, scallops and prawns and it came on skewers. On trying the monkfish that was the reason I selected the dish and being over £22 made it worth the price unfortunately 3 out 4 bits were rubber/dry as had been overcooked. Huge disappointment as that was the reason I went for that dish. Monkfish should be soft/flaking in the mouth. The side veg didn't really work well with the dish and the dophinwa potatoes were a bit to *dry* for my taste. Decided against pudding as the rest was such a disappointment. Dont like going out paying for a meal when you come away knowing you can/have done better at home. Won't be visiting any time soon again.

Not very busy in November but made 2 visits in a week for lunch and it was pretty good both times. First time was 4 of us and it was toasties and tea for all which were perfectly adequate. A couple of days later just the 2 of us visited and it was Scampi and a baked potato for lunch. It was delicious and easily demolished. Service was good and prices very reasonable.

We stopped here for a light lunch. We were greeted by the friendly staff and offered a table in the main restaurant. The service and the food were excellent. Great place to stop off for lunch and I suspect dinner is just as good.

This small family run hotel was one of the highlights of our road trip to Scotland. The landlady and her staff were really hospitable and we were made very welcome. The room we had, had a brilliant view and was comfortable for the three of us that were travelling. The beds were comfortable, clean and the facilities excellent, including the bathroom. The icing on the cake was the breakfasts we had and also the dinners in the hotel restaurant. All food was excellent and they also catered for my diet. Would thoroughly recommend and will certainly stay again on any future trips to the Orkneys.

A nice ambience and good use of local ingredients made this a pleasant spot for dinnerShame the need to drive meant no complementary wine

What a great find this place is! Staff (as so many have mentioned) are lovely and helpful and the view is beautiful. We had been on a walk around Hoxa head and were fortunate enough to have seen a couple of puffins swimming in the water. We had hoped to grab something at the cafe but hadn't realised it had been closed for some time. We headed for the Sands Hotel in search of much needed lunch and we weren't disappointed. I spotted a seafood starter on the menu and asked for it to be done as a main course. My goodness what a mountain of delicious morsels I had - smoked salmon, mackrel, prawns, crab claws plus boiled eggs, cheese, salad coleslaw - total feast.Utterly delicious and scrumptious. It's strange on an island surrounded by sea how so little of it is served in a lot of the pubs/ restaurants. Staying in Stromness we were very disappointed by the lack of seafood so The Sands was a great find. Hubby plumped for breaded haddock - literally a whale on a plate! Freshly cooked, tasty and satisfying. They have a wide ranging menu and I'm sure everyone that goes will not be disappointed. The little village of Burray is well worth a look round too - pretty in it's own right.

I came with a party of 14 veggie/vegans. We had ordered in advance from the extensive veggie/vegan menu. There were many choices, all excellent. It's not easy finding quality veggie/vegan food in Orkney. Many places consider us an aberration but at the Sands the food was first class, service excellent and the venue wonderful. Highly recommended. Thank you Sands.

Their menu is great and filled with locally sourced products. The staff are great and really caring. The pub attached to the restaurant is a good place to sit with a pint. The scallops are delicious!

As it was out of season we hadn't booked and arrived early for lunch so actually had a choice of tables. Pleasant table service. Reasonable choice of menu. Suggest booking your dessert at the start so they don't run out of your choice later!

We were staying close by and ate there 3 times and on each occasion the food was excellent . Great local produce and good portions .They have both a bar menu and a la carte and we ate from both and everything we had from fish and chips to scallops were very good indeed .Well above average .I also liked the fact that you could choose from any menu in the restaurant and were not constrained by having to choose which one .

Have no hesitation in recommended this place, the food was wholesome and a pure delight, the black pudding /haggis meat bon bons were yummy as was the cullen skink , just wish i'd brought home a bucket of the stuff.

Very busy, need to book. Good choice of menu, starters,meat,fish, salads, sweets, very tasty, slightly expensive.

Note there is another entry for this restaurant under Burray.

We had the set menu for Valentines which was very good indeed. Service was lovely and the kitchen was very kind to do a ‘normal’ steak for us instead of the ‘surf and turf’ as we don’t really eat seafood.

Everyone seemed relaxed and friendly, a welcoming local not just for local people!! Food was limited to the usual pub staples but everything was excellently prepared.

This restaurant and bar located in the small village of Burray, Orkney was a delightful find, great food served by freindly and staff in a lovely location.

Dropped into the Sands on our way south for a bite before crossing the water, I had the Tex-Mex burger with all the trimmings and it was lovely really well cooked and a "Man" sized portion, the other half had the Scampy also very well cooked and presented, nice and attentive staff, spotless facilities.

Sands was recommended to us as being Vegan friendly for my daughter. We booked, which is advisable because this pub/restaurant are popular. We ate in the bar because we had our 2 dogs with us and they are not allowed in the restaurant.

Ate dinner here twice during our week on Burray. The atmosphere in the restaurant is relaxed and friendly and the food is of a very high quality, good value for money. On the first evening I had sweet potato soup and we all had sirloins. Everything was beautifully cooked and well presented. Too full for puds on that occasion, but we did sample their very reasonably priced wine list. On our return, I had the seafood salad - delicious, so much better (and cheaper) than The Skerries'. Two of us had haddock and chipps, which was huge and wonderfully crispy. Hubby enjoyed the gammon steak, then sorbet and rice pudding with raisins disappeared fast. We had a drink in the bar on another day and that was very pleasant too. Great range of local beers. We plan to stay on Burray again and will definitely be coming back to The Sands to eat and drink. Highly recommended.

We stopped at the Sands Hotel for a coffee on our way to the tomb of the Eagles. V friendly staff, good service, good coffee.

The Sands restaurant is lovely, ask to have a table in the conservatory and you will have great sea views too. The food is very much pub grub style but very good. Portions are just the right size and the atmosphere is so relaxed and serene. Staff were helpful, service was quick but not rushed and it was a pleasant evening.

The restaurant at the Sands Hotel overlooks the quay and waterfront. Our meals were very good value and the portions were generous.

Recommended by Victoris the landlady of Tangles & Kelpie in the village and she didnt lie, we ate 4 diffent meals in the Sands and everyone was excellent, Good Scottish Fayre

we visited the Sands for Sunday lunch on a visit to Orkney and were disappointed with all aspects. The service was awful, very slow (took over 20 minutes just to bring drinks) and several things we asked for never actually arrived, despite the place not being particularly full. Food was ok but the adult portions were very small, barely bigger than the children's portions. We won't be rushing back.

We finished our business trip on Orkney with a visit to the Italian chapel which is just around the corner an a lovely lunch at the Sands hotel.

Was staying just round the corner so turned up ad hoc for a meal. Sadly the dining room was fully booked as was Saturday night but they said we could eat in the bar - this did mean we could only have the bar menu but that was fine.

A first class meal for four people. The staff were young but excellent. The service first class. The quality of the food was impeccable . Great choice. Ample portions and local produce. Book ahead highly recommended.

Went at a very busy time. Staff went above & beyond to find us a table. Excellent customer service, staff were knowledgable, friendly, chatty & very attentive. Can't fault them. Food was delicious. All 3 courses of it. Great presentation & value for money

Wir haben im Hotel übernachtet und können das Frühstück wie auch das Mittag und Abendessen empfehlen. Zum Mittag gibt es eine kleinere Karte und wir hatten div. Sandwiches, welche sehr gut waren.

We've been to the Sands a couple of times this summer and it has not disappointed. It's a clean and tidy hotel with an attractive dining room, set on the shore of Scapa Flow. The food is very good and the portions generous, the service is friendly and efficient. The seafood dishes are obviously recommended, while the sirloin steak I had a couple of weeks ago was so tender I could have cut it with a spoon - delicious.

Good menu. Good food. Great service. Ample space for comfort. Overall it's a great place to go for lunch or dinner, be it a family or friends gathering. Highly recommended!

Well worth a visit. The service was fast and efficient, the food was superb yet inexpensive, the staff were all extremely friendly and helpful and the surroundings and location were very pleasant. We visited the Sands Hotel in July of this year (2015) on a family trip to Orkney. Some of the family had already eaten there and had given a glowing report, so we decided that all eleven of us would have our farewell to Orkney meal there on our last night. We booked beforehand and when we arrived our table was nicely set, we were seated immediately and the friendly staff were soon bringing our drinks. I ordered the home-made steak and ale pie, the meals arrived reasonably quickly but took long enough to tell that they were freshly prepared. My steak and ale pie was full of tender steak, the puff pastry was cooked to perfection and the ale gravy was to die for. As head of the family, I of course had a taste of other peoples meals and can vouch that the enormous pieces of fish were also cooked to perfection with golden crispy batter and the large succulent white flakes of the fish, the fillet steak was medium rare, exactly as my sister wanted it, I had a taste and must say it was up there with the best steaks that I've ever tasted (Even in the USA). Even the beef olives were delicious even though I didn't like the sound of them at first, once I had tasted them I was won over. The choice of sweets was varied and tempting but because I had been tasting everyone else food, I only had room left for the ever delicious Orkney Ice cream. All in all a very pleasant experience which I thoroughly recommend.