Satellite: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX (CC BY 4.0). Outline and points © OpenStreetMap contributors / Natural Earth. North up.
In numbers
119km²
Area
142km
Coastline
284m
Highest point
639
People
13°C
Warmest sea
August
308km
To the mainland
When to go to Unst
Good all year round.
The sea is warmest in August (13 °C) and coolest in February (8 °C). The water never reaches 21 °C: bring a wetsuit.
Averages 1991–2020. Sea: NOAA OISST, the water within 35 km of the coast. Air, rain and sun: NASA POWER. Best months weigh warm afternoons (23–30 °C), sea of 24 °C or more and few wet days.
Northernmost island of the Shetland Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom
Unst is an island in United Kingdom. It belongs to Shetland Islands. It covers 119 km², with 142 km of coastline. Its highest point rises to 284 m. About 639 people live on it. The nearest mainland is 308 km away.
Getting there
- Sumburgh Airport (LSI)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 99 km in a straight lineCar hire at KOI airport (Kirkwall, Orkney Islands)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- Ferries1 ferry terminals on the island
- 308 km from the mainlanddistance to the nearest continental coast
Plan the trip
Ferries, stays and things to do
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
On the island
What you find on Unst.
- 17beachesLund Beach, Stabba, Snouska sand and 14 more
- 1lighthouses
- 1ferry terminalsBelmont Ferry Terminal
- 2marinas
- 27named peaksSaxa Vord, Sothers Field, Valla Field and 24 more
- 1castles and fortsMuness Castle
- 107ruins and archaeological sitesHorse Powered Mill, Lund standing stone, Craw stone and 104 more
- 13waymarked walking routesHermaness, Belmot to Lund, Uyeasound to Muness and 10 more
- 2campsitesGardiesfauld Campsite, Gardiesfauld Caravan Park
- 5hotels, guesthouses and apartments
- 3restaurants, cafés and bars
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, inside the island's outline. A low number may only mean nobody has mapped it yet.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Unst in our other atlases
Everything Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas and Cascadyas know about what lies inside Unst, each with its own numbers.
9mountainsPeakyas
2lakesLakeyas
Highest point
200m
Hermaness Hill
according to Peakyas
Largest lake
1.1km²
Loch of Cliff
according to Lakeyas
Warmest lake
15.8°C
Loch of Watlee
surface water, warmest month · according to Lakeyas
9 mountains
on Peakyas, the mountain atlas
- Hermaness Hill200m
- Keen of Hamar
- Valla Field
- Saxa Vord
- Knowe of Gue
- Nikka Vord
- Muckle Heog
- Crussa Field
1 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗
2 lakes
on Lakeyas, the lake atlas
- Loch of Cliff1.1km²
- Loch of Watlee0.45km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
The shape of the land.
On average the island stands 58 m above the sea. 99 % of it is below 200 m.
- 55 %0–50 m
- 44 %50–200 m
- <1 %200–500 m
Share of the island's area in each altitude band, from the Copernicus DEM (30 m, read at 30–240 m on large islands).
Size, for real
Next to islands you may know.
10 km
All outlines drawn to the same scale (Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap).
Month by month
The weather on the island.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon high (°C) | 8 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 13 | 11 | 9 | 8 |
| Night low (°C) | 6 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 13 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 6 |
| Sea (°C) | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 12 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 9 |
| Rain (mm) | 136 | 98 | 100 | 62 | 61 | 61 | 83 | 96 | 97 | 117 | 120 | 126 |
| Wet days | 22 | 20 | 21 | 16 | 13 | 12 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 20 | 22 | 23 |
| Sun h/day | 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.9 | 5.3 | 6.9 | 6.1 | 5.5 | 5.3 | 3.4 | 1.9 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
| Wind (km/h) | 38 | 36 | 33 | 29 | 25 | 23 | 22 | 24 | 29 | 33 | 36 | 37 |
Averages 1991–2020 for the ~55 km NASA POWER cell over the island; the sea from NOAA OISST.
Recent years
Warmer and cooler years at sea.
Each month's sea temperature compared with its 1991–2020 average, in degrees.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | +0.4 | +0.2 | +0.1 | +0.3 | −0.1 | +1.0 | +0.8 | +0.3 | −0.1 | +0.2 | +0.1 | +0.5 |
| 2021 | ±0.0 | −0.4 | +0.1 | +0.3 | −0.1 | +0.5 | +0.9 | +0.4 | +1.0 | +0.4 | +0.5 | +0.4 |
| 2022 | +0.2 | +0.4 | +0.6 | +0.4 | +0.5 | +0.3 | −0.1 | −0.3 | +0.7 | +0.9 | +1.2 | +1.1 |
| 2023 | +0.9 | +0.7 | +0.5 | +0.4 | +0.2 | +0.9 | +1.4 | +0.4 | +1.0 | +0.4 | +0.2 | +0.2 |
| 2024 | +0.1 | +0.5 | +0.5 | +0.5 | +1.4 | +0.3 | −0.1 | −0.1 | +0.3 | +0.3 | +0.7 | +0.7 |
| 2025 | +0.6 | +1.2 | +0.9 | +1.3 | +1.6 | +0.7 | +1.8 | +0.7 | +1.5 | +1.5 | +1.3 | +1.0 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Nearby
More islands nearby.
Yell
United Kingdom210 km²205 m18 km away
FetlarUnited Kingdom40 km²158 m17 km away
MainlandUnited Kingdom948 km²450 m55 km away
WhalsayUnited Kingdom19 km²119 m44 km away
Muckle RoeUnited Kingdom17 km²172 m52 km away
BressayUnited Kingdom27 km²226 m68 km away
FoulaUnited Kingdom13 km²418 m94 km away
Fair IsleUnited Kingdom8.1 km²271 m142 km awayAbout these numbers
| Names, area, population | Wikidata (Q754867) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Outline | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Sea temperature | NOAA OISST v2.1 · 1991–2020 |
| Climate | NASA POWER · 1991–2020 |
| Relief, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Beaches, ports, lighthouses, trails | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Towns | GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Beaches, mountains, lakes and waterfalls | Peakyas, Lakeyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES (Messager et al. 2016) · CC BY 4.0, LakeTEMP (Korver et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0 |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
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