Satellite: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX (CC BY 4.0). Outline and points © OpenStreetMap contributors / Natural Earth. North up.
In numbers
19.4km²
Area
35km
Coastline
119m
Highest point
1,061
People
13°C
Warmest sea
August
324km
To the mainland
When to go to Whalsay
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.
Island, one of the Shetland Islands, Scotland, UK
Whalsay is an island in United Kingdom. It belongs to Shetland Islands. It covers 19.4 km², with 35 km of coastline. Its highest point rises to 119 m. About 1,061 people live on it. The nearest mainland is 324 km away.
Getting there
- Sumburgh Airport (LSI)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 56 km in a straight lineCar hire at KOI airport (Kirkwall, Orkney Islands)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- FerriesVidlin - Whalsay
- 324 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 Whalsay.
- 3beaches
- 1lighthousesSuther Ness Lighthouse
- 1ferry terminals
- 1marinas
- 2named peaksWard of Clett, Setter Hill
- 18ruins and archaeological sitesBrough and 17 more
- 5waymarked walking routesLoch of Houll, Ward of Clett and Hevda Field, Challister Ness Walk and 2 more
- 1campsitesOot Ower Lounge
- 1restaurants, 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
Whalsay in our other atlases
Everything Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas and Cascadyas know about what lies inside Whalsay, each with its own numbers.
3mountainsPeakyas
2lakesLakeyas
Largest lake
0.19km²
Loch of Huxter
according to Lakeyas
Warmest lake
16.2°C
Loch of Houll
surface water, warmest month · according to Lakeyas
2 lakes
on Lakeyas, the lake atlas
- Loch of Huxter0.19km²
- Loch of Houll0.12km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
The shape of the land.
On average the island stands 35 m above the sea. 100 % of it is below 200 m.
- 75 %0–50 m
- 25 %50–200 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.
5 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) | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 13 | 11 | 9 | 8 |
| Night low (°C) | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 6 |
| Sea (°C) | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 12 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 9 |
| Rain (mm) | 136 | 100 | 98 | 65 | 66 | 69 | 86 | 101 | 105 | 124 | 122 | 126 |
| Wet days | 22 | 20 | 21 | 16 | 14 | 13 | 17 | 17 | 19 | 21 | 22 | 23 |
| Sun h/day | 0.0 | 1.2 | 2.9 | 5.2 | 6.9 | 6.3 | 5.6 | 5.0 | 3.1 | 1.9 | 0.4 | 0.0 |
| Wind (km/h) | 37 | 35 | 32 | 28 | 25 | 23 | 22 | 23 | 28 | 32 | 35 | 36 |
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 | +0.2 | +0.3 | ±0.0 | +1.0 | +0.7 | +0.4 | −0.1 | +0.2 | +0.3 | +0.5 |
| 2021 | +0.2 | −0.2 | −0.1 | ±0.0 | −0.3 | +0.6 | +0.8 | +0.2 | +0.8 | +0.5 | +0.6 | +0.4 |
| 2022 | +0.3 | +0.3 | +0.4 | +0.3 | +0.4 | +0.3 | −0.3 | −0.5 | +0.5 | +1.0 | +1.2 | +1.0 |
| 2023 | +0.9 | +0.6 | +0.4 | +0.4 | ±0.0 | +0.8 | +1.0 | +0.1 | +0.7 | +0.4 | +0.1 | +0.1 |
| 2024 | ±0.0 | +0.2 | +0.2 | +0.5 | +1.3 | +0.3 | −0.3 | −0.3 | +0.3 | +0.4 | +0.6 | +0.5 |
| 2025 | +0.6 | +1.0 | +0.7 | +1.3 | +1.4 | +0.6 | +1.5 | +0.6 | +1.4 | +1.7 | +1.3 | +0.9 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Nearby
More islands nearby.
Mainland
United Kingdom948 km²450 m19 km away
YellUnited Kingdom210 km²205 m30 km away
BressayUnited Kingdom27 km²226 m24 km away
FetlarUnited Kingdom40 km²158 m27 km away
Muckle RoeUnited Kingdom17 km²172 m25 km away
UnstUnited Kingdom119 km²284 m44 km away
FoulaUnited Kingdom13 km²418 m66 km away
Fair IsleUnited Kingdom8.1 km²271 m99 km awayAbout these numbers
| Names, area, population | Wikidata (Q552027) · 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.
The family
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