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.
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 | 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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