Ayres Rock Hostel and Campsite

Ayres Rock Hostel and Campsite offers a quiet, remote stay overlooking a pebble beach on the Orkney island of Sanday. Tents and campervans are welcome, with a mixture of grass and hardstanding pitches and electrical hook-up on some pitches. Insulated glamping pods have electricity and heating, providing an alternative to bringing your own camping equipment. Toilets, showers and washing-machine facilities are in the main hostel building. Dogs are welcome, and the campsite is open all year, with online booking available.

Exploring Sanday means travelling between distinct stretches of coast rather than finding everything in one village. Its low-lying landscape combines farmland, dunes and machair, with broad sandy bays around the shoreline. A car or bicycle is useful for seeing more of the island. Cata Sand is a tidal bay edged by substantial dunes, while Backaskaill has a sweeping sandy beach with rock pools at its western end. Whitemill Bay, on the north coast, looks towards North Ronaldsay. These are places to explore around Sanday, separate from the campsite’s pebble shore.

For an outing combining archaeology and coastal walking, Quoyness Chambered Cairn stands on the Els Ness peninsula. Visitors follow a coastal path from the parking area north of Quoyayre; there is no public vehicle access beyond it. The cairn is free to visit year-round, but entering its chambers involves crawling and conditions can be wet—a useful consideration when deciding whether to explore inside.