Up Helly Aa

The day

Up Helly Aa is Lerwick's fire festival, held on the last Tuesday in January: 26 January in 2027. The Jarl Squad, the only group in Viking dress, marches through town in the morning. After dark nearly a thousand guizers follow the Jarl's galley through the streets with lit torches, and the galley is burned. The festival is run entirely by volunteers.

The Jarl Squad starts at 8:15am at Islesburgh Community Centre. It reaches the British Legion, leaves at 9:40am and marches along the Esplanade and Commercial Street, pausing to view the Bill, a proclamation displayed at the Market Cross. Its last stop is the Bressay Ferry Terminal for the official photographs, and that stretch is cordoned off. The civic reception at the Town Hall is by invitation, and the Guizer Jarl is given the freedom of the town for 24 hours. The squad then visits schools, the hospital and care homes, and arrives at the Shetland Museum at 3:30pm.

In the evening the squads muster on the Hillhead from 7pm. At 7:15pm the Jarl Squad moves from the back of the procession to the front, and at 7:30pm a maroon signals the torches. Over 900 senior torches are lit, and the town's streetlights go off.

Where to watch

The morning march is the one to see if you want the detail of the costumes, which the dark hides in the evening. The squad passes along the Esplanade and Commercial Street after 9:40am, and the Bill stands at the Market Cross from 6am to 5pm. The Bressay Ferry Terminal, where the march ends, is where a large crowd usually gathers.

Spectators line the route, which the committee publishes as a map on uphellyaa.org. Squads muster on the Hillhead below the Town Hall and the torches light at 7:30pm, so be on the route before then. The procession is streamed live by Promote Shetland, usually on its Facebook page and YouTube channel.

You will see the procession and not the burning, then. Plan for the route, not for the field.

Hall tickets

After the burning the squads visit the halls, one by one, and perform skits and dances for the guests. Lerwick Town Hall is one of eleven halls open that night, and the committee calls it the only venue selling tickets directly to the public through its website. A ticket was £50, with doors at 8:30pm and the event running from 9pm to 9am. Seating is first come, first served. You bring your own drink and plastic cups, no bottles are allowed in the main hall, and shoes with heels over 10mm are not.

Applications for the 2026 festival opened in December 2025 and closed once places were allocated. The committee posts each new window on its tickets page, and tells applicants who miss out to check back later in the year. Other halls are mostly private parties, and the committee cannot help with ticket requests.

Getting there

Loganair is the only airline flying scheduled passenger flights to Sumburgh Airport, at the southern tip of Shetland Mainland. Shetland's tourism site gives flight times of 1 hour from Aberdeen, 1 hour 30 minutes from Edinburgh and Glasgow, and 1 hour 45 minutes from Inverness, where the flight stops briefly in Orkney. The airport is about 25 miles south of Lerwick, with taxis, car hire and regular buses.

NorthLink Ferries runs an overnight crossing from Aberdeen to Lerwick, about 12 hours, or 14 to 15 hours if the sailing calls at Kirkwall in Orkney. Cabins, sleeping pods and reclining seats are available, and cars can be taken. The shetland.org page says vehicle spaces and cabins fill quickly, and that an amended timetable may apply in January, February and March during maintenance. Check the sailing for your date.

Where to sleep

Sleep in Lerwick if you can. The march, the Market Cross, the Hillhead and the Town Hall are all in the town, and the halls run until the morning, so a room within walking distance saves you the search for a lift. Book as soon as you settle the date.

Sumburgh puts you by the airport, about 25 miles from the procession. The ferry cabin is the other option: the Aberdeen to Lerwick crossing is overnight.