Up Helly Aa

Up Helly Aa is Lerwick's fire festival, held on the last Tuesday in January and run by volunteers. The Up Helly Aa Committee, 17 volunteers elected by the guizers who take part, organises it each year. It is a community festival: the guizers, the galley builders, the torch makers and the hosts and hostesses of the halls are all local volunteers.

The festival's own history describes it as relatively modern. Lerwick's rowdy Yuletide celebrations with burning tar barrels gave way, around 1870, to a new festival with the name Up Helly Aa, disguise or “guizing” and a torchlight procession. The Viking galley appeared in the late 1880s, and the Guizer Jarl, the chief guizer, in 1906. Since 1920 the Jarl Squad, the Vikings for the day, has designed and made a new suit, shield and weapons each year, with preparations starting about two years ahead.

For the first time in 2023, squads could take part with no gender restrictions. The organisers say the Lerwick Up Helly Aa Committee took the decision after discussing how to take the festival forward following its two-year absence during the Covid-19 pandemic.

This edition

Up Helly Aa 2027 is on Tuesday 26 January 2027. The Guizer Jarl's character, the saga and the galley's colour are kept secret until the day. The Jarl Squad marches through Lerwick from 08:15, and at 19:30 the torches are lit on the Hillhead below the Town Hall for the evening procession and the burning of the galley. Eleven Up Helly Aas are held around Shetland between January and March.

• The Bill: the year's proclamation, displayed at the Market Cross from 06:00 to 17:00 on Up Helly Aa day.
• The morning march: the Guizer Jarl and Jarl Squad march with the galley along the Esplanade and Commercial Street to the Bressay Ferry Terminal for the official photographs.
• Shetland Museum visit: in the afternoon the Jarl Squad visits the museum, a public chance to see the suits up close.
• Torchlit procession: at 19:30 the streetlights go off, the 900-plus senior torches are lit on the Hillhead and nearly a thousand guizers follow the galley through the town.
• Junior Up Helly Aa: the junior procession leaves the Hillhead at 17:30 and burns its own smaller galley.

• Lerwick: the whole festival happens in the town, so you can walk to every part of the day. Promote Shetland says accommodation in Lerwick books up months in advance for Up Helly Aa, “so book early”.
• Sumburgh and the South Mainland: near Sumburgh Airport, about 25 miles south, with an hourly Service 6 bus to Lerwick. Check the timetable for the last bus back after the evening procession.
• On the NorthLink ferry: the overnight sailing from Aberdeen arrives in Lerwick at 07:30, so a cabin or sleeping pod gets you in before the morning march.

By air: Sumburgh Airport (LSI) is nearly 25 miles south of Lerwick. Loganair flies there from Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Kirkwall; there are no direct flights from airports outside Scotland, so connect through one of these. An hourly bus to Lerwick (Service 6, South Mainland) leaves from opposite the terminal, and taxis usually wait outside.

By ferry: NorthLink Ferries sails overnight from Aberdeen to Lerwick, 216 miles, leaving in the early evening and arriving at 07:30. On some nights the ship calls at Hatston in Orkney on the way; there are also sailings from Kirkwall to Lerwick. NorthLink recommends booking a reclining seat, sleeping pod or cabin for the overnight crossing, and you can take your car.

On the day: the events are in central Lerwick. The streetlights are switched off for the procession, and the burning site at the King George V playing field is closed to the public and press. The Up Helly Aa Committee can't help with travel or accommodation and refers visitors to Shetland.org. Hire cars are available on Shetland; Promote Shetland recommends booking as soon as possible. For bus times, see travelling by bus.

We don't have a Shetland guide yet; see our UK guide. For New Year in Scotland, see Edinburgh's Hogmanay.

Flight delayed or cancelled on the way? See our Travel Disruption guide for your rights.

The morning march, the torchlit procession and the galley burning are public events, watched from the streets. The burning site itself is closed to the public.

After the burning, the squads visit the halls through the night. The organisers say the halls are ticketed events run by volunteers, and the guests are invited and help run the hall. Tickets for most halls are handled by their hosts and hostesses, and the committee can't help with ticket requests. Lerwick Town Hall is the only hall that offers tickets to the public through the official website. For 2026 they cost £50, applications opened in December 2025, and the organisers asked people to check back later in 2026 for 2027. A small number of hall tickets is sometimes advertised in the Shetland Times towards the end of the year.

• Timing: the squads muster on the Hillhead from 19:00. Promote Shetland suggests arriving a little before 19:00 for a good viewing spot near the Town Hall.
• Crowds: the organisers say over 5,000 spectators line the route on a good night. The morning crowd at the Bressay Ferry Terminal includes many school and nursery children.
• Weather and daylight: Promote Shetland gives average winter temperatures of about 4–6°C, but warns that the wind makes it feel much colder. Wear layers with a waterproof, windproof outer shell, plus a hat and gloves. By late January the days are lengthening, but they are still short. Check the Met Office forecast for Lerwick.
• Programmes: official and souvenir programmes are sold in Lerwick shops, including Harrys Department Store and the Shetland Times bookshop.
• Can't go? Promote Shetland often streams the evening procession live on Facebook and YouTube.
• Local food: Promote Shetland says guizers are served mutton soup and bannocks in the halls, and calls reestit mutton and tattie soup a Shetland winter staple.

The Up Helly Aa Committee doesn't publish accessibility information, and the events are outdoors on Lerwick's streets in winter, at night and in crowds. Promote Shetland's Accessible Shetland page lists accessible cabins, lifts and Changing Places toilets on NorthLink ferries, help at the Aberdeen and Lerwick terminals, low-floor buses with wheelchair spaces and accessible taxis. The committee doesn't list a contact page; see its FAQs.

The evening procession is cordoned off for safety, and no members of the public or press are allowed into the burning site at the King George V playing field. Keep to the spectator areas along the route.

• Before you go, read the UK government's FCDO travel advice for the United Kingdom (entry requirements, safety and local laws).
• Flight delayed or cancelled on the way? See our Travel Disruption guide for your rights and live alerts.