Orkney's second town and the main ferry port from mainland Scotland, Stromness is one of the most attractive small ports in Scotland. The narrow flagstone main street (variously named Victoria Street, Graham Place, Dundas Street, and Alfred Street as it winds along the harbour) is barely wide enough for a single car, and the stone houses crowd it on both sides. Many of the houses have their own piers reaching into the harbour at the back.
The Pier Arts Centre on the waterfront has a small but excellent collection of twentieth-century British art (Hepworth, Nicholson, Wallis, plus contemporary Orkney work). The Stromness Museum gives a thorough account of the town's maritime and natural history. Worth a long half-day's wander. Most cars and visitors heading to Skara Brae or the Neolithic sites pass through.