Planetary Trail

Take a walk across the solar system on our Planetary Trail in Unst, a cosmic journey from the Sun to Pluto.

NOTICE

A cosmic journey

Travel from the Sun to Pluto, discovering the relative distances between planets and some other surprises along the way!

The average walker on this trail will theoretically break the laws of physics by going faster than light.

You can walk from the trail’s Sun to Earth in a few seconds, whereas light takes 8.3 minutes in the real world. That’s 299,792,458 metres each second, or 186,000 miles each second.

Distances in Space

The trail shows you that some planets – for example, Venus and Earth – are relatively close together, others, such as Uranus and Neptune, are very far apart.

To give you a more pleasant (and faster) trip, distances between the planets have been compressed, but kept to scale.

So instead of walking 4.5 billion kilometres to get to your picnic on Pluto, you will only have to cover 1.5 km on the trail.

Each metre that you walk represents 30 million kilometres in space!

Discover the Planets

Planetary Trail Safety

If you are planning to walk the trail in Unst, we hope you enjoy it, but please remember these important rules:

• Wear appropriate clothing

• Keep an eye out for bad weather

• No dogs

• Do not enter the dilapidated building at the end of the trail – it is in a dangerous state

• Walking the trail is done so at your own risk

If you can’t make it to Unst, check back here soon, as we are developing the Planetary Trail as a virtual tour!

Where Land Ends

Enjoy stunning views from Saxa Vord, Unst’s highest point, across to Burrafirth and Muckle Flugga lighthouse, the UK’s most northerly location.

Visitor Comments

This really puts the enormity of the solar system into perspective. Well done.

Interesting information – my 8-year-old said it was the best walk ever.

We love the trail and got all the way to Pluto. Amazing to see the physical distance between the planets.

What a fabulous idea. We loved the walk and the sense of perspective.

For me, it was transformative; it was one of the most favourite experiences of my life.

What a brilliant place to locate and to discover our entire Solar System.

Beautiful idea for a project, brilliantly executed. I now have a new favourite asteroid!

Amazing! Spectacular scenery and so much interesting information. Most enjoyable. ***** 5 stars.

“Our family came on the Planetary Trail walk with you during UnstFest 2025. We all thoroughly enjoyed it so thank you very much! I thought I’d send you a picture our daughter drew this afternoon, inspired by the trail. It is her up in space in her astronaut suit with all the planets we visited (Unst asteroid included!)”