Is Aberdeen Worth Visiting? When tourists and holidaymakers travel to the UK, they usually land in cities like London or Edinburgh. There’s a lot more to the British Isles, with many other ancient cities brimming with culture and unique attractions. The Granite City – Aberdeen – is one of them.
Aberdeen is located on the eastern coast of Scotland, nearly 100 miles north of Edinburgh. While Edinburgh and Glasgow are more common destinations, they’re based in the south of Scotland which comes with a different culture and history. When foreigners think of Scotland, they often think of the Highlands. Aberdeen takes you right to their doorstep.
Fortunately, there are a lot of transport options to get you to Aberdeen. By population, it’s Scotland’s third largest city, so there are always travellers coming in and out. Most traffic is through London, due to it having the most international flight connections. From London, there are cheap flights to Aberdeen available with many departure airport options: these flights run from Heathrow, Luton and – after a brief hiatus a couple of years ago – Gatwick. It’s a faster and typically cheaper means for Brits in the south to get between the two cities than, say, driving or taking the train.
Great Reasons Why Aberdeen Is Worth Visiting:
Aberdeen’s Natural Scene
Having mentioned Aberdeen’s location, let’s start with its natural scenery. Being a coastal city close to the Cairngorms National Park, Aberdeen is a great getaway for those who are looking for a holiday spent in the middle of nature. Inside the Cairngorms, which is the UK’s largest national park, there are plenty of opportunities for hiking, plus unique activities like skiing which you’ll struggle to do elsewhere in Britain. It also covers four mountains, Ben Macdui, Cairn Gorm, Braeriach, and Mount Keen, in order of tallest to smallest. Ben Macdui is the second-tallest mountain in Scotland behind Ben Nevis.
As for the Aberdeenshire coast, it includes Balmedie Beach to the north – one of Scotland’s best beaches that isn’t in the Outer Hebrides. Closer to Aberdeen city, you have the Donmouth Local Nature Reserve where species of waterfowl and seal thrive. Over its river, the River Don, is the Brig ‘o’ Balgownie. This is a 13th Century pedestrian bridge made from granite, considered to be the oldest in Scotland, towering over one of the Don’s quietest spans. That brings us to Aberdeen’s unique history, which is a tourist attraction in itself.
Aberdeen’s Rich History
For those interested in history, Aberdeen is brimming with opportunities to look back at a settlement that’s over 8,000 years old. Most surviving architecture, like the Brig ‘o’ Balgownie, started in the 1300s. Where historical tourist sites are concerned, Dunnottar Castle is a top attraction in the region, located in the town of Stonehaven, just down the coast from Aberdeen city. As a fortress, its history is bound up with Viking raids, Jacobite risings, and defending the Scottish crown jewels from Oliver Cromwell. Built on a piece of jutting rock in the North Sea, it’s a perfect example of where nature provides the best defense. The Tolbooth Museum is in Stonehaven too.
There’s a lot more historical architecture closer to Aberdeen, such the Marischal College. This is one of the world’s largest granite buildings which, along with the Brig ‘o’ Balgownie and St. Machar’s Cathedral, is why Aberdeen was called the Granite City. The Aberdeen Maritime Museum is a modernised location that has a lot of exhibits from the 1500s onwards. It includes immaculate scale models of ships, old diving suits, and even more recent exhibits as part of the North Sea oil industry. The Gordon Highlanders Museum also documents the history of the military regiment through the first World War and beyond.
Visit Aberdeen’s Whisky Distilleries
If you’re a fan of quality drinks, you’ve heard of Scotch whisky and its reputation for quality. It’s an industry that has grown in Scotland, with nearly 150 distilleries. Many of them can be found in Aberdeenshire, which has a history of producing whisky and gin. It was in Aberdeen where some of the oldest Scottish references to a still were recorded.
Scotch whisky is separated into regions based on Scotland’s geography. It’s generally agreed that Speyside is the best, nestled between Moray and Aberdeenshire, within travelling distance. It’s where you’ll find names like Balvenie, Glenfiddich and Glenlivet, and all of them run tours and offer samples. In Aberdeen, you’ll also find the City of Aberdeen Distillery & Gin School which aims to be a commercial distillery closer to the heart of the Granite City. They also run a distillery tour and a masterclass on gin tasting, including the opportunity to distil your own gin.
Explore Aberdeen’s Art
If you’re a fan of art festivals like the Edinburgh Fringe, you’ll be pleased to know that Aberdeen has similar events. First, there’s the Aberdeen Art Gallery where paintings from the 18th to the 21st century are kept all year round, particularly those by Scottish artists. It also features pieces by Monet and Renoir. If painted art isn’t your thing, it also features selections of glass, ceramics, and silver.
Then there’s NuArt, a festival that originally began in Norway and has grown an offshoot in Aberdeen in recent years. It’s a non-profit event that focuses on street art, where large murals are painted on any blank stretch of granite the city permits them to use, typically around the market area. Aberdeen’s close relationship with the Nordic world is also reflected in the Granite Noir crime writing festival, which aims to showcase local writing talent with a focus on Nordic noir genres. During both festivals, you can also find live music, food stands, and a host of other entertainment options. Granite Noir typically takes place in February while NuArt aims for June and other summer months.
Visit Balmoral Castle
Everybody’s heard that the Royal Family spends a lot of their time at Balmoral Castle, with it being the late Queen Elizabeth’s favourite summer home. Buckingham Palace is more widely known, so many can’t point Balmoral out on the map. Fortunately for you, it’s in Aberdeenshire, between the city and the Cairngorms.
You can plan ahead and check the castle out on a day trip from Aberdeen. Naturally, this is when there’s no royal presence on the site. While you can get a look-in at one of the country’s finest homes, it’s surrounded by parkland that has been adapted for local tourism. For example, you can get a safari tour that takes you around the site with a focus on wildlife and the natural beauty of the area. It’s a great addition to your Scottish nature bucket list.
Try Aberdeen’s Restaurants
While we may not associate Scottish cities with high cuisine often, Aberdeen has a lot of unique offerings due to its coastal location and proximity to Angus beef sources, not to mention all those amazing distilleries. Being a coastal city, it benefits from fresher fish than inland locations, so there are plenty of fish & chip shops to eat at.
Some unique Scottish foods include Scotch broth, Cambus O’May cheese, skirlie oatmeal, butteries and stovies, Cullen skink, and more familiar examples like haggis. There are plenty of things to try that you wouldn’t find in other cities, particularly those south of the border. It also has familiar British pub grub and seafood locations.
Being one of the country’s larger cities, it also has other restaurants covering Italian, Indian, Caribbean, Steakhouse, Cajun, and Mediterranean cuisine. So, if you’re looking for new foodie experiences or want something familiar while enjoying Aberdeen’s other sights, the Granite City has you covered.
Those are just six areas which make Aberdeen worth visiting, where the city offers experiences that can’t be found elsewhere. The Granite City is a modern British city that brings together nature, history, art, and good food.
As a region, Aberdeenshire, with the Cairngorms and Speyside, is filled with natural beauty and many great destinations for lovers of whisky, castles, and naval history. If any of those appeal to you, Aberdeen should be your next trip destination.
So, it’s Aberdeen worth visiting? A big, firm YES!
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