City break tips - Aberdeen and Dundee

[Lottapianos]

Thinking of a Scottish holiday in September. Never been to either Aberdeen or Dundee and interested in visiting both, probably 3-4 nights in each

Please share your tips for both cities:
Restaurants
Pubs
Walks
Parks
Culture (museums, galleries etc)
Shopping

Will be getting the train from London so no car. Thanks all!

I'm assuming from the way you've worded this that you've already been to other places in Scotland? Otherwise Aberdeen and Dundee seem like pretty out there choices for a leisure holiday, I've gotta say.

(Disclaimer: I live in Scotland)

Love Dundee!
V and A, discovery point, riverfront walk.
Great beach across the river- Tentsmuir.
Broughty ferry great for a mooch round nice shops.

I would definitely go to Dundee rather than Aberdeen.

Tour The Discovery ship. The V and A is right beside it.
Brought ferry for shops and cafes

Top tip re Aberdeen: don't 🤣

We had a great holiday in the east of Scotland in 2020, including Dundee.

The city was great, but it was the surrounding area we liked more. If I was you, I'd do Dundee and St Andrews (stopping in between if the transport links work). Broughty Ferry was nice, as a PP said, and we loved Arbroath too (I'd assume that's easily accessible by public transport from Dundee). The Kelpies at Falkirk too, if you can get there. And Perth was a good place to spend a few hrs.

The East Neuk of Fife was fab - lovely little fishing villages and great walking and beaches. I'm sure you'd be able to get a bus there from Dundee (probably not a train), and then make your way to St Andrews, which was a lovely town (city), with castle, and fab beaches.

In Dundee itself, I don't remember where we ate, which probably means it wasn't that memorable (food is important to me on holiday), but I don't remember eating a bad meal. The V&A was OK - I was expecting to be wowed, from reading reviews, and whilst it was a good way to pass a few hrs, it wasn't a 'must do'. We walked up a big hill for a great view over the city (can't remember the name!)

Haven't been as far as Inverness, so can't comment on that part of your plan.

Doh! Aberdeen, not Inverness. Not been there either!

Dundee Aberdeen is cold and nothing much to see. Although Dundee is rough In parts.

Inverness is definitely worth a visit .

Is it adults or kids too?

I would also do St Andrews and Montrose. Montrose has a wildlife centre on the basin, air heritage station, golf course.
Arbroath has a lovely harbour area and boatyard restaurant.

Went to Dundee (and Edinburgh) back in the spring. The main reason for Dundee was to visit Discovery with my DC (ship obsessed). I enjoyed Discovery much more than I expected to. The V&A is OK - really quite empty but a nice cafe (Discovery also has a nice cafe) and everyone was falling over themselves helpful in the V&A (possibly as there isn't much there...).

We also went to Verdant Works which was interesting too (got a taxi there and it really felt out of the city centre though it isn't really). It did feel a bit spooky - but possibly as we were the only visitors and it is quite a big space. Some of the set up is noticeably 1980's mannequin arrangement - but it was packed with information and had some more modern bits. I learnt a lot which may or may not be what you want from a city break?

We had mixed success with our hotel (scam artists at the hotel bar - pint of soda and lime cost more than a pint of beer). It was a 'nice' hotel but also sort of in a building site. I didn't feel it was worth the cost. I'd do Premier Inn near Discovery if we went back.

Food was mixed as well - in terms of meals (cafes already mentioned were super but evening meals a bit more hit and miss). I confess it wasn't the friendliest of cities from our experiences (it's no Glasgow in that respect) - and some customer service was sorely lacking. But (apart from being fleeced over non-alcoholic drinks) nothing was super horrendous. The city centre is not very endearing - it has a very post-industrial down at heel feel - it may be having a renaissance, but it also may not...it reminded me (slightly) of Greenock in the early 90's without the warmth and humour. I don't think this is what the tourist board would want to run as a tourist campaign! There was a stark contrast with Edinburgh - as would be expected really.

There was oodles of info at tourist information within the V&A - lots of self-guided walking trails. We were only there for 2 days and that felt plenty of time for us.

I can highly recommend the McManus Galleries - in hindsight I'd skip Verdant Works (probably) and spend more time at McManus.

Shopping - err, there's not much you can't get online or in any high street really. There may be artisan crafts hiding somewhere - if you find them tell me where! I suspect St Andrews has cornered that market locally. If it's high end you're after you just need to go to Glasgow (or Edinburgh - but Glasgow has the edge). There is a Fisher & Donaldson bakery (worth a visit) but personally I was happy with a less fancy bakery stocking my beloved Empire biscuits and Snowballs at economical prices...Baynes I think it was called.

As for Aberdeen - I went once 20 years ago in February. I have not returned and nor is it on my top 100, or even top 1000 places to visit again. I may be doing it a huge dis-service. But if you do go, go in summer - preferably high summer - that may improve it.

I like both city’s , in Dundee V&A which is a amazing building, but not that much in it. Aberdeen art gallery has much more in it. Dundee has a lovely water front . And I love Broughty ferry you can walk there from Dundee water front but if you can hirer a bike that would be better.
Aberdeen has a great theatres HMT and the music hall , also the lemon tree
if you look up Aberdeen box office you will find out what’s on when you want to visit. You can get the bus right up royal Deeside so can visit Balmoral castle and Crathies castle with out a car. Also look at PJ live to see if anything good is on for your dates. Visit footdee (pronounced Fittie aberdeens old fishing village) and the beach. Lots of bars and restaurants around the city , my fav at the moment is magpies grill which looks over marshals college , and next to provost Skenes house (oldest in Aberdeen) . Duthie park ( Winter gardens) and hazelhead park both nice , you can also walk along the river Dee from Duthie park. Kings collage and St Machars cathedral (Old Aberdeen) then on to Seaton park which has the river don and the brig o Balgownie.
If you get nice weather then you will enjoy both city’s, if it rains they both can be a bit depressing. Also Aberdeen has a city electric bike hire scheme so you can just jump on a bike .

I would take a look at both city’s on Tripadvisor .

Maggies grill not magpie

The big hill is The Law 🙂

Dundee has a science centre which is great for primary age kids.

I'd recommend the Spanish tapas place in Broughty Ferry, and Rama Thai in Dundee city centre.

Perth Road in Dundee has some nice shops/cafes/small galleries. As does BF of course.

Aberdeen:

Art gallery has some impressive stuff.
Maritime museum.
Tolbooth museum.
Duthie Park and the Winter Gardens.
Hazelhead Park has the Piper Alpha memorial.
Lots of castles - Dunottar, Drum, Crathes.

8848 is a great curry house.
Lunch at The Silver Darling in Fittie.
Fish and chips at The Ashvale.
The Grill pub - huge array of whiskies, and known for only installing a ladies loo in 1998.

I can’t imagine why anyone would consider either place for a holiday. Sorry.

I live in Arbroath so in between both cities and I love a day out in either. My main suggestions for both places have already been mentioned though.

Another place you could get to from Dundee would be Kirriemuir. There's not a lot there but they've got JM Barrie's birthplace and you could take a selfie with the Bon Scott statue. There should be buses to there from Dundee.

Dundee to Arbroath is easy on public transport, the 39 and X7 buses take you from bus station to bus station, or the trains are regular as well. There's a 73 bus but it takes an hour to get through to Arbroath, you can use that if you wanted to go to Broughty Ferry or Carnoustie though! The X7 actually runs from Perth, through Dundee, Arbroath, Montrose and a bunch of other places until it gets to Aberdeen, it takes around 2.5 hours from Dundee to Aberdeen though so I'd only really recommend it if you wanted to go to Perth, Arbroath or Montrose, and my DH might actually be your driver.

If you wanted to see St Andrews, again there are buses there from Dundee. We're a pretty good area for public transport, although you do get the odd cancellation still.

We don't have a lot in the way of shops here in Arbroath but there are some nice restaurants and pubs. If you did come here then the Old Brewhouse and Old Boatyard both do lovely food, especially if you like seafood. And the Commercial Inn has a gorgeous massive beer garden out the back if you just wanted a refreshment on a nice day. All three are in the harbour area. We also love getting chips from The Marina chippy at the harbour and sitting looking at the boats (weather permitting of course, and watch out for the seagulls!). Also at the harbour, Marcos does nice ice cream and there's a lovely wee gift shop called the Bo'sun's Cabin near the lifeboat station. There's also the Signal Tower museum which has loads of info about the Bell Rock lighthouse (which I think there are still boat trips out to, although we've never done that).

In the High St there's decent food at the Townhouse Hotel or if you want some simple pub grub then the Pageant bar is good (it's one of our regular haunts in town even if it's just for a few drinks). One thing you won't fail to find here is a pub tbh, we have a good number of them, although not as many as we had at one point.

We live between them. HMS Unicorn is worth a visit in Dundee as is Discovery. I like the McManus, spent hours there as a student sitting in front of a Rossetti writing essays. Heading north, Arbroath cliffs are worth exploring and there are some kayaking tours that look good assuming everyone is old enough. I really enjoyed the Lighthouse museum because the story of the Bell Rock and its lighthouse is fascinating. By Arbroath there is also a distillery which does tours/tastings. Can't comment on the tours but their gin is good.

The beaches at Lunan Bay and St Cyrus are lovely for long walks. There is a cave at the end of the former and a waterfall at the end of the latter. Montrose Air Museum is an interesting stop off as well and if you have kids or just fancy a delicious giant apple strudel covered in cream and strawberries then Charleton Fruit Farm is worth a visit (we go for both as they have a huge outdoor play area which is free to access).

Dunnottar Castle by Stonehaven is interesting historically and visually. There are lots of follies in Dunnottar woods including a shell house and Lady Kennedy's bath which can make for an interesting walk.

In Aberdeen itself, I love Duthie Park (first "trip" out for both my kids as newborns) especially the Winter Gardens and the Art Gallery. I've also heard good things about the Harbour boat tours to the point it's on our summer list when we get back from our holiday.

With a bit of walking, all that with the possible exception of Lunan Bay is easily doable with public transport.

Dinosauratemydaffodils

forgot about the harbour boat tour from Aberdeen , also Aberdeen has a maritime museum which is very interesting. Also just pop on the bus to Stonehaven and have lunch at the harbour.

Would also like to say both city’s the locals are mostly friendly, and will happily give you the time of day and a smile, and a blether in a bar. Would say Dundee is a bit more rough then Aberdeen. Aberdeen has two universities so always seems to have more of a mix of cultures living in it , plus lots of people moved here because of the oil industry.

If you do decide to come , please let’s us all know what you made of our city’s by the sea!!

So much information! Thanks to everyone who took the time to reply. Got some planning to do with DP 😊

The in laws live in Aberdeenshire, the area is lovely for walking and golf but the city is very dull. Lots of lovely places in Scotland to go to long before I would choose Aberdeen

Dundee also has 2 universities.

Someone mentioned unthread hiring a bike in Dundee, that isn't possible anymore.

Also Dundee has a local train to Arbroath which stops at brought ferry, much easier and faster than the bus.

City centre wise both Aberdeen and Dundee have little to offer retail wise. Like every other high street they are full of empty units

Hospitalfield in Arbroath is worth a visit too. Lovely cafe, fernery, walled garden often with art installations and they do tours of the house.

I've a soft spot for Arbroath we used to go on holiday when I was younger with my mum and extended family it was great.