56 Best Sights in Aberdeen and the Northeast, Scotland

The entertaining and enthusiastically run Grampian Transport Museum specializes in road-based means of locomotion, backed up by archives and a library. Its collection of buses and trams is second to none, but the Craigievar Express, a steam-driven creation invented by the local postman to deliver mail more efficiently, is the most unusual. Look out for the Hillman Imp: if Scotland has a national car, this is it. There's a small café that offers tea, baked goods, and ice cream.

Built in 1732, this elegant mansion has a light and graceful Georgian design, with curving wings on either side of a harmonious, symmetrical facade. The interior is late-Victorian ornate, filled with magnificent paintings (including works by Pompeo Batoni and Sir Thomas Lawrence) and plenty of objets d'art. Pre-Raphaelite stained-glass windows by Sir Edward Burne-Jones grace the chapel. Outside is a terrace garden with a fountain, and a few yards farther is Haddo Country Park, which has walking trails leading to memorials about the Gordon family. Visits to the house are by prebooked tour only, which are held at 11, 1, and 3.

Leaving from Dufftown three times a day on weekends then returning from Keith, this restored locomotive lets you return to the age when trains were exciting, chugging 11 miles through forests, fields, and across rivers. It passes Drummuir Castle on its way to Keith, home of the Strathisla Distillery. The Sidings Cafe at Dufftown Station serves breakfast, light lunches, snacks, and afternoon tea.

Founded in 1494, King's College is now part of the University of Aberdeen. Its chapel, built around 1500, has an unmistakable flying (or crown) spire. That it has survived at all was because of the zeal of the principal, who defended his church against the destructive fanaticism that swept through Scotland during the Reformation, when the building was less than a century old. Today the renovated chapel plays an important role in university life. Don't miss the tall oak screen that separates the nave from the choir, the ribbed wooden ceiling, and the stalls, as these constitute the finest medieval wood carvings found anywhere in Scotland.

Across from the archway leading to King's College Chapel, this plain but handsome Georgian building was the center of all trading activity in the city before it became a grammar school, a Masonic lodge, and then a library. Now housing the university's museum, it hosts constantly changing exhibitions. It presents some impressive and often strange curiosities from the university's collection, from prehistoric flints to a tiger's penis.

Although the main A93 slinks off to the south from Braemar, a little unmarked road will take you farther west into the hilly heartland. The road offers views over the winding River Dee and the blue hills before passing through the tiny hamlet of Inverey and crossing a bridge at the Linn of Dee. Linn is a Scots word meaning "rocky narrows," and the river's gash here is deep and roaring. Park beyond the bridge and walk back to admire the sylvan setting.

A three- or four-hour walk takes you around glorious Loch Muick (Gaelic for "pig") and past Glas-alt Shiel, a favorite retreat of Queen Victoria's that you might recognize from the film Mrs. Brown. From Ballater, take the B976 over the River Dee before turning off at the sign for Glen Muick. Park at the Spittal of Loch Muick car park. The path around the loch is well signposted, although good boots are necessary for the stony beach at the far side of the loch. The native red deer are quite common throughout the Scottish Highlands, but here is one of the best places to see them.

Across the river in Banff's twin town, Macduff, on the shore east of the harbor, stands the conical Macduff Marine Aquarium. A 250,000-gallon central tank and many smaller display areas and touch pools show the sea life of the Moray Firth and North Atlantic. This place wouldn't be half as good without the staff, who are knowledgeable, inventive, and engaging, especially with children, and there's always some creature to admire—the stingrays cause the most excitement—or watch being fed by divers.

Founded in 1593 by the Earl Marischal (the keeper of the king's mares), Marischal College was a Protestant alternative to the Catholic King's College in Old Aberdeen. The two joined to form the University of Aberdeen in 1860. The spectacularly ornate work of the main university building is set off by the gilded flags, and this turn-of-the-20th-century creation is still one of the world's largest granite buildings.

Built in 1686 and restored in 1820, the Mercat Cross (the name stems from "marketplace"), always the symbolic center of a Scottish medieval burgh, stands just beyond King Street. Along its parapet are 12 portrait panels of the Stewart monarchs.

Five miles west of Ellon, at Pitmedden Garden is an exquisite re-creation of a 17th-century garden. It is best visited in summer, from July onward, when annual bedding plants—framed by precision-cut box hedging—form intricate formal patterns. The 100-acre estate also has woodland and farmland walks, as well as the Museum of Farming Life.

Given the general destruction caused by the 16th-century upheaval of the Reformation, abbeys in Scotland tend to be ruinous and deserted, but at the 13th-century Pluscarden Abbey the ancient way of life continues. Monks from Prinknash Abbey near Gloucester, England, returned here in 1948, and the abbey is now a Benedictine community. Daily mass is at 8 am (10 am on Sunday) and is sung by the monks using Gregorian chant.

Built in 1545, this dignified medieval building is the oldest of Aberdeen's historic townhouses. Home to wealthy merchant and Provost (mayor) of Aberdeen, Sir George Skene from 1676 to 1685, it reopened after a lengthy refurbishment in 2021 as the city's newest attraction. Inside, the Hall of Heroes celebrates the achievements of local figures including artists, musicians, writers, and sporting legends.

Three silvery, handsome buildings on this bridge are collectively known by all Aberdonians as Education, Salvation, and Damnation. The Central Library and St. Mark's Church date from the last decade of the 19th century, and His Majesty's Theatre (1904–08) has been restored inside to its full Edwardian splendor. If you're taking photographs, you can choose an angle that includes the statue of Scotland's first freedom fighter, Sir William Wallace (1270–1305), in the foreground pointing majestically to Damnation.

Built for Queen Victoria, this historic station and its railway line now serve passengers using veteran steam and diesel locomotives to haul vintage carriages along a short scenic route; the journey takes only 15–20 minutes.

The town has a fine mercat (market) cross and one main street—Seafield Street—that splits the town. It holds numerous specialty shops—antiques and gift stores, an ironmonger, a baker, a pharmacy, and a locally famous ice-cream shop among them—as well as several cafés.

Situated four miles south of Rothes, this working cooperage is the only place left in the U.K. where you can see coopers hard at work making wooden whisky casks. Since 1947, coopers here have been using American oak, along with traditional tools and methods, to create the casks for distilleries across Scotland and beyond. This visitor center gives you the chance to see the coopers at work and learn more about the life cycle of a cask, with tours throughout the working week. There's also a well-stocked gift shop and barrel-themed café.

Just north of Elgin sits Spynie Palace, the impressive 15th-century former headquarters of the bishops of Moray. It has now fallen into ruin, though the top of the tower has good views over the Laigh of Moray. Find it by turning right off the Elgin–Lossiemouth road.

At the center of Elgin, the most conspicuous structure is St. Giles Church, which divides High Street. The grand foursquare building, constructed in 1828, exhibits the Greek Revival style: note the columns, the pilasters, and the top of the spire, surmounted by a representation of the Monument of Lysicrates.

The original burgh church, the Mither Kirk, as this edifice is known, is not within the bounds of the early town settlement; that was to the east, near the end of present-day Union Street. During the 12th century, the port of Aberdeen flourished, and there wasn't room for the church within the settlement. Its earliest features are its pillars—supporting a tower built much later—and its clerestory windows: both date from the 12th century. The East Kirk is closed for renovation work, which has been extended due to the discovery of numerous skeletons, mainly children, that date back to the 12th century; the post-excavation work can be viewed from a large window in the Drum's Aisle. In the chapel, look for Shona McInnes's stained-glass window commemorating the victims of the 1989 Piper Alpha oil-rig disaster and a glass case containing two books. One lists the names of all those who've lost their lives in the pursuit of oil exploration in the North Sea; the second is empty, a testament to the many "unknown" workers whose deaths were never officially recorded. The church's congregation was dissolved in 2021 and it is no longer regularly used as a place of worship.

Whisky lovers should take the B9014 11 miles northeast from Dufftown—or alternatively, ride the Keith Dufftown Railway—to see one of Scotland's most iconic distilleries, the Strathisla Distillery, with its cobblestone courtyard and famous double-pagoda roofs. Stretching over the picturesque River Isla, the Strathisla Distillery was built in 1786 and now produces the main component of the Chivas Regal blend. Guided tours, for those 18 and over only, take you to the mash house, tun room, and still house—all pretty much the same as they were when production began. The tour ends with a tasting session.

As soon as you step into the old manager's office at the Balvenie Distillery—now gently restored and fitted with knotted-elm furniture—you realize the Balvenie wants to make sure that all visitors get to see, smell, and feel the magic of the making of this malt. The Balvenie is unusual because it has its own cooperage with six coopers hard at work turning the barrels. Tours show the mashing, fermentation, and distillation process and end with a tasting.

The famous Glenlivet was the first licensed distillery in the Highlands, founded in 1824 by George Smith. Today it produces one of the best-known 12-year-old single malts in the world. The 90-minute Original Tour offers an introduction to malt whisky making, explains the distillery's history, and includes a free dram; more in-depth tours are available. There's a coffee shop with baked goods and, of course, a whisky shop. Visitors must be 18 or over.

Crime and punishment in days gone by are the central themes at this community-run museum in a 16th-century building that was once Stonehaven's jail and courthouse. Exhibits include the wooden stocks, where up to seven miscreants at a time could be publicly humiliated, and the crank, an appalling torture machine. There's also an eclectic collection of old farming tools and household utensils.

The city was governed from this 17th-century building, which was also the burgh court and jail, for 200 years. Now a museum of crime and punishment, its highly entertaining tour guides take you around its cells and dungeons and bring life and death to the various instruments of torture---including the "Maiden," a decapitating machine---making it a must-see for older kids.

In the 19th-century development of Union Terrace stands a statue of Robert Burns (1759–96) addressing a daisy. Behind Burns are the Union Terrace Gardens. A £25.7 million development that aims to improve access to the gardens and make it a more attractive space for performances and corporate events is expected to be completed in summer 2022.