North East Scotland

North East Scotland is the low-lying eastern region of Scotland bounded by the Firth of Forth to the south and the Moray Firth to the north; its cities are Aberdeen, Dundee and Perth. It's not an administrative region, but has a distinct cultural identity, and (especially in rural Aberdeenshire) dialects that are distinctive and to English ears anything but distinct.

Counties

Most visitors will approach from south to north.

North East Scotland regions - Color-coded map

Fife It's quickly reached from Edinburgh, and much of west Fife is commuterland and industry, yet here are the ancient abbey of 1 Dunfermline and exquisite coastal village of Culross. The scenery improves east of 2 Kirkcaldy; Falkland Palace lies inland, and the coast ("The East Neuk") has a series of picturesque fishing villages. From here there are boat trips to 1 Isle of May, a nature reserve. The highlight of Fife is classy 3 St Andrews.

Perth and Kinross The River Tay rolls out of the mountains at bonny 4 Perth, which is the usual gateway to the central highlands via Dunkeld. But its lowland environs are equally attractive: Glendevon into Gleneagles is one of the prettiest glens in Scotland, and Crieff is a fine town. The autumn colours around Perth can rival those of New England.

Angus Its city of 5 Dundee was once a drab industrial place, but it's been rejuvenated with galleries, museums and a couple of unusual sailing ships. Next door is the golf resort of Carnoustie, and further north the fishing town of Arbroath. Inland, set in farmland and fruit-growing country, is 2 Glamis Castle . Mountains rear up beyond, towards Glenshee.

Aberdeenshire A large county, centred on the grey granite city of 6 Aberdeen. Other fishing ports along its coast are 7 Fraserburgh and 8 Stonehaven. Lots of castles here, from ruined dramatic Dunnottar on the coast, through Castle Fraser, Haddo House, Fyvie, Crathes and Craigevar, to the brooding Victorian grandmother of Baronial architecture 3 Balmoral.

Moray Mostly rural, bordering the Moray Firth, and its main town 9 Elgin is a small place noted for its cathedral. The hills and valleys just south produce excellent single malt whisky: Dufftown (unlike Rome) was "built upon seven stills". Further west, Findhorn has a kibbutz atmosphere, amidst sand dunes and gentle hippy smiles.

Understand

The defining feature of the northeast is that it incorporates both lowland and highland cultures and includes the geological fault line between the lowlands and highlands that runs diagonally across Scotland from Helensburgh near Glasgow to Stonehaven near Aberdeen. So the region has fertile farmland as well as mountainous areas, including the Cairngorms; it has good overland routes, and is now well connected to the economies of the south. Cattle, fishing and knitwear are the traditional industries but in the 20th century its fortunes rose with the North Sea oil and gas industries. Inland are the Grampian mountains (old, rounded granite domes, quite unlike the spiky peaks of the west) with forests and upland heaths. Deeside hosts some of the oldest Highland Games in Scotland. Queen Victoria was fond of this region and built a luxurious castle at Balmoral: she chose well. The area is renowed for its castles, which include the castles of Glamis, Craigievar, Crathes, Dunnotar, Slains and Fyvie, all of which are said to be haunted.

Get in

RRS Discovery and V&A Museum, Dundee

By plane

For Fife, Perth and Dundee, use 1 Edinburgh Airport (EDI ^IATA). It has a good range of flights across Europe, from London and elsewhere in UK; and it's west of the city so you can connect without getting embroiled in city traffic. Take the direct Jetbus from the airport to Halbeath Interchange for bus connections across Fife, or to Inverkeithing for trains north via Kirkcaldy and Leuchars (for St Andrews) to Dundee and Aberdeen. Some trains for Perth also run via Inverkeithing, but some don't: take the airport bus or tram to Haymarket where all northbound services call. With a hire car, turn west and within ten minutes you're crossing the new Forth Bridge into Fife, and Perth and Dundee are about an hour away.

You're unlikely to use Dundee Airport (DND ^IATA). It has a daily flight from London Stansted but that's all.

For Aberdeenshire and Moray, use 2 Aberdeen Airport (ABZ ^IATA). There's a reasonable selection of flights from Europe and London. Onward public transport is good towards Aberdeen and the coast, but you'll want a car to explore north.

For Elgin and the western part of Moray, use 3 Inverness Airport (INV ^IATA) which has limited flights from Europe and London.

By train

Trains reach Fife across the Forth Bridge

The East Coast main line follows the coast, spanning the Forth and the Tay by spectacular bridges, so the main cities are well connected to central Scotland and England. Trains from London Kings Cross (via Peterborough, York and Newcastle) usually involve changing at Edinburgh, but 3 or 4 trains daily continue to Dundee and Aberdeen. The Caledonian Highland Sleeper runs overnight from London Euston to Dundee, Carnoustie, Arbroath, Montrose, Stonehaven and Aberdeen. It serves other stations (eg Perth, on the train portion for Inverness) but in the very early hours of the morning; you'd do better to take the Lowland Sleeper to Edinburgh then a standard daytime train onward. The return southbound times are less inconvenient.

A "loop" train from Edinburgh rattles around Fife, and there are frequent trains from Edinburgh and Glasgow as far north as Aberdeen. A train runs between Aberdeen and Inverness every couple of hours.

By road

The main road from the south is motorway standard as far as Perth and Dundee. From Edinburgh the M90 leaps across the Firth of Forth (no toll) and heads north to Perth: either bypass Perth on M90 and head into the highlands on A9, or take A90 along Tayside to Dundee, Stonehaven, Aberdeen, Peterhead and Fraserburgh. From Glasgow follow M80 to Stirling then A9 to Perth.

Buses connect the main towns to Edinburgh and Glasgow hourly. Citylink is the main operator but has competition to keep fares low; there's even an electric bus between Edinburgh and Dundee.

By boat

Aberdeen has overnight ferries to Orkney and Shetland.

There are no ferries to Scotland from Europe, Faroes or Iceland. The nearest continental connection is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne to IJMuiden near Amsterdam.

Get around

Mary Queen of Scots escaped from Loch Leven Castle

Buses and trains are frequent along the well-populated coastal strip as far north as Aberdeen, and from Perth north up the A9 to Dunkeld and Aberfeldy. St Andrews doesn't have a railway but there's a frequent connecting bus to Leuchars railway station. An hourly bus 201 runs up Royal Deeside from Aberdeen to Ballater (for Balmoral) and Braemar. Hourly bus 35 runs from Aberdeen past the airport to Banff, Buckie and Elgin. Public transport is otherwise sparse and you need a car.

See

• Castles: choose from Blair Atholl, Craigevar, Crathes, Dunnottar, Fraser, Fyvie, Glamis, Kildrummy, Loch Leven, and innumerable small battered stumps.
• Palaces and grand mansions: choose from Balmoral, Culross, Falkland, Haddo House, Scone . . .
• Old fishing villages: along the Fife coast are Elie, Pittenweem and Crail; north of Dundee find Arbroath, Montrose, Stonehaven and Peterhead. Clinging to the region's cold north shoulder are Gardenstown, Portsoy and Banff.
• Glens: Glendevon and Gleneagles, the Tay valley, Glenshee and Glenisla, Deeside and more . . . anywhere except dreary modern Glenrothes.

Do

Doves at St Mary's College, St Andrews

• Golf: the renowned courses are at St Andrews and Carnoustie, but there dozens more.
• Skiing: there are centres at Glenshee and Lecht. They're small and with unreliable snow.

Eat

• Aberdeen and Dundee have the best range; in small towns your best bet will be bar food. The posh hotels have fine dining.
• The Forfar bridie hails from Forfar. It's a triangular shortcut pastry, crimped at the edge, and filled with mince meat but not potato.
• The Arbroath smokie is smoked haddock, a speciality of Arbroath.
• Cullen skink is a rich creamy broth of smoked haddock, potato and onion, traditionally from Cullen in Moray.

Drink

• Pubs are in the larger towns; in small villages may just have the hotel bar. A legendary legal judgement in Forfar gave cows the right to free beer, but it's difficult to enforce.
• Malt whisky: the best known distilleries are around Dufftown in Moray, but with an estimated 126 Scotch Whisky distilleries across Scotland, you'll seldom be far from one. Only a minority are open to the public, and an overlapping minority market a "single malt", but most of the output is blended into the various commercial brands. Those actively in production in 2017 just in this region alone are: Aberargie, Aberfeldy, Aultmore, Balvenie, BenRiach, Benrinnes, Benromach, Blair Athol, Brackla, Braeval, Cardhu, Cragganmore, Craigellachie, Daftmill, Dailuaine, Dufftown, Eden Mill, Edradour, Glenallachie, Glenburgie, Glencadam, Glendronach, Glendullan, Glen Elgin, Glenfarclas, Glenfiddich, Glen Grant, Glen Keith, Glenlivet, Glenlossie, Glen Moray, Glenrothes, Glen Spey, Glentauchers, Glenturret, Inchgower, Kininvie, Knockando, Knock, Linkwood, Lochnagar, Macallan, Macduff, Mannochmore, Miltonduff, Mortlach, Royal Brackla, Roseisle, Speyburn, Strathisla, Strathmill, Tamdhu, Tamnavulin, Tomintoul, and Tormore. Glen Moray is produced in huge volumes and is often available at supermarket discount prices. We gonna need a bigger ice-bucket.

Go next

A natural loop is to tour along the coast through the northeast, follow the Moray coast road into Inverness, then return south through Speyside and the central Highlands towards Perth.

A shorter loop is via Deeside into Braemar.

The cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow are both must-see destinations.

North East Scotland (Scottish Parliament electoral region)