Aberdeen, the Granite City

Aberdeen is the Granite City, Scotland's third city and Europe's North Sea oil capital. On the north-east coast, between the mouths of the Rivers Dee and Don, it has about 225,000 inhabitants. Almost all its buildings are made of grey granite from local quarries, which sparkles like silver in the sun after rain thanks to its mica crystals: that is why Aberdeen is also called the "Silver City". It has one of the oldest universities in the English-speaking world, a harbour where dolphins swim, a long golden beach and, behind it, Aberdeenshire, the region with the greatest concentration of castles in Scotland, stretching to the royal residence of Balmoral.

From Aberdeen Airport the centre is half an hour away. Trains from Edinburgh take about two and a half hours, from London about seven, or you can travel overnight on the Caledonian Sleeper.

Granite, fish and oil

Aberdeen received its first royal privileges in the 12th century and for centuries was two separate towns: Old Aberdeen, the bishop's and university burgh around the cathedral, and the merchant town on the mouth of the Dee, around the harbour. In 1495 Bishop William Elphinstone founded King's College, and in 1593 a second university was born, Marischal College: for two and a half centuries Aberdeen had two universities, as many as the whole of England.

In the 19th century the city grew on fishing, shipbuilding and above all granite, cut from great quarries such as Rubislaw, more than a hundred metres deep, and used throughout the empire, even for London's docks and bridges. Fast sailing ships built in Aberdeen's yards, the clippers, carried tea from China. In the 1970s, with the discovery of oil in the North Sea, Aberdeen became the centre of the British oil industry: companies, engineers, helicopters and supply ships for the platforms arrived from all over the world, and the city became one of the richest in the UK. Today, as the fields decline, Aberdeen is turning to renewable energy, especially offshore wind.

What to see in Aberdeen

Old Aberdeen

North of the centre, Old Aberdeen is a district of cobbled streets and low granite houses with the feel of a small university town. Its heart is King's College, with its 15th-century chapel topped by a stone crown, a symbol of the city. A little further on, St Machar's Cathedral has a façade with twin granite towers and a wooden ceiling decorated with the coats of arms of the kings and nobles of 16th-century Europe. Continuing north you reach the Brig o' Balgownie, a medieval Gothic-arched bridge over the River Don, among the oldest in Scotland.

Marischal College

In the city centre, Marischal College is one of the most spectacular buildings in the UK: a Gothic Revival façade entirely in granite, completed in 1906, with spires and pinnacles carved in extremely hard stone. It is said to be the second-largest granite building in the world, after the Escorial near Madrid. Today it houses the council's offices, but its façade, gleaming in the sun, is the very symbol of the Silver City.

The art gallery and museums

The free Aberdeen Art Gallery, reopened after a major restoration, has a rich collection of Scottish and British painting, French Impressionists, contemporary art and a room devoted to local silver and crafts. The Aberdeen Maritime Museum, overlooking the harbour, tells the story of fishing, shipbuilding and the oil industry, with a large model of a platform several floors high. Provost Skene's House, one of the oldest houses in the city, from the 16th century, is dedicated to Aberdeen's famous people.

Union Street and the centre

Union Street, the main street, is about a mile long and largely built on a bridge spanning the valley of a stream: an early 19th-century engineering feat. Next to it are Union Terrace Gardens, a Victorian garden in a green hollow, recently restored, and His Majesty's Theatre. During the Nuart festival the walls of the centre fill with street art by international artists, which then remains visible all year round.

Festivals and shows

Aberdeen's cultural life is richer than you might expect. In February, in the darkest months, the Spectra festival lights up the centre with luminous installations and projections on the granite buildings. The Music Hall, a restored Georgian concert hall, hosts classical, folk and jazz, while the large P&J Live arena near the airport welcomes international stars. During term time, students from the two universities fill the pubs and live music venues around Belmont Street, the liveliest street in the centre, with its arthouse cinema and craft beer bars.

The harbour, Footdee and the dolphins

Aberdeen Harbour is one of the busiest in Scotland, with platform supply ships, ferries to Orkney and Shetland and fishing boats. At the harbour mouth, the fishing village of Footdee, known locally as Fittie, is a cluster of low cottages arranged around squares, with colourful sheds and neat little gardens, a picturesque corner out of time. Across the harbour mouth, from the old Torry Battery, you can often see bottlenose dolphins swimming and hunting at the harbour entrance: one of the few places in the world where you can watch dolphins from a city centre. The best times are an hour or two either side of high tide, when the salmon run into the river and the dolphins follow them; volunteers from a marine charity are often on hand in summer with binoculars and information. In the same waters you may also spot seals, gannets diving and the great supply vessels heading out to the oil and wind platforms, a reminder of the industries that have shaped the modern city.

The beach and parks

Aberdeen Beach, a few minutes' walk from the centre, stretches for more than three kilometres of golden sand, with a promenade, a funfair and seafront bars. South of the centre, Duthie Park is home to the David Welch Winter Gardens, one of the largest indoor gardens in the UK, with tropical glasshouses, desert plants and a cactus collection.

Aberdeenshire, castle country

Aberdeenshire has more castles per square kilometre than any other region of the UK. A tourist route, the Castle Trail, links some of the finest:

• Dunnottar Castle, some twenty kilometres south near Stonehaven: the spectacular ruins of a castle on a sheer headland above the sea, joined to the mainland by a narrow neck of rock. In 1651 the Scottish crown jewels were hidden here to save them from Cromwell's troops.
• Crathes Castle, a 16th-century tower house with painted ceilings and magnificent gardens.
• Craigievar Castle, a pink tower with turrets and spires straight out of a fairytale.
• Fyvie Castle, with five towers, each built by a different family.
• Balmoral Castle, about eighty kilometres up the Dee valley, Royal Deeside: the royal family's summer residence, with gardens and some rooms open to the public in spring and early summer. Nearby, at Braemar, the most famous Highland Games, the Braemar Gathering, are held every September.

The coast: Stonehaven and the Newburgh seals

South of the city, Stonehaven is a lively seaside town with a picturesque harbour, pubs on the quay and an Art Deco open-air pool heated with seawater. On New Year's Eve it hosts one of Scotland's most spectacular ceremonies: dozens of people parade through the streets swinging great balls of fire over their heads, then throw them into the sea at the stroke of midnight. North of Aberdeen, at the estuary of the River Ythan near Newburgh, hundreds of grey and common seals rest on the beach, easily seen from the opposite shore, next to the dunes of the Forvie nature reserve, among the largest and least disturbed in the country.

The region is also the gateway to Speyside, the valley of the River Spey with the greatest concentration of malt whisky distilleries in Scotland.

A day in Aberdeen

A possible itinerary: in the morning stroll through Old Aberdeen, from King's College to St Machar's Cathedral and on to the Brig o' Balgownie. Return to the centre to admire Marischal College and visit the art gallery. After lunch go down to the harbour and the maritime museum, then walk to Footdee and the old Torry Battery to look for dolphins. At sunset, a walk along the beach, and in the evening a seafood or Angus beef dinner in one of the centre's restaurants, followed by a pint in a Union Street pub. Next day leave early for Dunnottar and Royal Deeside.

Food and traditions

Aberdeen and its region are famous for Aberdeen Angus beef, one of the most widespread cattle breeds in the world, for salmon and for North Sea fish. The local bakery speciality is the buttery, also called a rowie, a flat, salty, very buttery roll eaten for breakfast. Nearby Stonehaven claims a curious first: the deep-fried chocolate bar is said to have been invented in one of its chip shops. Locals speak Doric, a dialect of Scots with a vocabulary all its own: to say hello you ask Fit like?, meaning "how's it going?".

Sport

Aberdeen FC enjoyed their golden age in the 1980s under manager Alex Ferguson, before he left for Manchester United: in 1983 they won the Cup Winners' Cup in Gothenburg, beating Real Madrid in the final, and then the European Super Cup, breaking the dominance of the Glasgow clubs. The ground, Pittodrie, is near the sea.

Living in Aberdeen

For decades oil gave Aberdeen some of the highest wages in the UK, but the fall in oil prices and the depletion of the fields have brought house prices down, now more affordable than Edinburgh's. The economy is in transition towards clean energy, with offshore wind farms, hydrogen and carbon capture. The city has two universities, the University of Aberdeen and Robert Gordon University, and a good quality of life, with the sea and countryside minutes away. Winters are long and dark, but in summer the days last almost eighteen hours.

Getting there and getting around

• By air: Aberdeen Airport has domestic and European flights; the Jet 727 bus reaches the centre in about half an hour.
• By train: trains from Edinburgh and Glasgow take about two and a half hours; from London King's Cross about seven. The Caledonian Sleeper leaves London Euston in the evening and arrives in Aberdeen in the morning.
• By ferry: NorthLink ferries sail from the harbour to Orkney and Shetland.
• Around Aberdeen: a car is best for the Castle Trail and Royal Deeside, but buses serve Stonehaven, Banchory, Ballater and Braemar.

For travel around the rest of the country see trains and transport, and for the region Scotland and the history of Scotland.

Tips for your visit

• How long: a day for the city, two or three days for the castles, Royal Deeside and Speyside.
• When to go: May to September, with very long days; September for the Braemar Gathering; April for the Nuart festival.
• Don't miss: the dolphins at the harbour mouth, easier to spot at high tide, and sunset at Dunnottar.
• What to wear: even in summer bring a waterproof jacket and a jumper: the North Sea wind is always cool. Layers are the secret of every Scottish trip.

Aberdeen on the map

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