St Andrews & Fife: Practical Travel Guide

Where to base yourself

St Andrews town centre

Hotels, guesthouses and B&Bs line The Scores (above the sea), Murray Park and the streets near the Old Course. Everything is on foot. Prices are high all summer and extreme during major golf events and university graduation weeks.

The East Neuk

Anstruther, Crail, Pittenweem and Elie have inns, B&Bs and many self-catering cottages. Quieter and better value than St Andrews, with harbour walks at the door; a car helps.

Dundee and Cupar

Dundee, 30–40 minutes away across the Tay, has modern hotels, the V&A design museum and Captain Scott’s ship Discovery. The market town of Cupar is a practical, cheaper base in the middle of Fife.

Food & drink

Fife is one of Scotland’s larders. Seafood is the obvious thing to eat — lobster and crab landed in the East Neuk, smoked fish from St Monans and the celebrated fish and chips of Anstruther — along with soft fruit, farm cheeses and ice cream from St Andrews’ long-established Italian cafés. The town has more good restaurants and cosy pubs than its size suggests, thanks to students and golfers, and there are several distilleries and breweries nearby, among them Kingsbarns and Lindores Abbey, where whisky-making was first recorded in Scotland in 1494.

Tips: saving money and staying safe

• Walk the Old Course on a Sunday: no golf is played and the whole course becomes a public park.
• The Himalayas putting green beside the Old Course costs only a few pounds and needs no booking or skill.
• A joint ticket covers the castle and the cathedral museum; both are also on the Historic Scotland Explorer Pass.
• Avoid, or book very early for, graduation weeks (late June and around the start of December) and major tournaments, when rooms triple in price.
• The east coast is drier than the west but the haar — a cold sea fog — can roll in on warm days. Bring a layer.
• Tides and cliffs: check tide times before walking the coastal path sections around the East Neuk, and keep back from crumbling edges at the castle and the pier.

Sample plans

One day in St Andrews

• Start at the cathedral ruins and St Rule’s Tower.
• Walk the cliff path to the castle, then through the university quads.
• Lunch on Market Street or South Street.
• Afternoon on the links: the Swilcan Bridge, the golf museum, a putt on the Himalayas, then West Sands.

Two days

• Day 1 as above.
• Day 2: bus or drive to Crail and Anstruther; Fisheries Museum or an Isle of May boat trip (April–September).
• Fish and chips on the harbour; on to Pittenweem and Elie.
• With a car, return inland by Falkland Palace.

Where to stay: St Andrews & Fife