St. Andrews, Scotland - June 10th to 12th, 2025

St. Andrews in Scotland is known for golf, but we were not there to play golf. Despite the golf courses dominating the town, there are other things to see and do. The charming college town has a lot of history to tell along with a wonderful coastline along the North Sea.

Tuesday was a short travel day, so we made a couple of stops along the way. We covered our first stop, Braemar, in our previous post on Cairngorms National Park. From Braemar, we drove to Glamis Castle. Glamis has been the ancestral seat of the Earls of Strathmore and Kinghorne since 1372. It was also the childhood home of Queen Elizabeth.

We arrived at the castle just after 2 pm, just in time to take the 2:20 pm guided tour of the castle. The tour was about an hour long and was quite interesting. It was well worth the money and the time. Unfortunately, no photography is allowed inside the castle, so we can’t show you how beautiful it is inside.

After the castle, we drove to St. Andrews. The route took us right through the city of Dundee. It had been a while since Keith had driven on busy city streets. He’s not sure if he likes that better or worse than the single track country lanes.

Our accommodations in St. Andrews was No. 12 Bed & Breakfast on the south side of town. It was a charming little house with a view of the North Sea. Pam rents out three rooms in her house and made us feel very welcome.

After settling in, we walked into town for dinner. We ended up at the Criterion Bar on South Street, about a 20 minute walk from the B&B. Keith had the chicken, chorizo, and dried tomato “Cri Pie”, their famous pies. Ann tried the falafel and spinach burger. Keith was expecting the chorizo to add more flavor to the pie than it did. Back in the States, chorizo is pretty spicy, but it seems to be a little tamer here in Scotland. Ann enjoyed her burger, but thought the chips (fries) were a little greasy, but tasty. To drink, Keith had the Innis & Gunn Lager from Edinburgh while Ann had the Old Mout Berry Cider from Hereford England. They added a couple of fresh berries to the glass, a nice touch.

Wednesday, we strolled around town. But first, we had a lovely breakfast at the B&B. Pam cooked for us. There was only one other guest, as the people in the third room had cancelled. Instead of having a breakfast room for the guests, we all sat around a large kitchen table in Pam’s kitchen. We liked that. It made it more social, not only with the other guest, but also with Pam. We spent over an hour at breakfast, having wonderful conversations.

Keith had haggis this time, now that we know we like it, after trying it at our B&B in Ballater the day before (Cairngorms National Park, Scotland - June 6th to 10th, 2025). However, Ann didn’t want to eat that much and just had fried eggs and toast along with yogurt and fresh strawberries.

The weather Wednesday was beautiful. It was the first day we’ve been in Scotland where it hasn’t rained. Pam assured us that it was St. Andrews micro-climate, so they get less rain than the rest of the country.

We started off our stroll alongside the East Sands beach and out to the end of St. Andrews Pier. From there, we continued along the Fife Coastal Path to the ruins of St. Andrews Castle. The Fife Coastal Path is a 117 mile walk along the coast, from Kincardine to Newburgh.

St. Andrews Castle had been destroyed and rebuilt multiple times over several centuries starting in the 14th century. It was finally abandoned in the 16 century after the Scottish Reformation, when Scotland broke away from the Catholic Church. There is a small museum at the entrance which provides some history and context before you explore the ruins.

At this point, we were starting to get hungry, so we walked down The Scones street among the University of St. Andrews buildings to Saints Sizzle, a burger joint at the aquarium. Keith had a vegetarian burger with fries, while Ann had the fried onion burger with rosemary fries. The food was decent, but the dining area was rather stark. However, there were nice views of the shoreline.

After our meal, we continued our walk alongside some of the St. Andrews Links golf courses, the R&A World Golf Museum, and the West Sands beach. St. Andrews is considered the “Home of Golf”. R&A was originally the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, founded in 1784. It governs the Rules of Golf and stages the Open, golf’s original championship. The R&A governs the sport everywhere except the United States and Mexico, which are governed by the United States Golf Association (USGA). The two organizations coordinate with each other so that there is a single code for the Rules of Golf.

The St. Andrews Links are public golf courses. We went by the start of the Old Course, the New Course, and the Jubilee Course along with the Himalayas Putting Course. There are six courses all next to each other that are part of the St. Andrews Links (not including the putting course). In addition to the three we already mentioned, there is also the Balgove, Strathtyrum, and Eden courses. There is a seventh course, the Castle Course, which is also part of St. Andrews Links, but it is located on the southeast side of St. Andrews.

It seemed rather odd to us that the public is allowed to walk right up to the courses and even cross the courses, as long as they don’t interfere with the play. Apparently, it is part of the Scottish Outdoor Access Code, which, in 2005, formalized the Scottish tradition of “right to roam”.

We continued our walk by heading east on North Street to St. Andrews Cathedral. There is a museum for the cathedral, but it was closed for needed maintenance due to water and mold issues. The grounds of the cathedral were open and free of charge. We also arrived just in time for one of the three free guided tours of the grounds (although we did make a donation).

St. Andrews Cathedral, like the castle, is in ruins. The cathedral was no longer used after the Scottish Reformation. Its art and treasures were removed and destroyed during the Reformation. Afterwards, the slate from the roof was sold and the village used stones from the cathedral as building materials for other buildings around town. However, the cathedral foundation along with some its stone walls still stand, with the large property surrounded by a stone wall that is still standing. Construction began on the cathedral in 1158 and was completed 160 years later in 1318.

The two tall end walls of the cathedral that remain dominate the town’s skyline, along with St. Rule’s square tower. The square tower was part of an earlier church, St. Regulus (St. Rule), built in the 11th century. At the end of our guided tour, our guide opened up St. Rule’s tower and let people climb up to the top. There were nice views of the city and the North Sea from the viewing platform up on top.

After our tour, we walked down South Street to Neighbors Cafe for a drink. Then we continued our stroll down South Street, past the West Port Gate before turning north and picking up Market Street. Market Street is the main shopping street of the town. After passing the Whyte-Melville Memorial Fountain, we headed back to South Street for dinner, at Zizzi.

Zizzi is an Italian restaurant. It didn’t look like much from the outside, but it was pretty large inside with a welcoming decor. Zizzi is not the most popular Italian restaurant in town, as most people recommend Little Italy. But Zizzi is cheaper and you don’t need a reservation. For dinner, Ann ordered the crispy prosciutto carbonara while Keith had the Margherita pizza. The pizza was not what Keith was expecting. It was a thin, cracker-like crust, with the toppings thinly layered as well. Ann enjoyed her pasta.

For dessert, Keith had tiramisu while Ann had the salted caramel chocolate brownie. The tiramisu was OK and the brownie satisfied Ann’s chocolate cravings.

Thursday was a little cooler, a little cloudier, and a little windier than the day before, but there was still no rain. So it was still a beautiful day to be outside.

We walked part of the Fife Coastal Path, this time in the opposite direction, away from town. It went alongside a rocky coast and beside two golf courses. The first one was the Castle Course, part of the St. Andrews Links. The second one was a private course called Kittocks, which is where we turned around.

On the way back, we were hoping to stop at the Castle Course clubhouse for lunch. The was a path that looked like it led over to the clubhouse, but a gate across the path was locked, so we moved on.

When we returned to the B&B almost three hours later, we had covered 9.2 kilometers (5.8 miles) with 142 meters (466 feet) of elevation gain. We counted it as hike 27 of our 52 Hike Challenge for 2025.

After changing out of our hiking boots, we walked into town for lunch. We ended up at St. Andrews Shawarma House. It was a take-away place with several tables outside. We both had the chicken shawarma wrap with the works. We asked if the wrap came with chips (fries) and they said that it did, so we didn’t order any chips. However, the chips ended up being inside the wrap, not quite what we were expecting. We don’t know if there was a communication problem or the wrap normally comes with chips inside. Either way, the wraps were quite tasty.

For dessert, we walked down the street to Jannetta’s Gelateria. It was always a busy place when we walked by, so we wanted to see for ourselves how good it was. There was a line, but it moved fast as they have an efficient setup. Everyone enters through one door and exits out another door. They had three counter stations to serve three people at a time.

Ann had a waffle cone with dark chocolate and mint chocolate chip. Keith ordered the strawberry sundae. Both the cone and the sundae were served with a wafer on top, printed with the name of the shop, a rather fancy touch. The gelato was delicious. Ann knew the dark chocolate would be good, as they listed the percentage of cocoa for each of their types of chocolate.

Then we did a little shopping before heading back to the B&B. Keith needed some medication and a pair of sunglasses. After relaxing in the room for a little while, we walked back into town for dinner.

Again, we didn’t feel like making dinner reservations anywhere, so we ended up at a small fish and chips place called Cromars. The place only had a handful of tables inside, but we only needed one. The fish and chips were pretty good.

We only stayed in St. Andrews for three nights, but we felt we experienced a good sampling of what St. Andrews has to offer. However, if you are an avid golfer, you could easily stay a week in order to try all of the different golf courses. Of course, it might be a little challenging to get tee times as the place is very popular. You’ll have to research that yourself.

Check out our related video: St. Andrews, Scotland

(Ann)