Aberdeen offers several clearly distinct highlights: the city’s relationship with the sea, seven centuries of art, historic buildings and gardens. It is worth distinguishing between these themes when planning your stay. Would you like to focus primarily on maritime history, art collections, historic buildings or wildlife watching at the harbour?

Maritime history and art

The Aberdeen Maritime Museum explores the city’s long and often dramatic relationship with the sea. Its subjects range from the beginnings of trade, fishing and shipbuilding to offshore energy.

The Aberdeen Art Gallery has a different focus. Its collection spans 700 years and includes works by local, national and international artists, designers and craftspeople. Special exhibitions and displays are presented in the bp Galleries on the second floor. If you plan to include these, check the current programme in advance. The two venues offer distinctly different cultural experiences: the Maritime Museum focuses on Aberdeen’s relationship with the sea, while the Art Gallery presents an art collection spanning 700 years.

Historic buildings

Provost Skene’s House is the oldest surviving townhouse in Aberdeen and dates from 1545. Interactive exhibitions there showcase more than 100 notable figures from Aberdeen and the north-east. The house therefore brings together two specific aspects: a historic building with a clearly established date and the people from the city and region to whom the exhibitions are dedicated.

St Machar’s is the oldest building in Aberdeen still in use. Tourists are welcome to visit the building. The two descriptions are not interchangeable: Provost Skene’s House is the oldest surviving townhouse, while St Machar’s is the oldest building in Aberdeen still in use.

Harbour, wildlife watching and gardens

Torry Battery is a historic monument dating from 1860. Harbour porpoises are frequently spotted feeding, leaping and playing at the harbour entrance near Torry Battery. The site therefore offers two distinct connections to the harbour: a historic monument and frequently observed wildlife.

The David Welch Winter Gardens are located in Duthie Park and are among the largest covered gardens in Europe. They add a garden-focused experience to museums and historic buildings if you would like to include a garden as well as art and history in your trip.

Planning your visit

Bus routes 1, 2, 19 and 20 connect Aberdeen city centre with the area around St Machar’s Cathedral. Bus routes can change, and visitor information for St Machar’s should be checked in advance, so check both before travelling. This keeps travel arrangements and visit planning as two separate considerations.

Discover more destinations

Alford, Ballater, Kincardine O'Neil, Ellon, New Deer, Lumphanan, Pitmedden, Bridge Of Don

For the broader travel overview: Aberdeenshire.