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A walk · Dundee

Dundee – Old Docks, a Whale and a Lighthouse That Moved

About 1.2 miles on foot.

Discovery Point and RRS Discovery

Dundee built ships, hunted whales and sent the Discovery to the Antarctic, and its waterfront still shows it.

The Dundee Maritime Trail is a short, level city walk that joins the pieces up. It starts with the Discovery in her dock and the V&A beside her. Then come a park with a whale sculpture, a small lighthouse that was moved to save it and the old docks where a frigate of 1824 is kept. It's about a mile and a quarter, on pavements all the way.

Time
About an hour with stops: about a mile and a quarter.
The path
Level pavements, paving and quays, with a lift for walkers at the Tay Road Bridge.
Where to start
The pay-and-display car park beside Discovery Point. Dundee station is a short walk away.
When to go
All year, at any hour. The V&A and the two ships keep their own opening hours.
Children
A short, level walk with a beach and a whale to find. Open water at the dock edges.
Toilets
Inside the V&A and Discovery Point when they are open.

The walk

Start at Discovery Point, where the RRS Discovery sits in her dock with the ridged concrete of the V&A rising beside her. The trail can be joined anywhere, but this is the natural place to begin, and signs along the way carry its map. Heading east along the river you come to Waterfront Place, a park on land won back from the Tay, with a small beach and a life-sized whale sculpture by Lee Simmons.

Near it is the Telford Beacon, a tiny lighthouse that was moved here in 2011 to save it from being knocked down. Overhead, the Tay Road Bridge sets off for Fife. Farther on is Chandlers Lane, where harbour workshops from 1837 are now houses, beside the yard that built the Discovery.

Then come the old docks of City Quay, where HMS Unicorn, a frigate launched in 1824, is kept. It's a level city walk of about a mile and a quarter on pavements and quays. The V&A is free to go into, and the two ships are ticketed.

If it rains

It's all on pavement, so rain only makes it wet and windy by the river. The V&A at the start is free and dry.

Before you go

  1. Book accommodation nearby

    If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.

    The nearest of ours is Airdit, 6 miles away. Sleeps 2; next free Sun 25 Oct to Tue 27 Oct.

Find out more

For further reading, before you go.