Perth on Foot – The Stone of Destiny, a Kirk and a Castle
A day on foot, from Perth station and back.
The route
Perth is a small city on the River Tay, and since 2024 it has had a very good reason for a day of its own.
The Stone of Destiny, the block of sandstone on which Scotland's kings are said to have been made at Scone, a few miles upriver, is back in Perthshire after 700 years and free to see in the city's new museum. This day is on foot from the railway station and back, about 4 miles in all, on pavements and park paths, and it needs no car and no bus.
The day
Perth
The morning belongs to the Stone of Destiny and the narrow streets of the old town around it. After lunch the day goes north to the North Inch, the wide park beside the Tay, and comes home down the river to the station.
Greyfriars Burial Ground
Check the train times to Perth, and travel light: Perth Museum lets no large bags in. From the station it's a 17-minute walk to Greyfriars Burial Ground, a graveyard since 1580, with its oldest carved stones under a roof on the south side. Ten minutes is enough; if the gate is shut, walk on. From October to April the museum opens at 10am, 11am on Sundays (check its page for other months). Leave the station 40 minutes before, or skip Greyfriars and walk straight there, 15 minutes by South Street.
5 min on foot
Perth Museum
Perth Museum is a 5-minute walk on. Go to the desk first: a time to see the Stone of Destiny is free, given on the day and subject to availability. If yours is later, take it, and see the kirk and the galleries in between. Groups over ten must arrange theirs with the museum well ahead. It shuts for part of January: check its page. Lunch comes after the galleries, in Stone, its café, with food until 3.30pm (2.30pm on Sundays), or Effie's on the High Street, Monday to Saturday.
1 min on foot
St John's Kirk
It's a 1-minute walk across St John's Place to St John's Kirk, which gave Perth its old name, St John's Toun. A church has stood here since 1126, and this one dates from about 1448. In 1559 John Knox preached a sermon here that helped set off the Scottish Reformation. The kirk is usually open from 11am to 4pm, Monday to Saturday, with shorter hours in winter, and can close at short notice: check its page. On a Sunday, or if the door is shut, see it from the square.
8 min on foot
Perth Art Gallery
An attraction
Walk 8 minutes on to Perth Art Gallery. On the High Street you pass a bronze of the Fair Maid of Perth, Walter Scott's heroine; the Fair Maid's House, on Curfew Row, opens only some afternoons, so see it from outside. The gallery is free, and shut on Tuesdays and Wednesdays: then walk on to the Black Watch and spend the spare hour on the North Inch. Look for the room of the painter JD Fergusson and the dancer Margaret Morris. Leave by 2.30pm for the Black Watch.
13 min on foot
The Black Watch Castle & Museum
An attraction
It's a 13-minute walk to Balhousie Castle, home of the Black Watch Castle and Museum: along Charlotte Street, then the path across the North Inch, which ends in steps up to the castle (Hay Street is the level way). The museum tells the story of the Black Watch, which it calls Scotland's oldest Highland regiment, from 1739 to today. Last entry is at 3.30pm and closing at 4.30pm; from November to March that's 3pm and 4pm. Allow an hour and a half, or an hour and a quarter in winter.
23 min on foot
Queen's Bridge
An attraction
It's a 23-minute walk to Queen's Bridge. Go back across the North Inch to Charlotte Street and Perth Bridge, the stone bridge of 1771, also called Smeaton's Bridge, then follow Tay Street down the river. Queen's Bridge is the plain modern one: look back upstream to the spire of St Matthew's and the old bridge's arches. The station is 18 minutes on, by South Street and Leonard Street. From November to January it's getting dark by now: walk from the castle straight to the station, 24 minutes by the streets.
If it rains
Perth is a good day in the rain, because the museum, the kirk, the gallery and the castle are all indoors and none is more than a quarter of an hour's walk from the next. Leave out Greyfriars and walk straight from the station to Perth Museum, 15 minutes by South Street. Give the museum longer, and the gallery too on the days it is open. At the end of the day, leave out the river and walk from the Black Watch straight to the station, 24 minutes by the streets.
Worth a detour
- Branklyn Garden and Kinnoull Hill
On a clear day the afternoon can go across the river in place of the gallery and the castle. From Perth Museum it's 5 minutes to Queen's Bridge and 14 more along Dundee Road to Branklyn, a small hillside garden of the National Trust for Scotland. It is seasonal, so check the Trust's page for its dates and hours before you set out. From there paths climb steeply through the woods of Kinnoull Hill to the summit, 222 metres up, with a long view down the Tay. Kinnoull Tower, a stone folly, stands on the cliff top, a few minutes from the summit. The cliff is sheer, so keep well back from the edge. Come down by Corsie Hill Road, Hatton Road and Manse Road to Queen's Bridge. The round from Queen's Bridge is about three and a half miles: allow about an hour and three quarters for the walking, and more for the garden and the view. That makes the whole day about five and a half miles. There are no toilets on the hill. Be off it an hour before sunset: from November to January that means going up straight after lunch, or not at all.
- Rodney Gardens
For the other bank, cross Perth Bridge and walk down the far side of the Tay by the Norie Miller Walk and Rodney Gardens, a string of riverside gardens looking back across the water at Tay Street. Come back over Queen's Bridge and carry on to the station. It adds about 4 minutes to the walk.
- Scone Palace
Scone Palace stands where the Stone of Destiny was kept, two miles north of Perth on the A93. It's too far to walk in this day and needs half a day of its own. The palace's page sends visitors by Stagecoach's number 3 bus from South Street, the 58 from the bus station, or a taxi from the station: check the times. Its own site gives a season from 1 April to 31 October, open every day from 10am to 5.30pm with last entry at 4pm, and the palace is shut to visitors through the winter. Check its page for the year's dates before you go.
Where to eat
Effie's of Perth, traditional afternoon tea.
Photographs by Scott Mackenzie, Alasdair Birchwood and Robyn via Google