Bullers of Buchan – Seabird Cliffs and Lunch by the Harbour
A few hours.
The route
The Bullers of Buchan is a great round chasm in the cliffs north of Cruden Bay, where the sea booms in through an arch far below the path.
From spring into summer the ledges all around are packed with kittiwakes, guillemots and razorbills, and the clifftop is bright with wild flowers. Lunch is a few minutes down the coast at a friendly café by the little harbour at Port Erroll. It's a thrilling morning for anyone who loves birds and wild coast, with a steady head and a firm hand on the children.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
The day
Bullers of Buchan
A morning on the rim of a sea chasm, with the seabirds calling from every ledge and the waves rushing in below. Then it's down the coast to Port Erroll for lunch looking out over the bay.
About two and a half hoursAbout 0.5 miles on foot
Bullers of Buchan
An attraction
The Bullers of Buchan is signed off the A975 north of Cruden Bay, with a small car park beside the row of cottages at the top of the cliffs. A short walk past the cottages brings you to the Pot, a chasm about 30 metres deep where the roof of a sea cave fell in, and the waves rush in through a natural arch below. In spring and summer the cliffs all round are crowded with nesting kittiwakes, guillemots and razorbills, with puffins too, and the clifftop is coloured with campion, heather and orchids. The path round the rim is narrow and unfenced, with sheer drops on both sides: keep dogs on a lead, hold children's hands, and stay away in a high wind or a big sea. There are no toilets. By the autumn the seabirds have gone back out to sea.
7 min by car
Harbour Dunes Café
Lunch
Drive 7 minutes south-west to Cruden Bay, then down Harbour Street to Port Erroll, where Harbour Dunes Café opened beside the little harbour in September 2024. Its windows look out over the dunes and the long curve of the bay. It serves breakfast until 11am and lunch after, with a children's menu, and dogs are welcome. It's open every day from 9am to 4pm, but the hot food stops in the early afternoon, so come before 2pm. Park well back from the harbour edge, clear of the piers. If it's full, the Kilmarnock Arms on Bridge Street in the village serves bar food from 1pm at weekends.
If it rains
There's no shelter at the Bullers, and the rim path is no place in a high wind, heavy rain or a big sea: on a wild day look from the car park end only, then go straight to Harbour Dunes, where the windows look over the bay.
Harbour Dunes Café, a café in Port Erroll, Cruden Bay.
The Kilmarnock Arms, inn and bar in Cruden Bay.
Photograph by Harbour Dunes via Google