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Fishing boats are moored in a stone harbour below a village of white and stone houses, cars parked along the quayside.
Fife

Crail

The most easterly village of the East Neuk of Fife, an ancient royal burgh with a tiny stone harbour, a Dutch-style tolbooth and fresh lobster in season.

Welcome

Crail sits at the very tip of the East Neuk of Fife, the last and perhaps the loveliest of its fishing villages.

It is also one of the oldest: a busy town by the 1100s, it was made a royal burgh by King William the Lion in 1178.

Its old trade with the Low Countries still shows in the buildings. The Tolbooth on Marketgate has a tower with a Dutch-style roof, and the streets are lined with white-harled and honey-stone cottages with red pantile roofs and crow-stepped gables. From the High Street, lanes and steps tumble steeply down to the harbour, a tiny, perfect basin of honey-coloured stone where small boats are moored and lobster creels are stacked on the quay.

In season you can buy fresh lobster and dressed crab at the harbour. Park in the town and walk down: the lanes are narrow.

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The Daily for 11 November, from Scotland with love. The broken stone walls of a lochside castle rise from a small tree-covered island, autumn foliage glowing orange against the dark water and forested hillside beyond.

Before you go

A village to wander at any time.

Park in the town and walk down to the harbour.

Where
The East Neuk of Fife, KY10 3SU.
Royal burgh
Since 1178.
In season
Lobster at the harbour.

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Did you know

A white harled cottage with a red pantile roof carries a sign for "Crail Harbour Gallery and Tearooms", bunting and hanging flower baskets decorating the entrance.
Did you know

A royal burgh since 1178.

King William the Lion made Crail a royal burgh in 1178, one of the earliest in Scotland.

Stacked fishing crates and coiled ropes lie on a harbourside quay, boats moored beside a village of white and stone houses.
Did you know

Lobster on the quay.

Creels still come in to the harbour, and in season fresh lobster and dressed crab are sold on the quay.

Ben Lerwill

From our guide to Fife

A visit to this historic fishing village and former royal burgh is like an East Neuk checklist. Sloping cobbled streets? Check. Charming little harbour? Check. Top-notch seafood? Naturally. And if you’re a war buff, there’s a deserted airfield-cum-military-academy on the village outskirts, where – improbably – English writers Alan Bennett, Michael Frayn and Dennis Potter were all once stationed.

Read more
Graeme Johncock

The Starving Ghost of Balcomie Castle

Balcomie Castle is now a farmhouse but is said to still be haunted by a very tragic ghost. At some point in the early 16th century, the Laird of Balcomie had a young servant boy who loved music and dancing.

Read the story
Graeme Johncock

Just outside the gate of Crail Parish church sits a large boulder called the Blue Stane. Local folklore claims it was hurled by the Devil from the Isle of May as he tried to knock the building down.

Read more
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Where it is

At the eastern tip of the East Neuk of Fife, ten miles south-east of St Andrews, KY10 3SU.

Close byCrail.
  1. The dining room at the Shoregate in Crail, with wooden tables and wishbone chairs on a herringbone floor and big windows onto the street.The ShoregateUnder a mile as the crow flies
  2. Crail PotteryCrail PotteryA pottery in the village.Under a mile 1 min by road
  3. Woman in red dress stands beneath "The Beehive Crail" shop signThe Beehive, CrailUnder a mile 1 min by road
  4. Coffee, a cappuccino and a square of tablet on a wooden table in the tearoom's courtyard, with blue fencing, pot plants and the sea beyond.Crail Harbour Gallery and TearoomUnder a mile 1 min by road
  5. Aerial view of a walled garden with circular hedge maze and vegetable plotsCambo GardensGardens and snowdrops to the north.2 miles 4 min by road
  6. AnstrutherAnstrutherThe harbour village to the west.4 miles 8 min by road
Directions
Cooked lobster halves on a white plate atop a wooden picnic tableRestaurantsReilly and Sons Lobster Hut0.3 miles
Wooden ladder rises through a stone dovecote's spiralling nesting boxes to daylight aboveAttractionsThe Priory Doocot, Crail0.3 miles
Flags fly above Balcomie golf course, coastline stretching towards the seaAttractionsCrail Golfing Society2.0 miles
The wide golden sand of Kingsbarns Beach at low tide under a blue sky with big white clouds, the dunes and woods curving away along the shore.AttractionsKingsbarns Beach3.0 miles
Military green truck towing a missile launcher on a grass vergeAttractionsScotland's Secret Bunker3.6 miles
The Wee Chippy on Shore Street, Anstruther, on a sunny day, with people eating at the tables outside its front.RestaurantsThe Wee Chippy3.8 miles
Anstruther Fish Bar's blue frontage, marked winner of Takeaway of the YearRestaurantsAnstruther Fish Bar4.2 miles
Timber lodge with covered veranda and hanging flower baskets overlooking open fieldsRestaurantsSt Andrews Farmhouse Cheese Company5.3 miles
Shop window display of framed paintings, patterned ceramics and heart-shaped dish, harbour reflected in glassRestaurantsThe Dory, Pittenweem5.5 miles

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Stay nearby

Places to stay near the village, and when each is next free.

A stone cottage with red pantiled roofs and a gabled dormer sits behind a gravel courtyard, an apple tree in the foreground.Maybell Cottage
  • Sleeps 2
  • In Pittenweem
  • 5 miles from Crail
Check datesAn orange leather sofa draped with a sheepskin faces a stone fireplace beneath a timber ceiling, a staircase rising behind.The Old Stable
  • Sleeps 2
  • In Pittenweem
  • 5 miles from Crail
Free 14–16 NovThe Crow’s Nest, FifeThe Crow’s Nest
  • Sleeps 4
  • In Pittenweem
  • 5 miles from Crail
Free 16–19 NovFifies, FifeFifies
  • Sleeps 2
  • In Pittenweem
  • 5 miles from Crail
Free 15–17 NovPlaces to stayEvery stay in FifeAll our places to stay nearby, to search by date and by who is coming.See them all
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Read on

What we have written about it, the collections it is in and more in Fife.

From the magazineFife: Discovering the Nooks and CranniesFrom the magazineCreatives of FifeCollectionFamily Friendly Activities in FifeCollectionThe Prettiest Villages in Scotland
More in Fife

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For further reading, before you go. The details on this page were checked on .