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Places to visit
in Aberdeen.

It’s 20:54 in Aberdeen.
Aberdeen

Granite streets and a city beach.

Aberdeen is built of grey granite, and when the sun comes out its streets shine silver. Walk the cobbles of Old Aberdeen to the crowned tower of King's College and a cathedral above the Don, then cross a medieval bridge finished around 1320. In the centre there's a free art gallery on Schoolhill, a museum of the sea on Shiprow and a Victorian garden in a green valley. Watch for dolphins from an old fort above the harbour, and wander the fishermen's squares of Footdee. Bring a jacket for the sea wind, even in summer.

BeachesMuseumsGardens
Place of the day20 hours ago

Torry Battery.

A granite artillery fort of 1860 on the headland above Aberdeen harbour, now one of the best places in Britain to watch bottlenose dolphins.

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From our archive20 hours agoAberdeenSt Machar’s CathedralAberdeenThe Gordon Highlanders MuseumAberdeenJohnston GardensAberdeenAberdeen Art GalleryAberdeenAberdeen BeachAberdeenCathedral Walk

Aberdeen this autumn, in our photographs.

Six places in Aberdeen, each as we found it.

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Places to visit19 hours ago

Kirk of St Nicholas.

Aberdeen's Mither Kirk in the city centre, a church founded in the 12th century and rebuilt by Gibbs and Simpson, with the largest carillon of bells in Britain.

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Did you know19 hours ago

Every house in Footdee, at the mouth of Aberdeen harbour, turns its back on the sea.

The cottages of the fishing village, known locally as Fittie, are built in squares and face inwards, with their backs to the water. It keeps out the storms, and it makes a close community. The squares were built in the nineteenth century to rehouse Aberdeen's fishing families.

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From our guide19 hours ago

The Sir Duncan Rice Library.

Among the old granite of the university quarter stands a tall glass cube striped in white and green. The Sir Duncan Rice Library is the University of Aberdeen's main library, opened by the Queen in 2012 and the winner of a RIBA National Award. Step inside and a white atrium spirals up through every floor like the inside of a shell. Visitors are welcome as well as students. From the upper floors the view runs over the rooftops of Old Aberdeen to the sea, and the library keeps the university's rare books.

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Places to visit18 hours ago

South Donmouth Beach.

South Donmouth Beach is in the Old Aberdeen area of the city

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From Issue 4 of Hidden Scotland magazineIssue 418 hours ago

Discover the Nooks and Crannies of Aberdeen and Shire

Our guide to Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, from the Granite City's street art and museums to Deeside, the coastal villages of Pennan and Crovie, castles, walks and places to eat and stay.

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From our guide18 hours ago

Marischal Square.

Marischal Square is the newest corner of the old town, finished in 2017 opposite Marischal College, with cafés, a hotel and gardens. The reason to come is the much older house it was built around. Provost Skene's House goes back to at least 1545 and is the oldest surviving townhouse in Aberdeen. Since 2021 it has told the stories of famous people from the city and the north-east, room by room, and entry is free. Look for the painted gallery ceiling of the 1620s, hidden behind boards for years and found again in the 1950s.

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Places to visit17 hours ago

Grounded.

A fully plant-based café and bakery on Rosemount Viaduct in Aberdeen, opened in 2025 by a young baker, with pastries, sourdough, focaccia sandwiches and brunch.

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From our archive17 hours ago

Foodstory, Aberdeen.

A warm, homely vegetarian and vegan cafe on Thistle Street in Aberdeen, with its own sourdough and baking, speciality coffee and an open mic every Wednesday.

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In Aberdeen17 hours ago

The Belmont Cinema in Aberdeen has chosen its architects, a step closer to opening its doors again.

Burrell Foley Fischer, who have restored independent cinemas across the UK, will design the refurbishment for the charity that is reopening it.

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Did you know16 hours ago

The world's first full-body MRI scan of a patient was made in Aberdeen in 1980, on a scanner built by a University of Aberdeen team.

Professor John Mallard, head of medical physics at the university, led the physicists behind it: James Hutchison, William Edelstein, Glyn Johnson and Thomas Redpath. Between them they developed and built a whole-body scanner of their own. On 28 August 1980 the radiologist Dr Francis Smith carried out the first scan, on a patient from Fraserburgh, and it was the first MRI body scan any patient in the world had received. In Dr Smith's words, Aberdeen put the scanner to clinical use before anyone else in the world.

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