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Gardens
in Aberdeen.

It’s 20:56 in Aberdeen.
Aberdeen

Green corners among the granite.

Aberdeen's gardens are small, green escapes from the granite streets. Step off Union Street into a Victorian garden in the hollow of the old Denburn, restored with new planting, a footbridge and glass pavilions. In Old Aberdeen, the university keeps a botanic garden behind high walls, with a rock garden, a sunken garden and an arboretum, and it's free to wander in. The west end hides a garden of streams, little waterfalls and arched bridges, where the maples turn red in autumn. By Bon Accord Terrace there are quiet lawns and benches just off the busy streets. Come in late spring, when the rhododendrons flower.

Johnston Gardens→
Bon Accord Terrace Gardens→
Cruickshank Botanic Garden→
Garden of the day18 hours ago

Johnston Gardens.

A small, hidden garden in the west end of Aberdeen, with streams, waterfalls, ponds and rockeries, a Japanese garden and little arched bridges.

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Lunch16 hours agoAberdeenUnder the Hammer100 yardsAberdeenArt Gallery Café200 yardsAberdeenBooks & Beans200 yards

Lunch near Union Terrace Gardens.

The three closest tables: Under the Hammer, Art Gallery Café and Books & Beans.

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From our guide14 hours ago

Duthie Park.

Duthie Park is Aberdeen's grand Victorian park on the banks of the Dee, given to the city by Elizabeth Crombie Duthie and opened in 1883. It keeps its boating pond, bandstand and fountains, with play areas and a café alongside. The real treat is the David Welch Winter Gardens, one of the largest indoor gardens in Europe. Walk through houses of tree ferns, orchids and banana trees to one of the biggest collections of giant cacti in Britain. It makes a warm escape on a cold, grey day.

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From our guide12 hours ago

Seaton Park.

Seaton Park runs down from St Machar's Cathedral to the River Don, and it is one of the loveliest places in the city for a walk. Once the grounds of Seaton House, it was bought by the city in 1947. A long central walk runs between flower beds, a path lined with roses leads up to the cathedral, and there are quiet walled gardens by the old stables. Paths follow the Don through woods above a small gorge. Look for the Wallace Tower at the park's edge and the Brig o' Balgownie downstream.

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Just opened10 hours ago

Aberdeen's first new observatory in more than 200 years opens today at Cruickshank Botanic Garden.

The Anne H Cruickshank Observatory houses a 16-inch telescope, and the University of Aberdeen plans to open it to schools, community groups and the public as well as its students. The garden itself is free to visit, with its entrance on The Chanonry.

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Did you know8 hours ago

Thomas Blake Glover, from Fraserburgh in Aberdeenshire, helped found the company that became Mitsubishi and was honoured by the Emperor of Japan.

Glover was born in Fraserburgh in 1838 and left Aberdeen at 18 to work for the trading company Jardine, Matheson & Co, first in China. In 1859 he moved to Nagasaki, soon after Japan opened to foreign trade, and set up his own firm. He helped found the shipbuilding company that later became Mitsubishi, and brokered ships for the young Japanese navy. One of its warships was built by Alexander Hall and Company in Aberdeen and launched in March 1869. In 1908 the Emperor Meiji gave him the Order of the Rising Sun, and his old home in Nagasaki is now a visitor attraction, Glover Garden.

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From the magazine6 hours agoThe printed copy of Issue 11Issue 11Autumn / Winter 2025–26

Aberdeen's grey squirrels go back to around 20 that escaped from a zoo in the city in 1971, and now red squirrels are returning to its parks.

'Back in 1971, around 20 grey squirrels were transported to a zoo in Aberdeen and escaped', Molly Martin of Saving Scotland's Red Squirrels told the magazine. By the 2000s the greys had taken over and the reds were disappearing. After 15 years of conservation work, greys are only occasionally seen, and reds are reclaiming the space, even in the city's parks and gardens. Anyone can help by sending in sightings of both reds and greys, which keeps the project's map of where they are in Scotland up to date. Hazlehead Park in Aberdeen is one of Molly's recommended places for red squirrel watching.

Read the full story in Issue 11
From our guide4 hours ago

Cruickshank Botanic Garden.

Behind high walls near King's College, the university keeps a botanic garden, and anyone may walk in for free. It was founded in 1898, when Anne Cruickshank gave the university the ground to make a garden. Paths lead through a rock garden and a sunken garden, past a pond thick with irises and under a weeping willow, out to an arboretum at the far end. Late spring is the time to come, when the rhododendrons are in flower. It is a calm place to sit between the cathedral and the college.

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From our guide56 minutes ago

Hazlehead Park.

On the western edge of the city, the old Hazlehead estate has been a public park since 1920, and it is a favourite for a family day out. Children make straight for the hedge maze, first planted in 1935, and the pets corner. The rose gardens are in bloom through the summer, and one of them holds the memorial to the 167 men who died on the Piper Alpha platform in 1988, bronze figures of oil workers by Sue Jane Taylor. Paths lead on into the woods for a longer walk, with a café waiting when you get back.

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GardensJust now

Bon Accord Terrace Gardens.

One of Aberdeen’s beautiful green spaces, Bon Accord Terrace Gardens are located just to the west of the city centre, making a quiet escape from the busy streets.

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