Hidden Scotland
Sign in
Fife.
A distant road bridge crosses the water beside a wooded island, calm sea stretching under a grey sky.

Getting to Fife and around.

The bridges, the trains and the buses

Fife is well connected by road and rail. The Forth Road Bridge and Queensferry Crossing make access from Edinburgh quick and simple, while train lines run through the region’s spine from Dunfermline to Dundee. Local rail stations also serve towns like Kirkcaldy, Leuchars (for St Andrews) and Markinch.

Bus services are regular and wide-reaching, with Stagecoach providing the majority of routes. Services link small villages with town centres, though travel times can add up in more rural areas. Driving offers the most freedom, especially for exploring the East Neuk or crossing from west to east.

Cycling is viable on quieter roads and signed routes – NCN 1 runs through Fife – though the coastal winds can be strong. The Fife Coastal Path is a 117-mile walking route from Kincardine to Newburgh, with sections easily accessed by public transport.

Over the Forth

The Queensferry Crossing and the Forth Road Bridge carry the roads north from Edinburgh into Fife.

Trains from Edinburgh cross the Forth Bridge to Aberdour and Kirkcaldy, and on through the middle of Fife to Dundee.

To St Andrews

The nearest station to St Andrews is Leuchars, on the line between Edinburgh and Dundee.

Buses from Leuchars take you into the town in a few minutes.

Getting around

Stagecoach buses link the towns and villages, though journeys add up in the country, and a car gives you the most freedom in the East Neuk.

The Fife Coastal Path runs for about 117 miles from Kincardine to Newburgh, and buses make it easy to walk in sections.

St Andrews suits golf, the beaches and the old university town, and the East Neuk villages of Crail, Anstruther, Pittenweem and Elie are the places for the coast. Dunfermline and the villages along the Forth are handiest for Edinburgh.

Three or four days covers St Andrews, the East Neuk and Falkland. Walking the Fife Coastal Path in sections, or adding Culross and Dunfermline in the west, can easily fill a week.

Fife's east coast is one of the drier and sunnier parts of Scotland, though the wind off the North Sea can make it feel cooler than it looks. Pack a layer for the harbours and the beaches whatever the forecast says.

Yes, it's a public course: book ahead through St Andrews Links, or enter the daily ballot for tee times. It's closed to golf on Sundays, when anyone can walk on it.

West Sands at St Andrews is two miles of sand, Elie and Earlsferry share a long, sheltered bay, and Kingsbarns and the Silver Sands at Aberdour are good for a quieter day.

Yes. The beaches, Deep Sea World at North Queensferry, the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther and the Secret Bunker near St Andrews all make easy days out, and the coastal path has short, flat stretches for small legs.

Photographs by Hassen Shehzad, Irina Hübner, roberto gissepi and ARAM via Google

More of Fife.

Stepped stone buttresses line the flank of a Gothic abbey with a central tower and spire, gravestones filling the churchyard below.See and doPalaces, abbeys and castles on the shoreWhitewashed cottages with red pantiled roofs line a narrow street, hanging baskets and potted plants decorating the doorways.Eat, drink and shopHarbour seafood, village inns and farm kitchensThe timber and stone house with a farm track curving past a white house, towards a loch below ploughed fields and green hills.Where to stayFarm cottages and harbour hideawaysStone archway framing the ruined tower and walls of St Andrews CathedralHistory and storiesThe emerald-green natural peninsula of Fife has always been a place apart.A stone shelter and bunkers on the fairway at Crail, with the coastline stretching into the distance.ItinerariesDays we have driven, stop by stopYachts and small boats lie moored in a sheltered harbour beneath a sandstone cliff, a ruined stone wall running along the quayside.What is on in FifeSomething new from the region every day