Aberdeen

Stonehaven by Train – Harbour, Cliff Path and Dunnottar Castle

A day by train and on foot, from Aberdeen station and back.

The route

Dunnottar is a ruin spread across a rock above the North Sea, and it makes a day out from Aberdeen without a car, on foot along a cliff path with a steep climb.

The train takes under 20 minutes down the coast to Stonehaven, whose Old Town gathers round a small harbour. From there a path climbs to the war memorial on the Black Hill, with the whole bay below you, and runs south along the clifftops to the castle. William Wallace, Mary Queen of Scots and the Honours of Scotland all have their stories here. Back in town, the afternoon is for the old Tolbooth on the pier, fish and chips on the front and, in summer, a swim in the open-air pool of 1934. It's about 6.5 miles in all, with plenty of steps at the castle.

The day

Dunnottar

A day out of Aberdeen by train, leaving the station at about 9am for the harbour town of Stonehaven and the cliffs to Dunnottar. The morning climbs past the war memorial to the castle on its rock above the sea. The afternoon is back at the harbour for the old Tolbooth, fish and chips on the front and the seawater pool.

Stonehaven
An attraction
It's a 17-minute train ride down the coast from Aberdeen, then a 30-minute walk from Stonehaven station through Market Square and over the Carron Water into the Old Town. On the way is the Carron Fish Bar, where, the story goes, the deep-fried Mars bar was first made in 1992. Along the Old Town's High Street stand the steeple of 1790 and the Mercat Cross. At its foot is the harbour, with the old Tolbooth on its pier and the Ship Inn and the Marine Hotel facing the boats.
More about Stonehaven
12 min on foot
Stonehaven War Memorial
The war memorial on the Black Hill is a 12-minute walk from the harbour, uphill all the way, by Castle Street and the signed path onto the cliff top. A Stonehaven architect, John Ellis, designed it as an open, eight-sided temple that looks like a ruin, and the story goes that it was left unfinished for lives cut short. Unveiled in 1923, it carries 162 names from the First World War. Look back over the town and the bay, then south for your first sight of Dunnottar.
23 min on foot
Dunnottar Castle
An attraction
It's a 23-minute walk south along the cliff path, above Strathlethan Bay and the sea stack of Dunnicaer, where a Pictish fort once stood, to the top of the castle steps. The whole ruin is laid out on its rock below you. William Wallace is said to have taken Dunnottar in 1297; Mary Queen of Scots visited twice, and in 1652 the Honours of Scotland were smuggled out past Cromwell's army. It's 180 steps down and about a hundred up into the castle, and tickets are by card only.
More about Dunnottar Castle
32 min on foot
Stonehaven Tolbooth Museum
Walk back along the same path, 32 minutes and downhill at the end, to the harbour and the Tolbooth on the Old Pier. Built of red sandstone in the late 1500s, it was the town's courthouse and prison, and its ground floor is now a small, free museum kept by volunteers, with an old cell door and the seven-hole stocks from Inverbervie. It opens at 1.30pm, never on a Tuesday. Upstairs is the Tolbooth restaurant, and the Ship Inn is a few steps along Shorehead for a pint.
18 min on foot
Stonehaven Outdoor Pool
An attraction
It's an 18-minute walk along the front, past the Bay's fish and chips, to the Open Air Pool in Queen Elizabeth Park, just back from the promenade. Opened in 1934, it's an Olympic-sized Art Deco lido of heated seawater, open to the sky. It opens from late May to early September, from 1pm on weekdays outside the peak weeks of early July to mid-August; out of season, the day ends at the Bay. The station is a 23-minute walk away for the train home.
More about Stonehaven Outdoor Pool

If it rains

In steady rain the cliff path is muddy and its steps slippery, so take it slowly, or leave it out in a gale. Dunnottar's ruins are mostly open to the sky, with a few roofed rooms. On a wet day, see the Old Town and the harbour, and go out to the castle only if it's open and the path is safe. See the Tolbooth when it opens at 1.30pm, then take the train back to Aberdeen for the Maritime Museum and the Art Gallery, both free and open until 5pm (4pm on Sundays).

Aberdeen Art Gallery

Where to eat