Aberdeenshire

The Banff Coast – Two Harbour Towns and Three Cliff Villages

A day by car, from Aberdeen and back.

The route

West of Fraserburgh, the Moray Firth coast rises into high red cliffs, and its fishing villages sit on narrow ledges at the foot of them, each at the bottom of a road that drops steeply to the sea.

This day out from Aberdeen starts at Portsoy, whose 17th-century harbour is the oldest on the firth, then runs east along the A98 to Banff, a royal burgh with one of the best-preserved old towns in Scotland. After lunch the road drops to the sea at Gardenstown and Pennan, and to the clifftop above Crovie. Gardenstown is stacked in terraces above its harbour, Crovie is a single row of cottages with no road through it, and Pennan, the village of Local Hero, keeps its red phone box on the front. From there it's under an hour and a half home.

Before you go

Book dinner at the Pennan Inn
The Pennan Inn serves dinner only, from 5pm, Wednesday to Sunday, and has few tables, so book before you set out if the day is to end with it.

The day

Harbours and cliff villages

A day along the Banff coast, from two old harbour towns to three villages tucked under the cliffs. The morning belongs to Portsoy and Banff, their quays and old streets; the afternoon drops down to Gardenstown, Crovie and Pennan, one steep road at a time. Leave Aberdeen at about half past eight.

4 hr 56 min at the wheelAbout 119 miles

Portsoy's old harbour
It's 95 minutes' drive north-west from Aberdeen, by the A947 through Oldmeldrum and Turriff, to Portsoy. Its old harbour dates from the 17th century and is the oldest on the Moray Firth, with stone warehouses along Shorehead beside it. The Port House there does coffee from 10am, and the Portsoy Marble shop opens at 11, selling the town's green and red serpentine, which isn't marble at all. Portsoy played the island of Todday in the 2016 Whisky Galore!, and Portsoy Ice Cream is a few minutes' walk up the town.
15 min by car
Banff
An attraction
Banff, a royal burgh since 1372, at the mouth of the River Deveron, is 15 minutes' drive east along the A98. Leave the car by the harbour and walk into one of the best-preserved old towns in Scotland. On Low Street stand the Town House of 1797 and the plainstanes, the raised pavement in front of it with the market cross. The free Museum of Banff, on the High Street, opens a few mornings a week in summer. Kafé on Low Street does lunch.
More about Banff
19 min by car
Gardenstown
An attraction
It's 19 minutes' drive east, over the Deveron and through Macduff, to Gardenstown, Gamrie to anyone from here, its houses stacked up the steep side of Gamrie Bay. One road winds down through hairpins to the harbour. Walk the quay and along Seatown, the old fishertown, and leave the car behind, as its road is a private road to people's homes. The ruined St John's Church, the Kirk of Skulls, stands on the clifftop a kilometre west, a walk of its own. Bumble and Brae does coffee and cake.
More about Gardenstown
5 min by car
Crovie
An attraction
The shore path from Gardenstown has been closed since a rockfall, so come by road: it's 5 minutes' drive up over the hill to the viewpoint car park above Crovie, as far as cars go. Below, one row of cottages sits on a ledge under the cliff, most of them gable-end to the sea. Walk down the steep lane and steps to the front; the climb back is the hard part. The families who built Crovie had been cleared from the land, and the storm of 1953 ended its fishing.
More about Crovie
1 hr 20 min by car
Pennan
An attraction
Drive 9 minutes east along the clifftop to Pennan, then down a steep, narrow road to the sea. Pennan is one row of white houses between the cliff and the harbour, and it was Ferness in the 1983 film Local Hero. The red phone box on the front has been listed since 1989; the one in the film was a prop. The Pennan Inn does dinner from 5pm, Wednesday to Sunday, best booked ahead. Aberdeen is 80 minutes' drive home, by Strichen and Ellon.
More about Pennan

If it rains

Crovie and Pennan still look good from above in the rain, but in a northerly gale the waves come over the fronts of both, so look from the Crovie viewpoint and the top of the Pennan road instead of walking along the shore. Banff has the dry hours: Duff House, William Adam's great house on the south side of the town, opens Thursday to Sunday, and the Museum of Banff a few mornings a week in summer. In Portsoy, the Marble shop is open every day from April to October and the Salmon Bothy museum on summer afternoons.

Worth a detour

Sandend Beach
8 minutes' drive west of Portsoy on the A98: a sandy bay with the old fishing village of Sandend at one end. Glenglassaugh Distillery, just along the coast, takes visitors by appointment only. Half an hour on the sand is enough, and Banff is 21 minutes' drive east from there.
Duff House
3 minutes' drive to the south side of the town: the great house William Adam designed in 1730 for William Duff, now hung with paintings from the National Galleries of Scotland. From April to September it opens Thursday to Sunday, 10am to 4.30pm, and from October to March Friday to Sunday, 10am to 3.30pm, shutting each day from 12.30pm to 1.15pm; £10 online, £11 at the door. Gardenstown is 20 minutes' drive from there.
St John's Church, Gamrie
About a kilometre west of Gardenstown harbour, on the clifftop at the west end of Gamrie Bay, stand the roofless walls of St John's Church, the Kirk of Skulls, named for three skulls said to be from a battle with the Danes in 1004. From the harbour it's about an hour there and back on foot, along the shore and up a steep path.
Troup Head
6 minutes' drive east, through Northfield Farm to the RSPB's small car park of about 20 spaces, with no toilets: Scotland's biggest mainland gannet colony, on cliffs over 90 metres high. The path to the reserve is about 920 metres, uneven and steep in places, and the cliff edge is unfenced, so keep dogs close. The gannets nest here from spring through the summer. Pennan is 8 minutes' drive on.
Cullykhan Bay
Just west of Pennan, 9 minutes' drive from Crovie: a small bay under the cliffs, a few minutes' walk down from the car park. Hell's Lum, a collapsed sea cave with unfenced drops, is 10 to 15 minutes' walk west of Castle Point, over a burn and up a steep path. Pennan is 6 minutes' drive on.