Granite streets and a wide North Sea shore

Aberdeen is built from its own bedrock. Almost everything along Union Street, the mile-long main thoroughfare, was cut from local granite, and the stone carries flecks of mica that catch the light after rain. Marischal College, with its forest of pinnacles, is among the largest granite buildings anywhere; a few steps away, Union Terrace Gardens lie in a sunken valley below His Majesty’s Theatre.

The sea is never far. Offshore supply vessels and the ferries to Orkney and Shetland berth in the harbour right beside the city centre, and bottlenose dolphins are regularly seen at the harbour mouth from Torry Battery. North of the harbour, a sandy beach runs for about two miles to the mouth of the River Don. A little inland, Old Aberdeen keeps its cobbles, its university chapel and a twin-spired cathedral.

The city is also the starting point for the north-east of Scotland. Royal Deeside leads west towards Balmoral and the Cairngorms, the coast to the south holds the clifftop ruin of Dunnottar Castle, and the distilleries of Speyside are within reach on a day trip. In town, try a buttery, the flat, salty local breakfast roll, and Cullen skink, the smoked haddock soup of the Moray coast.