coming to st andrews area..need help!

[Us_Marine_0311]

I am coming to Scotland June 2nd through the 12th. I am just getting out of the US Marines and starting school at the University of Maryland. Before I begin my enormous course load I wanted to get away for a bit. So I decided on Scotland with the family. Just wondering, from a student’s point of view, what are the sites, pubs, nightlife, etc.. to go see? I would much rather get an honest opinion from someone who LIVES there rather than buying a book for $25 full of BS and sites for old. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[munchingfoo]

My first bit of advice would be, if you want nightlife don't come to the st andrews area. I would recommend Edinburgh, and if you want to see the stuff around St Andrews its only a 1 hour drive from Edinburgh.

[hr]

Tired Freudian references aside - your mother played my mighty skin flute like a surf crowned sea nymph trying to rouse Poseidon from his watery slumber!

[Gubbins]

Seconded. If you're still coming...

Touristy stuff: see the castle and the cathedral and basically just have a wander around the town. The whole lot will take you about an hour if you dawdle. Or you could spend your money on things like Edinburgh Castle, the Loch Ness Monster Exhibition in Drumnadrochit (near Inverness), Stirling Castle, or somewhere like that.

Nightlife: if you're happy sat at a bar in some pub somewhere, see the next section, otherwise... um... you can always go for a walk on the beach...

Pubs: these St Andrews has a lot of, and a wide variety. 1 Golf Place was better before the refurbishments (in my opinion), but caters to the student/golfing population; Aikman's/The Cellar does good food and good beers; the West Port and Ma Bells cater for the richer population; the Whey Pat does a good whisky selection and is one of the few places where students and locals mix, and if you want something completely different, just stumble out the door, walk about ten paces, and in the next door until you find a pub you like. Good hunting!

[hr]

...but then again, that is only my opinion.

[sweet]

Click on the "maps" link above!

The castle and cathedral are good fun to walk round, there are guided tours too I think. That will take up maybe an afternoon - the castle has a spooky if dank mine and countermine, and the cathedral has St Rules tower from which you'll get an ace view of the town. Depending on motivation and stamina there are quite a few good walks round the place. West Sands is a beautiful beach (tad too cold for sunbathing tho). Oh between West Sands and the Old Course lie The Himalayas putting green. For about £1 you can do 18 holes, putting - lots of fun . From West Sands one can walk up the Scores (lots of old buildings) to the Castle, past Castle Sands. Then there's a cliff path along to the harbour past the cathedral wall. Another nice walk is through Lade Braes park

Another afternoon you could walk a few miles out of town past The Grange (book a table it's around £25 a head I think and has an excellent reputation) and take a round trip through the countryside. There's a pick your own strawberry farm en route as well. For this it's probably best to drop into Tourist Information (market street) for a map.

The Tudor Inn does a fun ghost tour (oooh scary) of a night. Pubs have pretty much been covered - the Central is also good.

Close by are the very pretty coastal villages of the East Neuk of fife. Drop into the bus station for a timetable (buses are a bit infrequent), then go to Anstruther (half an hour on the bus, scenic route) which has a fish and chip shop frequented by Tom Hanks (ooh). 10 minutes away on the same route is Pittenweem, which has quite a few little art galleries (I recommend Art Extraordinary for something a bit different, but you might have to contact the curator Joyce Laing to be shown around).

What else? Tourist mecca Edinburgh is only an hour away by train and well worth a visit.

Do drink good whisky. I think you'll get the most out of your whole trip to Scotland by doing a bit of reading on the history of the places you want to see.... scrabble about on the Guide link too

[Tigger]

Quoting sweet from 18:04, 30th Mar 2006
Click on the "maps" link above!

The castle and cathedral are good fun to walk round, there are guided tours too I think. That will take up maybe an afternoon - the castle has a spooky if dank mine and countermine, and the cathedral has St Rules tower from which you'll get an ace view of the town. Depending on motivation and stamina there are quite a few good walks round the place. West Sands is a beautiful beach (tad too cold for sunbathing tho). Oh between West Sands and the Old Course lie The Himalayas putting green. For about £1 you can do 18 holes, putting - lots of fun . From West Sands one can walk up the Scores (lots of old buildings) to the Castle, past Castle Sands. Then there's a cliff path along to the harbour past the cathedral wall. Another nice walk is through Lade Braes park

Another afternoon you could walk a few miles out of town past The Grange (book a table it's around £25 a head I think and has an excellent reputation) and take a round trip through the countryside. There's a pick your own strawberry farm en route as well. For this it's probably best to drop into Tourist Information (market street) for a map.

The Tudor Inn does a fun ghost tour (oooh scary) of a night. Pubs have pretty much been covered - the Central is also good.

Close by are the very pretty coastal villages of the East Neuk of fife. Drop into the bus station for a timetable (buses are a bit infrequent), then go to Anstruther (half an hour on the bus, scenic route) which has a fish and chip shop frequented by Tom Hanks (ooh). 10 minutes away on the same route is Pittenweem, which has quite a few little art galleries (I recommend Art Extraordinary for something a bit different, but you might have to contact the curator Joyce Laing to be shown around).

What else? Tourist mecca Edinburgh is only an hour away by train and well worth a visit.

Do drink good whisky. I think you'll get the most out of your whole trip to Scotland by doing a bit of reading on the history of the places you want to see.... scrabble about on the Guide link too

Im sorry sweet, im not being rude... but for fuck sake. St.andrews is practically a retirement home, he just left the marines, hes not dead... but your right, you have to search for stuff to do, the pubs are all pretty good, dependant on taste, and if you like golf or history your set. Otherwise, escape to stirling, edinburgh, glasgow, all easy-ish to get to, even for first timers. if you want "typically Scotland," then i recommend callander. its just past stirling, the entrnce to the highlands, and some of the best scenery, climbing, fishing, shooting, canoeing is in the area. dundee is ok for shops etc, cheaper than edinburgh, but with no nice people, so if you want to do everything you can, base in st. andrews, take day trips, and you'll have a ball. oh, and if you dont mind travelling an age, sweet is right. whisky. DO THE WHISKY TRAIL. its amazing. Oban is especially cool, they have a colloseum. also, go north, aberdeen, inverness, thurso, dunnet head, etc etc. inbetween all these places youll have the drive of your life with the best scenery in the world. aberdeen has a couple of good clubs too, and a great bar called filthy mcnasty's, not sure if its still there but well worth a visit. one last thing, remember as a tourist to these parts, anything you buy get shipped across to your home address, that way you wont pay our tax as well!!!! enjoy.

[hr]

Amazing ability to scare women off since 1846

[Nicole]

If you go to Oban, check out the Sea Life Sanctuary at Appin just for the otters, Fingal and Sula. They have seals too, but an otter beats a seal any day (or clubs?). The Highland Wildlife Park near Aviemore is worth a visit too, IMHO. The male capercailies are quite scary though.
for some great scenery, take the road to Skye, you'll see Eilean Donan castle too. The Drumochter Pass can be quite spectacular as well.
Can't beat a nice trip to Mull and Iona either, though that's hardly just a day trip.

[just_looking]

If its nightlife stick to Glasgow, Edinburagh and Aberdeen. Dundee and stirling are ok as well. If you have kids most of these places have things they can do as well