I will be in St. Andrews for five days in September as part of a Scotland trip. My husband is an avid golfer and hopes to play as often as he can arrange. On those days I will be exploring St. Andrews and enjoying the coastal walks and scenery, but thought I might try and find a tour to nearby Dundee or the East Neuk on one of my free days. The RS suggestions are via car or bus; I won't have a car and would prefer to join up with others. Does anyone have any recommendations? Thanks!
Go into the Tourist Information Centre on 70 Market Place in St Andrews on your first day and ask their advice. They will know all the places to visit and how to get there by public transport.
Dundee has a hop-on hop-off bus tour. But unfortunately, it ends the season on the 3rd of September.
Thanks for the suggestion.
In keeping with wasleys suggestions, you could also email them ahead of time and tell them what you are looking to do. The email address is [email protected]. That way you can plan for it before you go.
Thanks to you all. Good idea.
Consider exploring Edinburgh if you're not already going there. I was just there for five nights in a St. Andrews apartment. You can catch an early morning bus at the SA bus station (five minutes from the Old Course) which will take you to the train station in Leuchars. From there you can catch an early train, about 8:00, for a 1 1/2 hour ride to Edinburgh. Fast and easy with beautiful scenery. It ends at Waverly Station in the city centre. From there you can walk 200 yards to Waterloo Place where you can buy a ticket for a one day Hop On Hop Off bus pass that will take you to all of the major Edinburgh sights. You can catch a train back to Leuchars around 6:00 PM and there is usually a bus to St. Andrews waiting for the train when it arrives. You'll be back in SA by 8:00.
If you choose to do this, you can book and pay for your round-trip train ticket and your HOHO ticket online and you will get an email voucher which you will convert to an actual ticket at the Leuchars station and Waterloo Place. If you want to see the Edinburgh Castle, and you will, you can purchase an entry pass online. I'd recommend sometime around noon to allow for the bus there and the short walk from the bus stop to the castle. It was an easy day for us, so I recommend it highly. You can also rent a car for a day and explore the countryside that way, but it takes a little getting used to driving over there.
Thanks, Jim. We will be spending five days in Edinburgh later in our trip, so have that covered.
Dundee is about 30 minutes away from St. Andrews by car; I don't know public transportation details but I'm sure the tourism office could help you. I feel Dundee is quite underrated. We spent two nights there and could easily have stayed another! The Verdant Works museum is excellent. The RRS Discovery/ Discovery Point and V & A Design Museum are on a lovely section of the waterfront. I picked up a brochure outlining several walking routes to statues and other public art in Dundee; sadly, we weren't there long enough for me to investigate further.
I agree about Dundee. It has multiple buses from St. Andrews every hour. It's Stagecoach bus 99, and it takes 28 minutes each way. The bus station in St. Andrews is about a 5-minute walk from Market Street. I think I was able to pick up the bus in Dundee on the street without having to go to the bus station, but it was 4 years ago, and I may be mistaken.