Fife Villages

There are impressive standing stones at Lundin Links golf course, free. See video @ 5 minutes

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1xHSHyUnQL4&pp=0gcJCfwAo7VqN5tD

Be sure to drive under the Forth Bridge on the Edinburgh side of the water.

Quite a lot of villages in that area.

I would suggest Kinross, just of the M90 half way up. And Culross, just inside Fife on the Forth.

Hvave a look at this driving tour which will hit many of the highlights of the area. Each of the different fishing villages are very different and well worth exploring. Flakland with its palace is way from the coast but is an attractive town which was stood in for Inverness in the popular TV show Oulander.

You might also want to add the ruined Ravenscraig Castle. Website here.

There is also Aberdour Castle Website here.Dunfermline with its abbey is also worth a stop.

Dunfermline with its Abbey and ruined Palace are also worth considering.

I really like Culross. The Red Lion there is a good spot for lunch. You could then go across the Kincardine Bridge and stop at the Kelpies. Then circle back to Edinburgh via Linlithgow

If you have a bit more time you could also make your way to Stirling which is a nice small sized city with a great castle and the Wallace Monument and plenty of shops and restaurants.

Not far from Crail is Scotland's Secret Bunker - we found this quite fascinating. Cold War panic at it's height!

Dundee's only about 25 miles away. It has quite a few worthwhile museums:

• Victoria & Albert (design museum)
• McManus Museum & Art Gallery
• Discovery Point (Arctic exploration)
• Verdant Works (industrial-heritage museum covering the history of the jute industry I n Dundee.

Crail is very pretty with a lovely harbour, a picturesque gem. Other nearby villages are worth a visit too - Pittenweem, St Monan's (lovely church) in particular, Elie/Earlsferry are very attractive too. If you enjoy a walk the Fife Coastal trail links all the little villages and offers an easy route along the shore/coast to each one.There is a very good bus service which allows you to walk from one village to the other and then get the bus back to where you started.
I would add that my favourite section so far is Lower Largo to Earlsferry/Elie as there are some nice beaches rather than rocky coast.

Walkhighlands excellent website describes the coastal route in stages...

https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/fife-stirling/fife-coastal-path.shtml

Kellie Castle is well worth a visit - check opening times.Anstruther also offers boat trips out to the Isle of May which has a large puffin colony.

https://www.isleofmayferry.com

Anstruther was always well known as having the best fish and chips in Scotland but IMO , the two outlets - the Anstruther Fish Bar and the Wee Chippy are not quite as good as they used to be:( It is the largest of the fishing villages.

St Andrew's of course is well worth a visit too and only about 10 miles from Crail. Kingsbarns has an attractive beach and walk too.Cambo Estate is nearby and has an attractive cafe and gardens.

https://www.camboestate.com/plan-your-day-at-cambo/#food

I'd second Culross for a visit on route to Edinburgh and also Falkland village and Palace.Gorgeous.

South Queensferry is also an attractive village and gives fantastic views of the Forth Rail Bridge.

Good suggestions here. I might add the Crail Harbour Gallery and Tea Room, the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther, and the Cocoa Tree Shop in Pittenweem. The East Neuk of Fife is the area of Scotland with the most difficult accent for me to understand.

Just to add some color, the Red Lion in Culross was a set for Outlander. The bar went up for sale during Covid, and the film crew/cast joined with locals to buy the bar and make it community owned. You'll find the staff very friendly and the food very good.

I am excited to explore the Fife villages...it was so uplifting to read all of your replies. I wasn't sure if I would get suggestions on this area as it seems less traveled (often a benefit)! Thank you all for enlightening us on ways and places to explore this lovely area of Scotland!

Some great suggestions in this thread. My only knowledge of Fife villages is from a long time ago. I'd travel to some of the villages further in from the coast for rabbit shows as a child. Showing rabbits, alongside pigeon racing ("the doos") was (is?) a popular pastime in the former mining villages of Fife.

A friend of mine from Lanarkshire lived in Oakley for some years. His father still lives there. There's some nice countryside around there. I would enjoy the drive up after the Kincardine Bridge through Fife to Oakley when I went to visit.

Dunino Den is one of my favorite places. It's an ancient, pre-Christian worship site. It is between St A and Crail.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Dunino+Den/@56.2881328,-2.8122727,12z/data=!4m14!1m7!3m6!1s0x4886f89e5165bb77:0x7209499a67f6ade6!2sDunino+Den!8m2!3d56.2881328!4d-2.7444235!16s%2Fg%2F11ggvyy_sx!3m5!1s0x4886f89e5165bb77:0x7209499a67f6ade6!8m2!3d56.2881328!4d-2.7444235!16s%2Fg%2F11ggvyy_sx?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDcwNi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/outdoors/dunino-den-in-scotland-explained-4344512
https://www.tiktok.com/@scottishmaninavan/video/7519943427698511126

GerryM thank you for conjuring up some very nice memories for me. My grandfather raised and raced doos from his back garden shed when I was a little girl. He was a miner in a village in Clackmannanshire not far from the villages in Fife.

The wee villages around Glenrothes all had pits back in the day; I remember going to Leslie and Kinglassie and other places around Glenrothes and Kirkcaldy

I grew up in Lanarkshire around Hamilton and Blantyre, so there were still quite a lot of older people keeping pigeons when I was young. I remember the big truck to take the baskets of pigeons off to race turning up in the neighbourhood on a Friday night!

The rabbit showing came from miners breeding rabbits for the pot I think. We bred and showed English rabbits in the "fancy" class, but I remember some classes with absolutely giant rabbits.

Occasionally see clearly domesticated pigeons and doves flying around near me.

And why do I have 'Bright Eyes' now in my head?

The Miners' Welfare club or the bowling club (lawn bowls) are the heart of many (ex) mining towns. Both places where you can get a drink cheaper than the pub if you're a member. eta: The church too of course, but you can't get a drink there.

I was going to add, I've been to Fife a lot more now I think about it. I used to go up to Knockhill Racing Circuit often to see motor and motorcycle racing. It's the type of place it can easily be pouring and blowing a gale in the middle of summer, even if it's fine and dry by The Forth Road Bridge. I'll link to the 2025 schedule below. The British Touring Car Championship weekend of 16th 17th August is the big event in Knockhill's calendar.
https://www.knockhill.com/events/Knockhill-Racing-fixtures

On a similar motorsports theme, Crail is the only place with a 1/4 mile drag strip in Scotland.
https://www.crailraceway.co.uk/wp/

Also, now I think about, there's a short oval track at Cowdenbeath where you can see stock cars and banger racing.
https://www.racewall.co.uk/