Help on Scotland trip - Aberdeen area

Are you going to fly home from Aberdeen? IF so, if you have the opportunity on your airline of choice to fly via Amsterdam that is an extremely easy transit. I've done Scotland to the US West twice (leaving from Aberdeen and Edinburgh) via Amsterdam. Since Great Britain is not a Schengen country you land in the non-Schengen area of the airport and don't have to go thru passport control or security. I literally could have had a 45 minute transit time there with my Aberdeen to Seattle flight and still had time to make a comfort stop. Of course you'd never book anything that close but just wanted to mention how easy it is!

There are also non-stop service on Delta from Edinburgh to Atlanta. It might be seasonal but should be available in April/May time frame.

Thank you, interesting possibility. Right now, we are considering going over to Ireland for a few days from Aberdeen, but that is not set in stone, there is at least the possibility we will fly back to the East Coast from Aberdeen. We have some status on Delta, so that would for sure be a possibility. Thanks again.

I've done the train journey up to Aberdeen in the fall of 2024 (I went from London to York, spent a few days there then continued on up to Aberdeen). I thought the portion from York to Aberdeen was very nice with, to my memory, a lot of it along the coastline. The portion from London to York was fine too. I don't know if your route will vary if doing a straight shot from London to Aberdeen. Can't say too much about Aberdeen itself, we were only there for one night before boarding the ferry to the Shetland islands the following evening. In our 10 or so hours in Aberdeen, we mostly did silly things like randomly decide at the end of each street which way we'd go next, or spying a feature in the distance picked at random (like a tower or a church spire or tall tree) and navigating our way by foot to that location and seeing whatever along the way. What I remember we saw was a lot of shopping malls. An amount that became funny in our few hours of wandering before catching the ferry.

Thank you. Love that getting to the end of the street and randomly deciding which way to turn! That is kind of our style too, love to randomly wander and have seen many fun things doing that. Appreciate your input and it sounds like the train ride will work. Thanks again.

With a car, you will get to experience the gorgeous landscapes in Aberdeenshire. I highly recommend a day out to Craigievar Castle and then to Stonehaven and Dunnottar Castle. With stops along the River Dee of course !!!

Thanks Kim. I looked these up online and they are ALL great suggestions. Especially Dunnotter Castle. The river looks great too. Thanks for the tips.

Some really nice meals I experienced in Aberdeen were at The Silver Darling, Ma Cameron’s and Maggie’s Grill. The Silver Darling is the most upscale of these 3 restaurants and the seafood was delicious and service very good. Reservations recommended. Ma Cameron’s is a local pub serving all the classic dishes. The atmosphere is fun and service was also very good. Maggie’s Grill specializes in New Orleans style Cajun barbecue and spicy chicken dishes. I really loved the food here; the atmosphere was ok. Very different from every restaurant in Scotland that I’ve had the privilege of enjoying.

https://www.thesilverdarling.co.uk/

https://www.belhaven.co.uk/pubs/aberdeen/ma-camerons?utm_source=g_places&utm_medium=locations&utm_campaign=HT_pubpage

http://maggiesgrill.co.uk/

I wrote a trip report of my time in Scotland and have attached it in case it’s helpful for things to do in Aberdeen and surrounding area.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/scotland-and-london-solo-july-18-august-4-2025

Thank you sooooooo much Linda. Great information and thanks for the link to your travel log. Glanced at and will be deep diving into it soon. Appreciate the advice. Say hello to my hometown of Seattle for me! 😂

https://www.thebalvenie.com/en-us/welcome-to-the-distillery/

I had a nice tour and tasting at Balvenie distillery. Must be booked in advance and we had access to some scotches not available elsewhere. Their shop is only open to those who have booked the tour.

Have a fun trip!

Thanks Rocket. Appreciate the heads up about having to book in advance!

I've only ever travelled from London to Aberdeen by train on a sleeper train so I can't say much about the scenery because it was too dark to see anything. If you like train travel this might be something which works for you

https://www.sleeper.scot/

Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire have a lot going for them with plenty to see and do and this website will give you some inspiration

https://visitabdn.com/

Thanks so much for these two websites. The overnight train is intriguing and the other site is filled with great info about the area Thanks!

We spent two nights in Aberdeen in 2024 (train from Glasgow) and enjoyed a meeting of the Aberdeen Folk Club upstairs at the Blue Lamp (on a Wed) and more good Scottish trad at the Northern Bar the next evening. Most bars have music on specific nights of the week, so you have to look at thesession.org or Facebook. Blackfriars isa another nice bar with frequent music. We were focused on a visit to the King's College library for my wife's family records and the "lordship" my wife had purchased for my birthday, so we didn't see much besides Old Town and the countryside. Dunnatar Castle and the Maritime Museum were nice. There are lots of Neolithics to the south of town with a car. Out trip included heading north from Aberdeen to Rosehearty and returning from Stonehaven to Aberdeen two weeks later to fly to Shetland.

Thank you. All great information. This is our first time to Scotland so your tips are really helpful. Especially needed the pub info because that is high on our priority list! Thanks again.

If you're heading west of Aberdeen for sightseeing, a worthwhile distillery tour & tasting is Royal Lochnagar, very close to Balmoral. Our group of 7, who visited multiple distilleries on our 3-week trip in 2023, found our afternoon at Royal Lochnagar well worth the visit.

Thanks Kris. We are going to Balmoral so we will add that to our list. Thanks for the tip!