We are building our travel itinerary for a May 2020 trip, and right now, I have us leaving Edinburgh on Sunday morning, and driving to St. Andrews for the day. We'll spend one night there before continuing our trip into the Highlands. Will things be open on Sunday? We are specifically interested in golf (well, a couple of us are interested. The other two, not so much.) touring the castle, and seeing the university, as well as just enjoying the town. Thoughts?
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
32732 posts
Bearing in mind that everything may change if Brexit happens and then Scotland withdraws from the UK and puts in new laws regarding closing and opening hours - nobody knows - because my crystal ball can't predict tomorrow much less six months from now...
if the things stay the same, normal and larger shops can only open for a maximum of 6 hours on Sundays; very small shops don't have those restrictions but most follow the same hours other than corner shops and restaurants, and those at some stations and airports.
Castle and university - you can check on google or their websites.
Castle and Cathedral (both ruins) open daily.
The University can be seen in a 90 minutes self guided tour 7 days a week, some buildings are only open M-F or less, and be careful of disturbing students in May as they are revising for their exams or sitting them.
Posted by
OP
Nashville TN
36 posts
Thank you, that is helpful!
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
32732 posts
Remembering that the laws are different in some things north of the border, this information from Wikipedia may be of some or less help:-
Sunday trading laws in Scotland are devolved to the Scottish
Parliament. Scotland has never had any general legislation that
restrict Sunday trading. However, the Sunday Working (Scotland) Act
2003 prohibits shops from compelling their staff to work on Sunday.
This lack of restriction allows opening hours of larger shops to be
longer than in England and Wales, and many large supermarkets remain
open seven days a week with little or no adjustment of opening hours
at the weekend. There is no equivalent to the legal restriction on
Easter Sunday opening that exists in England and Wales, but opening on
Christmas Day is very unusual.Actual practice varies across the country according to local custom
and local council regulation. In the Western Isles, where the Free
Church of Scotland has a considerable following, there has been
virtually no commercial activity on Sundays until 6:45 am on Monday.
In tourist and holiday areas, there is typically an increase in the
number of shops opening late and on Sundays during their particular
tourist seasons.
Posted by
Tempe, AZ, USA
1265 posts
Kristine - playing golf is possible on Sunday except on the Old Course. Check out www.standrews.com. Another fun thing to do is the The Himalayas putting course. www.standrewsputtingclub.com.