Scotland’s third most populous city, Aberdeen is known variously as the Silver City or the Granite City (due to the profusion of granite, with its sparkling mica, in its Victorian architecture) and the Flower of Scotland (due to the picturesque countryside in which it is nestled). The city is renowned for its many splendid gardens, parks and floral displays, having been named Best City in the Royal Horticultural Society’s Britain in Bloom awards ten times.
Although Aberdeen was supported by industries such as textiles, fishing, papermaking and shipbuilding in prior decades, the city owes much of its modern day prosperity to the discovery of oil in the nearby North Sea in the mid 20th century.
Most of those looking for cheap flights to Aberdeen will be working in the oil industry. The city is now sometimes known as the “Oil Capital of Europe” due to the oil companies’ vast investment in off-shore drilling in the region, which has also boosted the local economy and aided the city’s development toward becoming the modern and cosmopolitan urban centre that it is today.
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The summer months of June and July are generally the warmest (with average temperatures of around 18 degrees) and the winter months from November to February typically the coldest and wettest (with average temperatures slightly above freezing). Rain may occur throughout the year.
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Peak Season:
Aberdeen’s peak tourist season takes place during the summer, when weather is driest and warmest and periods of daylight longest.
Off Season:
The winter months are when Aberdeen sees the least tourism, as this is when the weather is likely to be coldest and wettest, and this is reflected in accommodation and travel prices and availability. Also, days become very short during the depths of winter, averaging a little over six and a half hours between sunrise and sunset. During this time there is, however, the Aberdeen Winter Festival, lasting three months from November to January.
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Aberdeen’s two main areas of tourist interest – Old Aberdeen and the city centre – are both compact enough that visitors can walk between sites easily. There are many pedestrian maps, located mainly at such sites, showing walking routes throughout the city. Bus operators First and Stagecoach also offer bus routes throughout Aberdeen, available from the city centre to the outer suburbs and beyond the city.
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- Provost Skene’s House is the oldest standing house in the city, a rare remaining example of medieval burgh architecture from the 16th century. Sir George Skene (after whom the house is named) was Lord Provost of Aberdeen, a position similar to Mayor. The house was opened to the public in 1953 and has been furnished in the styles of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.
- Aberdeen Maritime Museum details the city’s sea seagoing history, from the shipbuilding and fishing trades that supported the industry in prior centuries to today’s lucrative oil industry. In the past, the museum has been named Scottish Museum of the Year, and has been awarded Five Star Museum status by Visit Scotland.
- Aberdeen Art Gallery is the largest public gallery in the north of Scotland and draws more than 200,000 visitors annually. Its collection ranges from 18th century portraits by the likes of Hogarth and Raeburn to 20th century art by Francis Bacon, Stanley Spencer and Paul Nash, as well as French Impressionists and Post Impressionists such Renoir, Monet, Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec.
- St Machar’s Cathedral, a medieval cathedral church in Old Aberdeen, exists on a site that is believed to have held places of worship as far back as 580AD. The church is the burial place of the Bishops of Aberdeen from the 14th to 17th century, and it is said that it also contains some of the remains of hung, drawn and quartered Scottish rebel hero Sir William Wallace.
- Storybook Glen in the southwest of Aberdeen is ideal for those with younger children. The 28-acre theme park hosts more than 100 fairytale and nursery rhyme characters in the natural splendour of the Royal Deeside countryside.
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