Aberdeen Hotels

Stay in an Aberdeen hotel and you’re on the doorstep of the imposing silver granite Victorian buildings of Union Street. Gales of laughter sweep in from the seafront amusements, and the 18th- and 19th-century collegiate buildings to the north of the centre reveal pre-industrial Aberdeen.

Aberdeen neighbourhoods

There was no Scots JR Ewing, but Aberdeen’s 1970s oil boom brought shiny office blocks and sleek bars and restaurants to town. But its genteel Georgian terraces and squares, and Victorian port’s buildings remain. From your Aberdeen hotel, explore the old town starting from St Machar’s Cathedral, which overlooks the River Don and is surrounded with cobblestones and 16th-century houses.

Shopping in Aberdeen

Whether you’re a Primark princess or a Dolce e Gabbana devotee, the area in and around Aberdeen’s Union Street will make you happy. In this shopping nerve centre the Bon Accord Centre, the Mall, the Academy and the St Nicholas Centre all offer high-street names. Designer luvvies can totter into Cruise for their Jimmy Choos or Zoomp for a blast of Ben de Lisi. Pop into itsKitsch on Belmont Street for all your pink-flocked birdcage pendant lamp needs.

Eating and drinking in Aberdeen

There’s top-notch rooftop dining at acclaimed Aberdeen spot Silver Darling, overlooking the harbour and seascape beyond. Some say you’ll get the best steak in town at old favourite the Stage Door close to His Majesty’s Theatre. At the city’s best-known chippie, the Ashvale, take the Ashvale Challenge – eating the Ashvale Whale, half a kilo of cod fillet and chips. If you achieve it on site, you get the same again for your dining companion. Castle Street has excellent trad pubs – try Camra pub of the year the Old Blackfriars for open fires and excellent draught ale, or the Tilted Wig, which has good-value pub grub and is used by local sheriff court staff and solicitors.

Culture and nightlife in Aberdeen

Mainstream musicals, ballet and operas appear at the Edwardian His Majesty’s Theatre on Rosemount Viaduct, while a funky local crowd packs the Lemon Tree on West North Street for comedy, jazz and pop nights. Classical and chamber music of international standards echoes from the Music Hall on Union Street. Stick on your black polo neck and head to the Aberdeen Arts Centre for dance and experimental theatre or head off to the Belmont Picture House for art-house cinema and a Tuesday night movie quiz.

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