St Andrews

St Andrews has an unusually good set of beaches for a small town, all within walking distance. West Sands is a long, wide strand of pale sand backed by dunes and the golf links, with plenty of room for walking, kite flying and the famous run along the waterline. East Sands, beside the harbour, is sheltered and suits families, and little Castle Sands sits below the cliffs near the castle ruins.

The catch is the North Sea. Even in late summer the water rarely gets above 14°C, wind is common and lifeguard cover is seasonal. Swimming is a brisk dip for the hardy, often done as an all-year sea-dooking ritual by locals and students. Come for beach walks and fresh air, not for lying in the sun and swimming.

Eating in St Andrews is pleasant rather than a reason to come. The three main streets hold a good spread of cafés, bakeries and student-friendly lunch spots, a few serious restaurants cooking Scottish produce such as Fife lamb, East Neuk crab and lobster and local game, and the formal dining rooms of the golf hotels. Ice cream parlours are a local institution and queues on summer evenings are part of the town's rhythm.

The fishing villages a short drive down the coast add classic fish and chips eaten by the harbour and smoked fish from small smokehouses. Range is limited, though, and the town is quiet in the evenings outside term time.

St Andrews was once the religious capital of Scotland, and its medieval bones are still visible. The ruined cathedral, once the largest church in the country, stands on the headland with St Rule's Tower, which visitors can climb for a view over the town and bay. Nearby the clifftop castle keeps its bottle dungeon and the sixteenth-century siege mine and countermine, which you can crawl through.

The university, founded in 1413, gives the town its quadrangles, St Salvator's Chapel and gowned processions, and a small museum on its history. Golf is the other heritage: the Old Course, the Swilcan Bridge and the British Golf Museum draw pilgrims from everywhere. It is a lovely, walkable old town, but a day or two covers it.

Evenings in St Andrews revolve around pubs. There are traditional bars on the main streets, golf-themed lounges full of visiting players and a handful of livelier places that the students keep busy during term, with the students' union as the closest thing to a club. In summer and the long breaks, when most visitors come, the town is distinctly quiet and most people are in bed early. Anyone wanting a proper night out goes to Dundee or Edinburgh.

The landscape around St Andrews is coastal and open: low cliffs, rocky shore, dunes and rolling Fife farmland under big skies. The Fife Coastal Path runs both ways from town, south past sea stacks and caves towards the fishing villages and north to the Eden estuary, where wading birds gather in winter. Across the estuary, Tentsmuir Forest's pine woods end at a long shore where grey and common seals haul out.

Golf is the defining outdoor activity, with links courses all around the town. Cycling on quiet lanes is easy, and the Lomond Hills and, further out, the Highland edge around Perthshire give real hill walking within reach by car. The weather is cool, windy and changeable all year.

St Andrews makes a surprisingly good base for exploring eastern Scotland. The East Neuk fishing villages of Crail, Anstruther, Pittenweem and Elie are half an hour or less along the coast, all harbours, red pantile roofs and narrow wynds. Falkland Palace, the Renaissance hunting seat of the Stuart kings, is a short drive inland, and Dundee, with the V&A design museum and Captain Scott's ship Discovery, is about half an hour away.

Edinburgh is about an hour and a half by bus and train via Leuchars, an easy full day. Perth and Scone Palace, Glamis Castle, Dunfermline Abbey, the preserved village of Culross and Stirling Castle are all within reach by car. Without one, the trips need some planning around buses.

St Andrews is a safe, gentle place for children, small enough to walk everywhere and calm enough to let older kids roam a little. East Sands and West Sands are good for sandcastles, rock pools and kites, if not for long swims. A small aquarium on the Scores and the crawl through the castle's siege tunnels go down well, and Craigtoun Park on the edge of town has a boating pond, a miniature railway and play areas. The public putting green beside the Old Course lets children try the famous links.

There is no big attraction made for families, and the weather can cut beach days short, so it works best as a relaxed few days rather than a packed trip.

Within St Andrews, getting around is effortless. The medieval centre is a few parallel streets running towards the cathedral, and the beaches, the Old Course, the university and the castle are all a short walk apart. Most visitors never need a vehicle in town.

The town has no railway station of its own. The nearest is Leuchars, about 8km away, linked by frequent buses and taxis, and from there trains run to Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen. Buses also serve the East Neuk and Dundee, but inland sights and the countryside are much easier with a car.

Shopping in St Andrews is a pleasant browse along Market Street, South Street and North Street. Golf is the specialism: shops sell clubs, clothing and memorabilia, and Old Course-branded goods are the classic souvenir. Beyond that there are knitwear and cashmere shops, tartan, independent bookshops, delicatessens and a few small boutiques serving students and well-off visitors. It is enjoyable for an afternoon, but there is no real depth, and serious shoppers head to Edinburgh.

St Andrews is an expensive place to stay. Rooms are limited and priced for golfers and visiting university families, and they rise sharply around tournaments and graduation weeks. Eating out costs about the UK average, with student cafés and takeaway fish and chips keeping lunches manageable, and buses and walking keep transport cheap. The sights themselves are modestly priced, but playing the famous courses is a significant cost. Staying outside town or in the East Neuk villages can help.

For a small town, St Andrews has some live culture, most of it tied to the university. The Byre Theatre stages drama, touring productions, comedy and music, and the university's concert halls and chapel hold choral evenings, chamber concerts and student productions during term. Folk sessions turn up in some pubs. It is a modest programme, quiet in the summer break, and a visitor wanting opera, orchestras or major theatre goes to Edinburgh or Dundee.

St Andrews is a calm place to unwind, if not a spa destination. The pace is unhurried, with long walks on West Sands, quiet evenings and fresh sea air. The big golf resorts on the edge of town have full hotel spas with pools and treatments open to non-residents, but there are no public baths or thermal waters. Cold-water sea dipping off East Sands and Castle Sands is a popular local habit, and the hardy can join it.