Visit Aberdeen Places

Welcome to Visit Aberdeen Places
The Walkfo guide to things to do & explore in Aberdeen

  

Aberdeen Places Overview: History, Culture & Facts about Aberdeen

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Aberdeen history

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The Aberdeen area has seen human settlement for at least 8,000 years. The city began as two separate burghs: Old Aberdeen at the mouth of the river Don; and New Aberdeen, a fishing and trading settlement, where the Denburn waterway entered the river Dee estuary. In 1319, the Great Charter of Robert the Bruce transformed Aberdeen into a property-owning and financially independent community. Over the course of the Second World War Aberdeen was attacked 32 times by the German Luftwaffe.

Toponymy

The name given to Aberdeen translates as ‘mouth of the river Don’, and is recorded as Aberdon in 1172 and Aberden in 1180. The first element of the name is the Pictish word aber ‘river mouth’ The second element is from the Celtic river goddess Devona.

Aberdeen culture & places

Museums and galleries

Aberdeen Art Gallery houses a collection of Impressionist, Victorian, Scottish and 20th-century British paintings. The Gordon Highlanders Museum tells the story of one of Scotland’s best known regiments. Provost Ross’ House is the second oldest dwelling house in the city.

Festivals and performing arts

Aberdeen is home to a number of events and festivals including the Aberdeen International Youth Festival. The Aberdeen Student Show, performed annually without interruption since 1921, is the longest-running of its kind in the United Kingdom. The University of Aberdeen also hosted the Inter Varsity Folk Dance Festival in February 2012.

Music and film

Aberdeen’s music scene includes a variety of live music venues including pubs, clubs, and church choirs. Notable Aberdonian musicians include Annie Lennox, Emeli Sandé and Pallas.

Dialect

Lowland Scots is often known as Doric, and is spoken across the north-east of Scotland. It differs somewhat from other Scots dialects most noticeable are the pronunciation “f'” for what is normally written “wh” and “ee” for what in standard English would usually be written “oo”

Media

Aberdeen is home to Scotland’s oldest newspaper, the Press and Journal. The city is also home to STV North (formerly Grampian Television), which produces regional news programmes such as STV News at Six. BBC Scotland has a network studio production base in the city’s Beechgrove area.

Food

The Aberdeen buttery is more frequently seen and is sold at bakeries and supermarkets. It is comparable to a croissant that is flat and round with a buttery, savoury taste and flaky texture. Aberdeen has the lowest per capita concentration of branded fast food outlets in Scotland.

Aberdeen economy & business

North Sea oil and gas

The first major oil find in the British sector was in November 1970 in the Forties field, 110 miles (180 km) east of Aberdeen. The industry supports about 47,000 jobs locally, and known reserves ensure that oil will continue to flow well into the 21st century.

Business

Aberdeen City and Shire’s Gross Domestic Product is estimated at over £11.4 billion. Five of Scotland’s top ten businesses are based in Aberdeen with a collective turnover of £14 billion, yielding a profit in excess of £2.4billion. The Centre for Cities named Aberdeen as the best placed city for growth in Britain in 2011.

Shopping

A £190 million retail development, Union Square, reached completion in late September/early October 2009. Aberdeen Market has been rebuilt twice, but closed in 2020. In March 2004, Aberdeen was awarded Fairtrade City status by the Fairtrade Foundation.

Aberdeen landmarks

Aberdeen’s architecture is known for its principal use during the Victorian era of granite. The hard grey stone is one of the most durable materials available and helps explain why the city’s buildings look brand-new when they have been newly cleaned and the cement has been pointed.

Parks, gardens and open spaces

Aberdeen has long been famous for its 45 parks and gardens, and floral displays which include two million roses, eleven million daffodils and three million crocuses. The city has won the Royal Horticultural Society’s Britain in Bloom ‘Best City’ award ten times and the overall Scotland in Bloom competition twenty times.

Theatres and concert halls

Aberdeen has hosted several theatres throughout its history, some of which have subsequently been converted or destroyed. Main concert hall is the Music Hall on Union Street, built in 1822. His Majesty’s Theatre (HMT), on Rosemount Viaduct, on Guild Street.

Aberdeen geography / climate

Being sited between two river mouths, the city has little natural exposure of bedrock. The city is built on many hills, with the original beginnings of the city growing from Castle Hill, St. Catherine’s Hill and Windmill Hill. A number of granite outcrops along the south coast have been quarried in the past.

Climate

Aberdeen features an oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb) Aberdeen has far milder winter temperatures than one might expect for its northern location. Temperatures at this time of year hover around 17.0 °C (62.6 °F) during the day in most of the urban area. During winter, especially throughout December, the length of the day is very short.

You can visit Aberdeen places with Walkfo Aberdeen to hear history at Aberdeen’s places whilst walking around using the free digital tour app. Walkfo Aberdeen has 163 places to visit in our interactive Aberdeen map, with amazing history, culture & travel facts you can explore the same way you would at a museum or art gallery with information audio headset. With Walkfo, you can travel by foot, bike or bus throughout Aberdeen, being in the moment, without digital distraction or limits to a specific walking route. Our historic audio walks, National Trust interactive audio experiences, digital tour guides for English Heritage locations are available at Aberdeen places, with a AI tour guide to help you get the best from a visit to Aberdeen & the surrounding areas.

“Curated content for millions of locations across the UK, with 163 audio facts unique to Aberdeen places in an interactive Aberdeen map you can explore.”

Walkfo: Visit Aberdeen Places Map
163 tourist, history, culture & geography spots

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Aberdeen historic spots	Aberdeen tourist destinations	Aberdeen plaques	Aberdeen geographic features
Walkfo Aberdeen tourism map key: places to see & visit like National Trust sites, Blue Plaques, English Heritage locations & top tourist destinations in Aberdeen

  

Best Aberdeen places to visit

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Aberdeen has places to explore by foot, bike or bus. Below are a selection of the varied Aberdeen’s destinations you can visit with additional content available at the Walkfo Aberdeen’s information audio spots:

Aberdeen Market Aberdeen Market is a shopping centre which faces on to Market Street in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is owned by Patrizia AG (formerly Rockspring)

Banks O’ Dee F.C. Banks O’ Dee Football Club are a Scottish football club from the city of Aberdeen. They currently play in the SJFA North Superleague. The club co-managers are Sandy McNaughton and Tommy Forbes.

Science Teaching Hub The Science Teaching Hub is currently under construction at the University of Aberdeen. The science teaching hub is currently being built in Aberdeen. It will be located in the city’s Science Teaching Centre.

Visit Aberdeen plaques