Dundee — Design Museum, Polar Ship And St Andrews

Everything Within Walking Distance

Dundee berths on the waterfront next to two attractions that need no driving at all. V&A Dundee is the first V&A museum outside London, a Kengo Kuma building shaped like a Scottish sea cliff, with free entry to the permanent Scottish Design Galleries. Beside it sits RRS Discovery, the ship built in Dundee that carried Scott and Shackleton to Antarctica in 1901, now a museum you can board. For a short call or bad weather, these two plus lunch fill a satisfying half day without leaving the quayside. That is unusual among Scottish cruise ports and makes Dundee a good choice for groups with elderly members or mixed walking ability.

St Andrews And Glamis

For a full day, St Andrews is 40 minutes across the Tay. The Old Course is the home of golf and you can walk onto the Swilcan Bridge on a Sunday when the course is closed to play, which is the photograph golfers actually want. The cathedral ruins and St Rule tower, the university where William and Kate met, and West Sands beach complete a comfortable half day. Alternatively Glamis Castle is 25 minutes north, childhood home of the Queen Mother and the setting Shakespeare used for Macbeth. A common shape we run: V&A in the morning on foot, drive to St Andrews for lunch and the Old Course, back on board with 90 minutes spare.