Start from 33 curated places around Aberdeen, GB, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
Moonfish Cafe
A small, modern-British kitchen tucked in the medieval alleys behind the Kirk of St Nicholas, leaning hard on North Sea catch and a daily-changing menu. The cooking is the most adventurous in the centre without being fussy, which is why locals book it for a treat. Good for a longer lunch or a quieter dinner.
The Silver Darling
A glass-walled seafood room atop the old customs house at Footdee, looking straight down the harbour entrance as boats come and go. It is the special-occasion choice in town, with the view doing half the work and the fish doing the rest. Best at lunch or sunset when the light is on the water.
Trails & outdoors
Aberdeen Beach Esplanade
A flat, paved seafront path running about two miles from the harbour's North Pier up to the Donmouth nature reserve, hugging the sand the whole way. It is the easy everyone-can-do-it walk, level and accessible, with North Sea views and surfers off the south end. Wind-exposed, so layer up.
Seaton Park
A riverside park along the Don beneath St Machar's Cathedral, with formal flower beds, a walled garden and wooded paths down to the water. The easy loops link the cathedral, the river and the medieval Brig o' Balgownie, making it the most history-rich short walk in the city. Calm and green.
Things to do
Aberdeen Maritime Museum
A free four-floor museum spread across buildings including 16th-century Provost Ross's House, telling the city's story with the North Sea, from clipper shipbuilding and fishing to the oil-and-gas era. The ship models and the harbour-view galleries are the draw, and it is a solid rainy-day couple of hours. Central, by the harbour.
Aberdeen Art Gallery
A granite city-centre gallery, reopened after a major refurbishment and an added floor, holding one of the strongest collections in the UK with works from Monet and Degas to Bacon and Currie. It is free, well laid out and the obvious indoor anchor for a grey afternoon. Good for an unhurried browse.
Landmarks & sights
St Machar's Cathedral
A fortified medieval kirk in Old Aberdeen built largely of granite, with twin sandstone-capped towers and a flat heraldic ceiling painted with 48 coats of arms. The painted nave ceiling is the thing to look up for. Pair it with a wander through the cobbled cathedral precinct.
Marischal College
The second-largest granite building in the world, a wedding-cake facade of grey spires now used as council headquarters. You go for the exterior, which catches the light differently through the day and rewards looking up. Quick to see, and right in the centre.