Dundee

Understand

thumb | 300px | RRS Discovery Dundee used to be a grubby, rough town famous for its three J's: jute, jam and journalism. Jute (see "Verdant" below) still marks the landscape: the mills have closed but many still stand as offices and apartments. Jam was made from fruit grown nearby. Journalism refers to the D C Thomson publishing empire, whose renown was less for their journalism than for their stable of comics and cartoon strips. These include the Sunday Post with "Oor Wullie" and "The Broons", the Dandy with "Desperate Dan" and the Beano with "Dennis the Menace". Of course that wasn't all the city had to offer: delicacies such as Dundee Cake, studded with sultanas and almonds, was probably what your Great Aunt Morag enjoyed for Sunday tea along with some Dundee Marmalade to top it off. And then there was the railway bridge that infamously collapsed. And Dundee's great cultural icon was William McGonagall (see info box), surely the world's worst poet.

But the industrial grubbiness is gradually disappearing, enabling the city to shine in its attractive natural setting. There are major visitor attractions already and more appearing. There's a student buzz from the universities, and a friendly feel to the place. It's definitely worth a day or two to visit.

Dundee has its own dialect: the vocabulary is much the same as Lowland Scots (see Scotland#Talk) but pronunciation is distinctive. "T" is often dropped in a glottal stop, but the signature sound is the short "eh" (phonetic: …

Get around

The main sights, shops, and restaurants, are all within walking distance.

Getting around the larger city and its residential areas can usually be done with the bus routes provided by Xplore Dundee. Single tickets can be bought on the bus with exact-change or using contactless card. Savings are easily made by buying bundles or day/week tickets using their phone app.

Other bus routes are operated by Stagecoach, usually originating from other towns in the region. Moffat & Williamson run a few services for local villages. Cycle Hub for bike rentals is by the V&A, 100 yards from the railway station.

Taxis can are regulated by Dundee City Council and set the Taxi Fares of the meters and these should be followed unless you booked through an app (which may charge about £1-2 more). It is etiquette in the UK to round up to the nearest £1 as a tip, but is not required. Most taxi drivers accept contactless card payments, but some require cash. A ride within the city shouldn't exceed £9. From Ninewells Hospital to Broughty Ferry you can expect to pay £20. {| class="wikitable" |- ! Taxi faresupdated: Dec 2024 ! Tariff 1Daily 6AM-10PM ! Tariff 2M-Th 10PM-6AM ! Tariff 3F-Su 10PM-6AM ! Tariff 4Festive Period |- | Initial hire0.4 miles or 169 seconds | £4.20 | £4.62 | £5.04 | £5.88 |- | Each additional 0.1 mile or 42 seconds waiting time | 22p | 24p | 26p | 31 |- | colspan="5" | Extra - each additional passenger: 50pExtra - each parcel carried in luggage compartment/boot/rack: 50pSoiling c…

See

The Beach is a little triangle of fine sand on the promenade between V&A and the Cycle Hub, with plenty of seating. The nearest natural beach is at Broughty Ferry. thumb | 300px | McManus Galleries thumb | 300px | The first rail bridge collapsed on 28 Dec 1879 Tay Bridges: There are three . . . well, two-and-a-scrap really: , opened in 1966, carries the A92. It's 1½ miles long and climbs 100 ft from Dundee to Newport-on-Tay in Fife. No tolls, and there's a footpath and cycleway from which you can admire the view. It may be closed in high winds, check current road conditions online. opened in 1887 and carries the railway to Wormit in Fife, thence Edinburgh. It's almost 3 miles long; refurbishment in 2003 included scraping 1000 metric tonnes of bird droppings from the structure. First Tay Rail Bridge stumps can be seen next to the current rail bridge. It opened in 1878 but collapsed in high winds on 28 Dec 1879, taking a train with it, and all 75 aboard were killed. thumb | 300px | Broughty Castle is the small town 4 miles east of Dundee which was the historic crossing point over the Tay. It has a small castle built in 1496 now housing a local history museum (Tu-Sa 10AM-4PM, Su 12:30-4PM, admission free). Monifieth further east has turned up many Pictish stones, but these are now in the National Museum in Edinburgh. You need a car or bike to reach Ardestie and Carlungie Earth Houses, two Iron Age souterrains off A92. They're free to enter Apr-Oct. Tealing is on A90 six miles…

Do

Places of worship: Dundee has over 30 churches, 3 mosques, a Sikh temple and a Buddhist group. See section above for the two cathedrals.

Buy

thumb | 300px | Machine for carding jute, Verdant Works Supermarkets: Tesco has four branches: city centre, next to the railway station, one in South Road near Sterling Mills and another on Kingsway. ASDA have a big store on East Kingsway and a smaller one on Gilburn Road. Morrisons are on the Forfar Road, north of A90 Kingsway.

Murraygate is the retail street connecting Overgate and Wellgate centres. Farmers Market is in City Square, 10AM-4PM on the third Saturday of each month Feb-Dec.

Drink

thumb | 300px | V & A Museum next to Discovery Pubs are dwindling, as in other cities, but there's no shortage. Most are along Hawkhill, Perth Road or West End of the city, with another strip along Nethergate. See also the eating places above.

Futtle is a microbrewery and wine bar at 40 Commercial Street. Kandy Bar (formerly Klozet) at 73 Seagate is the main gay bar. Trades House Bar is a Belhaven pub at 40 Nethergate. Nether Inn at 134 Nethergate has live TV sport. Jute Cafe Bar is within the Contemporary Arts Centre at 152 Nethergate. Braes at 14 Perth Road is a modern bar. Speedwell Bar at 165 Perth Road has a big selection of whisky. Duck Slattery's is a nightclub at 31 South Ward Rd. Aura Nightclub / Tropicana is next door, open F-M 10PM-3AM.

Breweries are 71 Brewing, St Andrews Brewing and Holy Goat.

Distillery: Verdant Spirits make gin.

Sleep

thumb | 300px | St Paul's Cathedral

Connect

thumb | 300px | Carlungie Earth House near Carnoustie As of March 2025, Dundee and its approach roads have 5G from all UK carriers.

Stay safe

The local police is Police Scotland and the main office is in the town centre at the end of West Bell St beside Dundee's Sheriff Court. In the UK, '999' is the number to call the emergency services, and 101 for less urgent calls to the police. The pan-European emergency number 112 also works.

Dundee has an extensive CCTV system, covering most of the city and the entire city centre. This is owned by Dundee City Council and run by Tayside Police and has helped reduce crime significantly.

Dundee, like any other major city, has its anti-social problems, mainly drugs. The area round the rear of the Wellgate centre (Hilltown) and Stobswell have a bad reputation and care should be exercised on The Law at night. Overall the city has a good reputation.

Dundee has a dual carriageway going through it, the Kingsway, which almost splits the city in half. Be aware of speeding cars, as in any other busy city, as accidents are common.

Go next

South across the Tay is St Andrews, an ancient university town by the sea. It's the home of the Royal and Ancient, the ruling body of golf, and is the former ecclesiastical capital of Scotland. Frequent buses take 30 min. With your own car, continue south to the charming fishing villages of East Fife, such as Anstruther, and to Falkland Palace. A short bus or train ride brings you to Perth with its history including Pictish kingdom, and Stirling. Visit the nearby glens: Glenshee, Glenisla and the Tay Valley. North on A9 through Dunkeld and Blair Atholl leads to Aviemore, the Spey Valley and Inverness. Surrounded by mountains that provide impressive views for hikers, and the option of "Munro bagging" if you reach any peak over 3,000 ft. North along the coast is Aberdeen and Deeside, and eventually Inverness. So the coast route and the Tay Valley route together make a natural circuit of the east and central Highlands.