Scotland’s gentle east coast draws fewer visitors than the dramatic sea lochs and Highland mountains of the west coast – and that’s part of its appeal.
Open clifftop views, wide North Sea skies, and a string of stone-built fishing villages that have worked this coastline for centuries make a drive up the east coast one of Scotland’s most rewarding – yet least-discovered – road trips. South of the Moray Firth, this is Lowland Scotland: Scots-speaking farming and fishing country, shaped not by the clan system but by the sea, the land and a fierce local pride that survives in its own distinct dialect, Doric, still spoken across Aberdeenshire today. The most scenic approach follows the coast north from Arbroath – past the red-sandstone cliffs of Dunnottar and the pretty harbour villages of the Aberdeenshire coast before cutting inland to Speyside, where the River Spey drains north from the Cairngorms through some of Scotland’s greatest whisky country. The Spey meets the sea at the Moray Firth, so coast and whisky country are closer than you might think – and together they make a compelling and largely undiscovered journey.
Where to Stay in Speyside The Craigellachie Hotel (Aberlour)
Built in 1893 beside the railway that brought whisky merchants to Speyside, The Craigellachie sits in the heart of a region producing over 60% of Scotland’s single malts – with more than 50 distilleries on its doorstep. Rooms are spacious and well-appointed, many with lovely Spey Valley views. The plush Quaich Bar stocks over 700 single malts, and the hotel is home to The Spey Inn, Scotland’s oldest drovers’ inn, founded in 1703.
Where to Eat on Scotland’s East Coast The Pennan Inn (Pennan)
I’ve loved the hamlet of Pennan – a single row of whitewashed cottages pressed between a steep green cliff and the sea – for over 35 years. Today just eight people call it home, but thanks to chef Peter Simpson it still has its pub. Peter sources seafood from Fraserburgh and Peterhead and cooks it with real finesse – think brown crab beignets, halibut with seaweed butter and haddock with parmesan gnocchi. Worth a serious detour.
Where to Drink in Speyside Glenfarclas Distillery (Ballindalloch)
Founded in 1836 and owned by the Grant family since 1865 – now in its sixth generation – Glenfarclas is one of Scotland’s last great independent distilleries. Where most of the industry has consolidated into corporate hands, the Grants have stayed fiercely traditional: direct-fired copper stills and exclusive maturation in ex-Oloroso Sherry casks produce whiskies of exceptional richness and depth.
Taste Scotland’s East Coast Seafood Arbroath Smokies (Arbroath)
Arbroath Smokies are small haddock salted, paired by the tail, and hot-smoked over hardwood. They’re protected by an EU appellation that says they can only be made within 5 miles of Arbroath Town Hall. Smokehouses are clustered around Arbroath Harbour (known as the fit o’ the toon) and Smokie dishes are popular in local restaurants and cafés, like The Port Kitchen, which does a great Smokie omelette with Sriracha for breakfast.
What to See on Scotland’s East Coast Dunnottar Castle (Stonehaven)
Perched on a sheer rocky promontory above the North Sea, Dunnottar is one of Scotland’s most dramatically sited castle ruins – and one of its most historically significant given it sheltered the Scottish Crown Jewels from Cromwell’s army in the 1650s. It’s also a popular location for movies, including Mel Gibson’s Hamlet. Around 180 steps lead down (and back up) from the clifftop – thankfully views from above are spectacular too.
Published 21 May 2026
Arbroath Smokies are whole haddock that are salted, tied in pairs by the tail and hot-smoked over hardwood fires. They’re a popular Scottish breakfast dish. They originated in Auchmithie, a fishing village 5km north-east of Arbroath, where they’ve been made since at least the early 1800s, though the technique may have been introduced much earlier by Norse raiders.
The craft moved to Arbroath in the 19th century, when the town council lured Auchmithie’s fishing families there with an improved harbour and new homes at the ‘Fit o’ the Toon’ – the foot of the town, which is still the centre of Smokie production today.
Traditionally the fish hang on sticks inside barrels over smouldering hardwood, with the tops sealed with wet jute sacks, and cook in under an hour.
Since 2004 they’ve held Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status, which stipulates that only fish smoked within five miles of Arbroath can legally use the name.
Cullen skink is a thick, creamy soup of smoked haddock, potatoes and onions from Cullen, a fishing village on the Moray coast just east of Spey Bay. Local fishermen created it to make the most of their haddock catch, traditionally using finnan haddie – haddock smoked in the style of Findon, near Aberdeen.
‘Skink’ is an old Scots word that originally meant a shin of beef (from Middle Dutch schenke) and the broth made from it. Over time, in the village of Cullen at least, it came to refer to any broth, including the one the local fishing families made from smoked haddock.
Unlike the west coast, much of Scotland’s east coast is Lowland – the entire stretch from the English border north through Angus and Aberdeenshire all the way to the Moray Firth.
The Highlands begin in earnest around the Moray Firth and Inverness. This surprises many visitors who assume the Highlands dominate Scotland’s geography – in fact, the east coast’s clifftop villages, wide farming plains and distinctive Doric-speaking culture are quintessentially Lowland, shaped by the sea and the land rather than the Gaelic clan culture of the Highlands to the north and west.
Doric is the distinct Scots dialect spoken across Aberdeenshire and the north-east of Scotland. Unrelated to the Gaelic of the Highlands, it was shaped by centuries of farming and fishing culture into a dialect quite different from the Scots spoken further south. It remains in everyday use today – a living marker of the north-east’s cultural identity.
Dunnottar Castle is famous for saving Scotland’s crown jewels.
When Cromwell’s army besieged the castle in 1651–52, it was guarding the Honours of Scotland – the crown, sceptre and sword of state, the oldest crown jewels in the British Isles.
Before the garrison surrendered, the regalia were smuggled out, reputedly by Christian Fletcher, wife of the minister at nearby Kinneff, who hid them under the floor of Kinneff Old Church until the monarchy was restored in 1660. Today they’re on display at Edinburgh Castle.
Pennan is famous as the setting for Bill Forsyth’s 1983 film Local Hero, in which it played the fictional village of Ferness – though the beach scenes were shot on the other side of Scotland, near Morar.
The red phone box in the film was actually a prop, but fans soon arrived to call home from the village’s real box, which was listed as a historic building in 1989. Mark Knopfler wrote the soundtrack, including the much-loved theme ‘Going Home’.
The Pennan Inn, where we have lunch on my small-group Scottish ‘Seafood & Spirits’ tour, is directly opposite the phone box and where the crew stayed while filming there, though the actual bar scenes were shot elsewhere. Today the village of Pennan has just eight full-time residents.
Speyside is a whisky-producing region in north-east Scotland centred on the River Spey, which rises in the Highlands south of Fort Augustus and flows north-east to meet the sea at the Moray Firth.
Home to more than 50 distilleries – including Glenfiddich, The Macallan and Glenfarclas – Speyside produces over 60% of Scotland’s single malt whisky, making it the most concentrated whisky region in the world.
Speyside isn’t quite on the coast – but it’s closer than most people expect. The River Spey meets the sea at Spey Bay on the Moray Firth, and the whisky heartland around Aberlour and Craigellachie is only around 30km (20 miles) inland. A drive from the Aberdeenshire coast to Speyside takes less than an hour, making the two natural companions on any north-east Scotland itinerary.
