Just over an hour from Edinburgh by road or rail, beautifully set on the north bank of the River Tay, Dundee has become one of Scotland’s best cities to visit in the past decade. Here are five reasons why.
ART AND DESIGN
From Georgian and Victorian textiles and shipbuilding to modern video games and AI-driven robotics, Dundee has long been a hive of manufacturing and invention, and since 2014 it has basked in the glow of being the UK’s only UNESCO City of Design. A major draw, down by the riverfront, is the V&A Dundee, an offshoot of the museum in London. Celebrating Scottish and international design, from art and ceramics to fashions and furniture, it’s housed in a building by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, whose twisting design took inspiration from Scotland’s rugged coastal cliffs. This V&A has welcomed over 1.7 million visitors since its 2018 opening and its permanent items include a restored oak-panelled tearoom by revered Glaswegian architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Temporary exhibitions explore a range of themes, from kimonos to gardens of the future. The galleries of The McManus, set in a neo-gothic landmark in the heart of Dundee’s centre, also flaunt the city’s creative streak, with thousands of exhibits, including memorabilia from The Beano and The Dandy, iconic British comics first published here in the 1930s. You’ll see a statue of Desperate Dan — from The Dandy — south of The McManus. Another venue channelling the creative spirit is the Dundee Contemporary Arts, a multi-use hub staging exhibitions, craft workshops, theatre and films. Dundonians dub it the DCA and it’s close to the city university, which is world-renowned for its tech and computing courses. Games franchises like Lemmings and Grand Theft Auto were birthed in Dundee.
MARITIME MARVELS
Next to the V&A is RRS Discovery, a Dundee-built ship that made a ground-breaking expedition to Antarctica in 1901. Learn more about this awe-inspiring trip, tread the vessel’s decks and peek inside the cabins of its legendary explorers Captain Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton. Dundee’s riverside is a good place for stretching your legs or pedalling on a hire bike and if you head east to Victoria Dock you’ll soon come to another impressive vessel. Marking its 200th birthday this year, HMS Unicorn is the oldest ship in Scotland. Constructed at the Royal Dockyard at Chatham in Kent, England, it was towed here in 1873 to serve as a naval training ship. Facing the scrap heap after it was retired in the 1960s, it was salvaged and turned into a visitor attraction. You can duck inside the ship and discover more about its role and unique design, which combines the traditional wooden craftsmanship of the 18th century with the emerging iron technology of the following century. It’s a fascinating draw, but beware: the gun and mess decks are rather low and visitors of an average height or above will spend much of the self-guided audio tour in a crouching position.
JUTE HERITAGE
Dundee was once nicknamed “Juteopolis”, jute being a natural fibre imported from Britain’s former Asian colonies. The chimneys of old jute mills still pierce Dundee’s skyline and while some buildings are derelict, others have been reborn. One hosts the Verdant Works Museum, charting jute’s rise and fall and contrasting the lives of the wealthy mill owners with the exploited workers. Other mills have morphed into offices, workshops and apartments, while the largest one is now a Hotel Indigo, an IHG chain that weaves local history and heritage into its interior design. Some rooms flaunt exposed brick and iron beams — plus copies of The Beano. Enjoy a cocktail at the hotel’s lobby bar, 1822 (the year the mill was built), or a meal at its bistro, the Daily Tasker, where the menu has Scottish and international options for lunch and dinner. It’s also the place to go for breakfast. Look out for the selection of Dundee jams and marmalades (for a time, Dundee was known as the “city of the three Js: jam, jute and journalism).
BROUGHTY FERRY
Speciality coffee shops, wine bars, microbreweries and restaurants serving modern Scottish cuisine are increasingly prevalent in Dundee’s city centre, while a short taxi, bus or train ride east of the commercial core will bring you to Broughty Ferry, a quaint fishing village that developed into a desirable waterfront suburb, where many jute barons built fancy mansions. Located where the Tay meets the North Sea, it has sandy beaches, a strollable promenade, ice-cream stores, cafes, bakeries and nautical-tinged pubs like The Ship Inn. You may recognise some of the local streets and sights if you watched Bob Servant, a Broughty Ferry-set sitcom (2013-14) starring veteran Scottish actor Brian Cox as a hapless would-be politician. Absorb Broughty Ferry’s history — including tales of sieges and battles — at the museum inside a late 15th century fort overlooking the Tay. In the northern spring and summer months, you can head out on boat tours to spy seals and dolphins. You’re unlikely to see any whales. Back in the 19th century, Dundee was Britain’s premier whaling port, with the whale oil helping to light and heat the jute mills and lubricate the machinery.
ALLURING POSSIBILITIES
Dundee is peppered with pleasant public parks, including Slessor Gardens, which is set back from the central riverfront and hosts summer concerts. To the city’s north, it’s worth climbing Dundee Law, the plug of a 400 million-year-old extinct volcano (‘law’ is an old Scots word for a prominent hill). With an altitude of 174m, it has a super vantage point over Dundee, the Tay and the surrounding countryside. You’ll spot Newport-on-Tay, a cute town on the other (south) side of a river that’s spanned by rail and road bridges from the late 19th century. A magnet for artists and foodies, Newport is sprinkled with bars and eateries with lovely views over the Tay towards Dundee, which, on bright days, lives up to its nickname “Sundee” (the city claims to receive more annual sunshine than anywhere else in Scotland). Newport is on the Fife Coastal Path, a trail that curves almost 200km around the edge of a peninsula that divides the Tay and Firth of Forth, the estuary that snakes by Edinburgh. Heading north from Dundee, meanwhile, brings you to another appetising region, Angus, which stretches up to Aberdeen, the intervening coastline laced with castles, distilleries and golf courses.
+ Steve McKenna was a guest of Visit Scotland and Visit Britain. They have not influenced or read this story before publication. fact file + Room rates at Hotel Indigo Dundee are priced from around $140. See ihg.com + To help plan a trip to Scotland and Britain, see visitscotland.com and visitbritain.com
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