Skip to content
Independent reporting on the stories that matter, updated around the clock. Get Started
Browse Extension
Theme:
Sunday, August 30, 2026 Set Location International Edition
Subscribe Login
Travel

Boat trips, swimming and seafood: 10 of the UK’s best harbour towns and villages

August 25, 2026 Guardian Travel 1 min read
Guardian Travel · Leans Left
Boat trips, swimming and seafood: 10 of the UK’s best harbour towns and villages

From smoked kippers in Northumberland to dolphin spotting in Dorset and a palm-fringed village on a sea loch in the Scottish Highlands

The historic harbour is the hub of this working East Neuk fishing port, home to a fleet of about 30 small trawlers and creel boats. Their catches are sold at the covered market on the quay each weekday morning, and served at the harbourside Dory Bistro and Chip Ahoy at the Larachmhor pub. Pittenweem (which means “place of the cave”) also has a Victorian-era swimming pool next to the beach, which is filled by the tide twice a day. After falling into disrepair, it was saved by a local group called the West Braes Project and reopened in 2021, along with the crazy golf course. Early each August, there is an annual arts festival with exhibits by nearly 200 artists in harbourside spaces, heritage buildings, homes and studios. Pittenweem is flanked by two other pretty harbour villages, St Monans and Anstruther, while a third, Crail, is a little further north; the Fife Coastal Path links them all. The Bank in Anstruther has harbour-view rooms (doubles from £120 B&B).

Continue reading…

Source: Guardian Travel

Read the full story at the original publisher Guardian Travel →

More on this topic

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *