Historic Sites

From the Scotland Visitor Survey 2023, the top three reasons for choosing to visit Scotland was the scenery and landscape, the history and culture, and the outdoor activities available (VisitScotland, 2024). The East Grampian Coasts boasts a number of historic sites, froms churches to castles to historic harbours. 

Amongst the top five attractions or activities undertaken/visited in Aberdeen in 2023:

• 47% viewed architecture and buildings
• 36% visited a cathedral, church, abbey, or other place of worship
• 33% visited a castle or fort

Amongst the top five attractions or activities undertaken/visited in Aberdeenshire in 2023:

• 48% visited a castle or fort
• 44% visited a museum or art gallery
• 33% viewed architecture and buildings
• 31% undertook a hill walk, mountaineering, hike or ramble

Historic Castles (Aberdeenshire Council, n.d.b)

• Dunnottar Castle (Fig. 1) - Over 126,000 visitors in 2024 (Sellors, 2025)
• Kinnaird Head Castle
• Slain's Castle

There are no official visitor numbers to Kinnaird Head Castle or Slain's Castle along the coast.

Historic Harbours (Aberdeenshire Council, n.d.c)
East Grampian Coast is home to three of the largest ports in the UK: Aberdeen, Peterhead, Fraserburgh.

• Port of Aberdeen (prev. Aberdeen Harbour) is Scotland's busiest port, handling 45% of Scotland's vessel traffic. Less historic, the new South Harbour (opened in 2023) allows larger cruise ships to dock - over 50 ships expected in 2024. By 2027 it is expected that 100 cruise ships per year will visit. In 2023 there were over 179,000 ferry passengers and over 24,000 cruise guests to the Port of Aberdeen (Port of Aberdeen, 2025).
• Fraserburgh Harbour - largest shellfish port in Europe (Bryce, 2020)
• Peterhead Harbour - largest fishing port in Europe (Peterhead Port Authority, n.d.)

Other historic harbours include Boddam Harbour, Port Erroll, Collieston Harbour, Stonehaven Harbour (Fig. 2), Gourdon Harbour, and Johnshaven Harbour.

Historic Churches (Aberdeenshire Council, n.d.a)
There are a number of churches along the East Grampian Coast including:

• St Mary's Chapel, Rattray (Fig.3)
• St Mary's Church, Cowie
• St Fittick's Church, Nigg
• Kinneff Old Church

There are no official visitor numbers to the churches along the coast.

Other historic sites along the East Grampian Coast include Rattray Head Lighthouse, and a number of historic bridges including Waterside Bridge and Old Inverbervie Bridge.