Kids

Also at the beach is Cadonas Fun Fair, Innoflate (bouncy blow up things indoors) and Transition Extreme (skate boarding, bmxing, climbing wall).

Museums

We would recommend:

Aberdeen Maritime Museum (in Aberdeen, near the harbour)
Tollbooth Museum (on Union Street in Aberdeen)
Aberdeen Art Gallery (just had a major upgrade)
Aberdeen Science Centre (good for kids)
Fraserburgh Lighthouse Museum (includes a real lighthouse)
Peterhead Prison Museum (sounds gruesome, and it is a bit, but well worth a visit)
The farming museum at Aden Country Park (near Mintlaw)

In Town

Going to Aberdeen? The main shopping centre is called Union Square. This is a typical city “mall” where car parking is integrated with the shopping centre. The bus station and the railway station are also in the centre. There are all the normal shops downstairs, and upstairs there is a cinema and lots of eating places. 

From Union Square it is a short walk to the maritime museum and art gallery, or you could go and see Union Street, Aberdeen’s premier boulevard. It was built to rival the great boulevards of Europe. It is actually a series of bridges joining the tops of small hills. As you walk along you will see you are crossing small valleys. Some of the buildings have many stories below street level, and there are tunnels under the road (access them from the “Green”). Sadly Union Street has lost lots of shops and is looking a bit run down but there are plans to improve it and part is now pedestrianised. 

The area around Marishall College (a spectacular granite building, now offices) is worth a visit – new eating places all around here. 

Cinemas

There is Cineworld at the beach (very easy to park), the cinema in Union Square, the Vue off Union Street and the independent Belmont Theatre.

Others

Macduff Aquarium (well worth a visit, small but perfectly formed)
Oldmeldrum Distillery (little known but very local to us)
Haddo House (lovely grounds and country house, just outside Ellon)