Discover 20 hidden attractions, cool sights, and unusual things to do in Dundee (United Kingdom). Don't miss out on these must-see attractions: V&A Dundee, Mills Observatory, and Law. Also, be sure to include Broughty Castle in your itinerary.
Below, you can find the list of the most amazing places you should visit in Dundee (Scotland).
Table of Contents
V&A Dundee
V&A Dundee is a design museum in Dundee, Scotland, which opened on 15 September 2018. The V&A Dundee is the first design museum in Scotland and the first Victoria and Albert museum outside London. The V&A Dundee is also the first building in the United Kingdom designed by Kengo Kuma.[1]
Address: Project Office, Enterprise House, 3 Greenmarket, Dundee
Mills Observatory
Astronomical observatory. The Mills Observatory in Dundee, Scotland, is the first purpose-built public astronomical observatory in the UK. Built in 1935, the observatory is classically styled in sandstone and has a distinctive 7 m dome, which houses a Victorian refracting telescope, a small planetarium, and display areas. The dome is one of two made from papier-mâché to survive in the UK, the other being at the Godlee Observatory.[2]
Address: Glamis Rd Balgay Park, DD2 2UB Dundee
Law
Geographical feature. Dundee Law is a hill in the centre of Dundee, Scotland, and is the highest point in the city. The Law is what remains of a volcanic sill, which is the result of volcanic activity around 400 million years ago. With a large war memorial at its summit, it is the most prominent feature on the local skyline.[3]
Address: Law Road, DD1 Dundee
Broughty Castle
Castle in Dundee, Scotland. Broughty Castle is a historic castle on the banks of the river Tay in Broughty Ferry, Dundee, Scotland. It was completed around 1495, although the site was earlier fortified in 1454 when George Douglas, 4th Earl of Angus received permission to build on the site. His son Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Angus was coerced into ceding the castle to the crown. The main tower house forming the centre of the castle with four floors was built by Andrew, 2nd Lord Gray who was granted the castle in 1490.[4]
Address: Castle Approach, DD5 2TF Dundee
Baxter Park
Park in Dundee, Scotland. Baxter Park is a 37 acres park located in the east of Dundee, Scotland. It was designed between 1862-63 and is the only complete park wholly designed by Sir Joseph Paxton in Scotland. The park is included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland and it features a Category A listed pavilion designed by George Henry Stokes. Baxter Park and the surrounding streets form the Baxter Park Conservation Area. The park is used as a venue for annual Bonfire Night firework displays.[5]
Address: 15-16 Baxter Park Terrace, DD4 7BF Dundee
The Howff
Burial ground. The Howff is a burial ground in the city of Dundee, Scotland. Established in 1564, it has one of the most important collections of tombstones in Scotland, and is protected as a category A listed building.
The majority of graves face exactly due east.[6]
Address: 22 Meadowside, DD1 1LN Dundee
Dudhope Castle
Parking lot in Dundee, Scotland. Dudhope Castle is an extended late medieval tower house located on the southern face of Dundee Law in Dundee, Scotland.[7]
Dens Park
Stadium in Dundee, Scotland. Dens Park, officially known as Kilmac Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Dundee, Scotland, which is the home of Scottish Premiership club Dundee F.C. and has a capacity of 11,775. Tannadice Park, the home of rivals Dundee United, is just 200 yards away.[8]
Address: Dens Park Stadium Sandeman Street, DD3 7JY Dundee
The McManus
Museum in Dundee, Scotland. The McManus: Dundee's Art Gallery and Museum is a Gothic Revival-style building, located in the centre of Dundee, Scotland. The building houses a museum and art gallery with a collection of fine and decorative art as well as a natural history collection. It is protected as a Category A listed building.
The concept for the building was originally commissioned as a memorial to Prince Albert and intended to contain room for lectures, museum, picture gallery and a reference library for students by the British Association for the Advancement of Science. It was agreed that the funding for the building should be provided by the inhabitants of Dundee. Although the city could not afford such a lavish memorial outright, it did contribute £300. A guaranteed fund of £4,205 15/- from 168 contributors was collected which included a munificent gift from the Baxter family which totalled £420.
The building was designed by the architect George Gilbert Scott, who was an expert for the restoration of mediaeval churches and advocate of the Gothic architectural style. He intended to design a large tower like in his previous work at St. Nikolai, Hamburg. The foundations were situated in a small wetland called Quaw Bog at the confluence of the Scourin Burn and Friar Burn, which has since been drained. This meant that the area under the building site was underpinned by large wood beams. However, when construction began in 1865, the ground proved too unstable to support the larger tower that he envisaged. The building was opened as the Albert Institute in 1867.
Two further sections, which extended the building by four art galleries and four museum galleries, were added by 1889. The central section was designed to Scott's intention by David MacKenzie, with the Eastern Galleries by William Alexander. The contents of the Watt Institute, founded in 1848, were incorporated into the collection before the opening of the civic museum and art gallery in 1873. Between 1873 and 1949, the buildings were administrated as part of public library service. From 1959, the city corporation took over the running of the administration. Following a later refurbishment the building now commemorates Maurice McManus, the Lord Provost from 1962 to 1967. Initially retitled McManus Galleries, after refurbishment in 2010, it is now formally known as The McManus: Dundee's Art Gallery and Museum.
In 1976, cracks were discovered in south-east corner of the building. The subsequent survey found that the building was partially subsiding. During 1979, remedial measures involved placing load-bearing concrete piles and cross-beams positioned to replace rotted timbers.
The building was closed to the public on 24 October 2005 for a £7.8-million redevelopment by Page\Park Architects and was reopened to the public on 28 February 2010. Currently, much of the McManus collection, which includes works by Dundee-based artists James McIntosh Patrick and Alberto Morrocco, is located at the former Carnegie Library on Barrack Street.
The collection includes three paintings by Thomas Musgrave Joy which celebrate Grace Darling's rescue of passengers on the paddlesteamer Forfarshire.[9]
Address: Albert Square, Meadowside, DD1 1DA Dundee
St Paul's Cathedral
Cathedral in Dundee, Scotland. St. Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in the city of Dundee, Scotland. It is the cathedral and administrative centre of the Diocese of Brechin in the Scottish Episcopal Church.[10]
Address: High Street, DD1 1TD Dundee
Camperdown Country Park
Wildlife park in Dundee, Scotland. Camperdown Country Park, often known as just Camperdown Park, is a public park in the Camperdown area of Dundee, Scotland. The park comprises the former grounds of Camperdown House, a 19th-century mansion, which was bought by the city in 1946. Camperdown Park is home to a wildlife centre and recreational facilities. It is the largest park in Dundee, stretching to 400 acres. Over 190 species of tree are found in the park.
Camperdown House is "the largest Greek Revival house remaining in Scotland." It is protected as a category A listed building, and the park is included on the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland, the national listing of significant parks.[11]
Verdant Works
Museum in Dundee, Scotland. Verdant Works, also known as Scotland's Jute Museum, is a former jute mill in the Blackness area of Dundee, Scotland. It was purchased in 1991 by the Dundee Heritage Trust. The trust restored the buildings, which were officially opened by Prince Charles in 1996, as a museum dedicated to the textile industry, an industry that once dominated the city's economy.[12]
Address: W Henderson's Wynd, DD1 5BT Dundee
Dundee Science Centre
Science museum in Dundee, Scotland. Dundee Science Centre is a science centre located in Dundee, Scotland, and a part of the Scottish Science Centres Network. It is a registered charity under Scottish law. It is funded by the public and donations from local corporate sponsors.
The interactive exhibits focus mainly on the life sciences, and in particular on the senses. There is also a focus on robotics, and a practical exploration of science learning.
Dundee Science Centre is also a corporate venue and a HMIE-inspected resource for science learning and public engagement. The centre hosts school groups, uniformed groups and also birthday parties.
There is an in-house cafe (Infusion) and a gift shop, stocking many science and educational products.[13]
Address: 14 Greenmarket, DD1 4QB Dundee
Dundee Contemporary Arts
Art gallery in Dundee, Scotland. Dundee Contemporary Arts is an art centre in Dundee, Scotland, with two contemporary art galleries, a two-screen cinema, a print studio, a learning and public engagement programme, a shop and a café bar.
The director of DCA is Beth Bate.[14]
Address: 152 Nethergate, DD1 4DY Dundee
Dundee International Submarine Memorial
Dundee International Submarine Memorial commemorates the 296 sailors and commandos lost on operations from the submarine base at Dundee in Scotland, HMS Ambrose, during the Second World War.[15]
Address: City Quay, Dundee
Dundee Parish Church
Building. Dundee Parish Church is located in the east section of Dundee's "City Churches", the other being occupied by the Steeple Church. Both are congregations in the Church of Scotland, although with differing styles of worship.
Dundee played an important role in the Reformation, and John Knox asserts in his History of the Reformation that "the first face of a public church Reformed" was that of St Mary's in Dundee, by 1556.
The church dates back to 1190, when it was founded by David, Earl of Huntingdon, brother of William the Lion, King of Scots. The original buildings have not survived. In 1303 the church was burnt by an invading English army. Following a further invasion in 1547 the church was burnt down again. In the late Middle Ages, Dundee's was the largest parish church in Scotland with the Old Steeple, built in the 1470s during the Provostship of George Spalding, the tallest tower.
In 1841 three of the City Churches were again destroyed by fire. Two were rebuilt, the South Church or St Paul's and the East Church or St Mary's. St Mary's, now known as Dundee Parish Church (St Mary's) was rebuilt being completed in 1844 to the design of William Burn. In 1847 the rebuilt South Church was reopened under the name St Paul's (South) Church.
The Old Steeple dates back to the 1480s. Between 1782 and 1841 there were no fewer than four Church of Scotland congregations occupying the City Churches under one roof but with separate sanctuaries. After the post 1841 rebuilding there were three congregations, then two since the 1980s – namely Dundee Parish Church (St Mary’s) and the Steeple Church.
Several past ministers have served as Moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, most recently the late Very Reverend Dr William B. R. Macmillan in 1991.[16]
Claypotts Castle
Medieval castle in Dundee, Scotland. Claypotts Castle is a late medieval castle in the suburban West Ferry area of Dundee, Scotland. It is one of the best-preserved examples of a 16th-century Z-plan tower house in Scotland. Now surrounded by modern housing, the castle is maintained as an Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland.[17]
Address: Claypotts Castle Gardens, Dundee
Mains Castle
Building. Mains Castle is a 16th-century castle in Dundee, Scotland. The castle consists of several buildings surrounding a courtyard, although several of the original western buildings no longer exist. The northern and eastern buildings are where the family would have lived, with the servants occupying the southern quarters. The castle also has a large, six-floor, square tower house with dressed cornerstones, which is typical of 16th-century construction. It is a Category A listed building.
The castle is located in Dundee's Caird Park to the north of the city overlooking the Dichty valley and adjacent to a small stream known as the Gelly Burn. On the opposite side of the burn is located the mausoleum of the Graham family and the Main's cemetery, which was formerly the site of the district's kirk.
The castle and its grounds was the subject of a poem by Dundee poet William McGonagall in his work The Castle of Mains.[18]
Address: Mains Loan, DD4 9BX Dundee
St Mary
Catholic church in Dundee, Scotland. St Mary, Our Lady of Victories Church is Roman Catholic Parish Church in Dundee, Scotland. It was built from 1850 and opened in 1851, twenty-seven years before the Restoration of the Scottish hierarchy. It is situated on Forebank Road, close to Ann Street. It is a Romanesque Revival church and a category B listed building.[19]
Address: 36 Forebank Rd, DD1 2PB Dundee
Tay Rail Bridge
Girder bridge in Scotland. The Tay Bridge carries the railway across the Firth of Tay in Scotland between Dundee and the suburb of Wormit in Fife. Its span is 2.75 miles. It is the second bridge to occupy the site.
Plans for a bridge over the Tay to replace the train ferry service emerged in 1854, but the first Tay Bridge did not open until 1878. It was a lightweight lattice design of relatively low cost with a single track. On 28 December 1879, the bridge suddenly collapsed in high winds. The incident is one of the greatest bridge-related engineering disasters to have occurred. An enquiry determined that the bridge was insufficiently engineered to cope with high winds.
It was replaced by a second bridge constructed of iron and steel, with a double-track, parallel to the remains of the first bridge. Work commenced on 6 July 1883 and the bridge opened in 1887. The new bridge was subject to extensive testing by the Board of Trade, which resulted in a favourable report. In 2003, the bridge was strengthened and refurbished, winning a British Construction Industry Engineering Award to mark the scale and difficulty of the project.[20]
Address: Tay Railway Bridge, DD2 Dundee