Last week, I was fortunate enough to spend a four day weekend in Edinburgh, Scotland. On Sunday, I made the hour and a half trek up to St Andrews, a bucket list location for any golfer like myself. I wanted to highlight a few things from that day trip, along with a few locations and sites I recommend if you get the chance to visit yourself.

17th Green @ The Old Course | Fuji X-H2 & 18-135mm

First stop was the Old Course at St Andrews, otherwise known as the “home of golf” due to the belief that the first rounds of golf ever played were here in the 15th century. Visiting in January has it’s perks, one of which was free parking at the St Andrews Public Parking lot just across from the 18th green at the Old Course. From there, we hit the PGA shop, were hundreds of dollars disappear quickly.

18th @ The Old Course | Fuji X-H2 & 18-135mm

We then walked the course starting at the 18th green, working our way down the fairway toward the clubhouse, then moving out to the West Sands Beach side. There’s a nice pathway that runs between the course and beach, and despite the 30+mph winds, it’s a really cool spot.

Next up was St Andrews Castle. The Castle itself is in ruins these days, but there’s some parts of the structure still standing. The self guided tour of the grounds is 8 pounds, which we didn’t do, since we could see the entire grounds from outside. We walked the perimeter and followed the path down the road toward the old, also in ruins, St Andrews Cathedral.

St Andrews Castle | Fuji X-H2 & 18-135mm

The Cathedral is situated out on the east point of St Andrews, overlooking an old naval port that now connects to the new part of town. Tour of the Cathedral was self guided, and free, so we walked through the courtyard and where the main buildings used to be.

Port at St Andrews Cathedral | Fuji X-H2 & 18-135mm

We found a great fish n chips shop in town, Cromar’s, and had some lunch there before heading back to Edinburgh. Top tier fish n chips, can’t recommend it enough. Overall, St Andrew’s was a really neat city to wander, really reminded me of Dunkirk in Northern France. Worth the day trip though, if you get the chance to visit, take it.