Scot Free Tours Aberdeen

Scot Free Tours Aberdeen Free history walking tours of Aberdeen. City Centre, Old Aberdeen, Dark History & Old & Nu Aberdeen! But there is a bit more to this city than that.

Sure, we all know about the oil and the granite and the weather. There are stories that you will never have heard. Stories about death, pirates, war, wizards, infra-red telescopes and Annie Lennox. And more death. Those are the stories that we want to share with you. Welcome to Aberdeen.

Happy New Year from Scot Free Tours! 🎉 Every year, neighbouring Stonehaven is lit up with its annual Hogmanay Fireballs....
31/12/2024

Happy New Year from Scot Free Tours! 🎉

Every year, neighbouring Stonehaven is lit up with its annual Hogmanay Fireballs. This is a centuries old festival thought to have been begun by superstitious fishermen trying to ward off evil spirits!

At the strike of midnight, flaming wire cages twirl and whirl up the High Street in order to burn off the evil spirits from the year before and see us into a fresh New Year. Each cage is filled with a homemade combustible concoction that is swung by a 3 foot wire handle. The fireballs make their way up and down the street before finally being launched into Stonehaven Harbour. It really is a sight to see!

Scot Free Tours would like to thank you all for your support this year. We had a fantastic 2024 - we welcomed new tour guide Rebecca, we made it to 500 5 star reviews on Trip Advisor, and received our TripAdvisor Travellers Choice Award for 2024!

Our guides—Rick, Rebecca, Taylor, and Hollie—are excited to welcome you to the Granite City next year! Whether you're a local or visiting for the first time, we’re dedicated to making every experience truly unforgettable. We can’t wait to see you!

🔗 scotfreetours.com

#2024 #2025

✨ 🎁 Merry Christmas from Scot Free Tours 🎅 🎄What do you think of our beautiful tree this year? This is a gift from Aberd...
20/12/2024

✨ 🎁 Merry Christmas from Scot Free Tours 🎅 🎄

What do you think of our beautiful tree this year? This is a gift from Aberdeen’s twin town of Stavanger in Norway, 312 miles away! The first tree was gifted in 1970 and became a Christmas tradition in 2005.

The SFT team would like to bid you farewell for 2024 and wish you a wonderful Christmas. Our free walking tours are taking a break for the festive period and will resume in January. Dates to follow!

#2024

Winter is well and truly upon us ❄️ November was a chilly month, complete with Christmas parades, Thanksgiving and of c...
12/12/2024

Winter is well and truly upon us ❄️ November was a chilly month, complete with Christmas parades, Thanksgiving and of course fireworks! We toured guests from China, Canada, Venezuela, Holland, USA, Libya and of course Aberdeen! Here’s what they had to say about our tours…

⭐️ Our guide Rick was very good indeed. A very personable man, full of good, interesting information with a good amount of humour and fun. We thoroughly enjoyed our tour with him and would definitely book another one when we hopefully visit again.

⭐️ I am pleased to say that this tour, hosted by Taylor, was jam-packed full of information which was brand-new even to this Aberdonian. It was so refreshing to hear someone talk so passionately about my city and its history. It genuinely made very proud to call Aberdeen my home. Taylor delivered an extremely interesting tour with fascinating stories which were delivered in a very engaging and sometimes humorous manner.

⭐️ We did the Old Aberdeen tour with Rebecca yesterday and it was phenomenal! She was a great tour guide, and the tour was fun and informative. We would never have discovered half of what we saw on our own, nor understand their significance.

Join us on a free walking tour this weekend to discover the very best stories of Aberdeen.

🎟️ Book a place on scotfreetours.com

06/12/2024

Due to the yellow weather warnings, we have cancelled this Saturday’s tour, Great Scot: Free Walking Tour of Aberdeen. We hope to resume tours as usual on Sunday. We hope everyone is staying safe and warm!

Marischal College is the centre of Aberdeen’s Christmas Village this December where you can enjoy the Christmas Market, ...
06/12/2024

Marischal College is the centre of Aberdeen’s Christmas Village this December where you can enjoy the Christmas Market, local food & drink, an open air ice rink and wonderful festive fairground rides. Marsichal College’s Quadrangle is even open for ‘Curated in the Quad’, a popular market that showcases local makers every weekend up until Christmas.

Perhaps join a walking tour this December and take a walk with us through The Christmas Village🎄✨

Book your free place today on scotfreetours.com

Do you know why Old Aberdeen is called Old Aberdeen? 🍂1500 years ago a group of Christians chose to build a church on th...
25/11/2024

Do you know why Old Aberdeen is called Old Aberdeen? 🍂

1500 years ago a group of Christians chose to build a church on the banks of the River Don and a village was born. A community thrived and they named the area Aberdon. In 1329, King Robert the Bruce passed away and his only heir was an infant child. King Edward III of England seized this opportunity and marched north to Aberdeen. King Edward III plundered the city and set Aberdeen alight! Aberdeen city centre was burnt to the ground. But like a phoenix rising from the ashes, Aberdeen was reborn and named New Aberdeen, whilst Aberdon became Old Aberdeen!

Join our free walking tour of Old Aberdeen on weekends throughout the winter and you can learn about the stories that made Old Aberdeen what it is today.

🥾 Great Scot: Free Walking Tour of Old Aberdeen
📍 The Old Townhouse, Old Aberdeen
✨ FREE (donations are welcome)
🔗 book your place today on scotfreetours.com

October round up! 🕸🎃We toured so many people around Aberdeen in October, here's a snapshot of our private and public tou...
20/11/2024

October round up! 🕸🎃

We toured so many people around Aberdeen in October, here's a snapshot of our private and public tours. Our dark history tour Fiends For Life was particularly busy! Here's a little from our guests...

⭐️ We went on the Fiends for Life Aberdeen tour with Hollie. She regaled us with an interesting and sometimes macabre account of Aberdeen's dark past. Hollie was engaging and really knew her stuff!

⭐️ We were guided by Rebecca and she delivered a very interesting and fact filled tour. The highlight for us was the visit to St Machar Cathedral. Looking forward to doing another tour soon.

⭐️ I am pleased to say that this tour, hosted by Taylor, was jam-packed full of information which was brand-new even to this Aberdonian. It was so refreshing to hear someone talk so passionately about my city and its history. It genuinely made very proud to call Aberdeen my home. Taylor delivered an extremely interesting tour with fascinating stories which were delivered in a very engaging and sometimes humorous manner.

⭐️ We did the old Aberdeen tour with Rick, From the start he was absolutely brilliant, I thoroughly enjoyed hearing his story, his knowledge and enthusiasm for local history was fantastic and he was so funny. We were a group of 5 all from Aberdeen and Rick taught us so many interesting things and told some brilliant stories that we really didn’t know before. I would highly recommend this tour not just for tourists but for any local people interested in learning about our wonderful local history.

Book a tour today on scotfreetours.com - there are 5 tours to choose from!

🎄Christmas arrives in Aberdeen! ✨This Sunday 17th November, Union Street will be a riot of colour as the Christmas Light...
14/11/2024

🎄Christmas arrives in Aberdeen! ✨

This Sunday 17th November, Union Street will be a riot of colour as the Christmas Lights Switch On Parade dazzles and delights Aberdeen. Santas on Scooters will kick off the festivities, beginning at Albyn Place and parading down Union Terrace and finishing at His Majesty's Theatre. There will be panto characters, festive floats and many musical maestros. Will you be there?

Our City Centre tour of Aberdeen begins in Castlegate, just beside Aberdeen’s Christmas tree!

Book on a tour today on scotfreetours.com

Remember, remember the 5th of November! 🎆 Tonight the skies will be lit up with sparkling and whooshing displays of colo...
05/11/2024

Remember, remember the 5th of November! 🎆

Tonight the skies will be lit up with sparkling and whooshing displays of colour at Aberdeen North Pier. But did you know Aberdeen once displayed a wanted poster for Gunpowder Plotter Thomas Percy?

The document, dating from 5th November 1605, urges the people of Aberdeen to search for the infamous co-conspirator of Guy Fawkes. They even provided a description of Thomas Percy, detailing him to be a “tall man with a great broad beard, a good face, the colour of his beard and head mingled with white haires, but the head more white than the beard, he stoupeth somewhat in the shoulders, well coloured in the face, long footed, small legged".

Despite Aberdonians on the lookout, Thomas Percy was later found and killed in Staffordshire.

Will you be joining the fireworks tonight? You can find all the information here:
https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/services/leisure-culture-and-parks/major-events-aberdeen/aberdeen-fireworks-night-2024

📸 Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Archives

We have officially reached 500 five star reviews on TripAdvisor! ⭐️Scot Free Tours was first founded in 2016 by Lia Sand...
29/10/2024

We have officially reached 500 five star reviews on TripAdvisor! ⭐️

Scot Free Tours was first founded in 2016 by Lia Sanders. Since then, we have grown to a team of five tour guides and toured thousands of people around the Granite City. Here’s a snapshot of our most recent reviews!

⭐️Just spent 2 days joining these tours. Very informative and relaxed. Fun to do. Full of history of Aberdeen of which I'm a local but learnt something new each time. I joined Rebecca's tour of Old Aberdeen on Saturday and Ricks tour on Sunday about Nu Art. Highly recommended and will go on others. Thanks for the tours 😁

⭐️ Rick was our guide for the NuArt tour and he was brilliant. He is very friendly, outgoing, interested in everyone in the group but mostly he is very knowledgeable about Aberdeen and its history. We enjoyed the tour a lot and the 2 hours went very fast.

⭐️ Fantastic walking tour of Aberdeen. Our guide was very knowledgeable, highly entertaining and made the tour very enjoyable and entertaining.

Book a tour today on scotfreetours.com - there are five tours to choose from!

🍂 City Centre
🌙 Great Scot: Free Walking Tour of Old Aberdeen
👻 Fiends For Life: A Dark History Tour of Aberdeen
🚢 Old & Nu: Aberdeen’s Historic Centre and NuArt
🍺 Craft Beer Tour

Do you have plans for Halloween? Let’s share ghost stories… ☠️🧙🏼‍♀️⚰️🌙Join tour guide Hollie this Halloween weekend and ...
23/10/2024

Do you have plans for Halloween? Let’s share ghost stories… ☠️🧙🏼‍♀️⚰️🌙

Join tour guide Hollie this Halloween weekend and wander Aberdeen’s dark streets as you learn about medieval torture devices… Gibbets. Thumbscrews. Whippings. Dunkings… and of course the scold's bridle.

These well known spots in Aberdeen have spine-tingling stories that lurk in the shadows. What will you discover?

👻 Friday 25th October @ 6pm
🎃 Saturday 26th October @ 6pm & 8pm
🧛🏻 Thursday 31st October @ 6pm

📍 Outside Aberdeen Maritime Museum

Book a tour today on scotfreetours.com - or simply turn up!

BEWARE! 🧟‍♀️ This is your last chance to join this tour in 2024!

Are you enjoying Autumn? 🍂 Aberdeen is looking magical as our trees have their last hurrah! Why not enjoy the Autumn lea...
16/10/2024

Are you enjoying Autumn? 🍂 Aberdeen is looking magical as our trees have their last hurrah!

Why not enjoy the Autumn leaves on a free walking tour of Aberdeen. There are five tours to choose from - from Old Aberdeen, to the city centre, to a craft beer in the pub!

🍂 City Centre
🌙 Great Scot: Free Walking Tour of Old Aberdeen
👻 Fiends For Life: A Dark History Tour of Aberdeen
🚢 Old & Nu: Aberdeen’s Historic Centre and NuArt
🍺 Craft Beer Tour

🎟️ Book a tour today on scotfreetours.com

🎃HALLOWEEN IN ABERDEEN! 👻 Spooky Season is upon us! Join our dark history tour Fiends For Life this October to discover ...
07/10/2024

🎃HALLOWEEN IN ABERDEEN! 👻

Spooky Season is upon us! Join our dark history tour Fiends For Life this October to discover the grisly past of the Granite City.

Witches? ☑️
Ghosts? ☑️
Pirates? ☑️
Murderers? ☑️
Kidnappers? ☑️
Bodysnatchers? ☑️

Join a tour as darkness descends upon the streets you walk every day…

📍 Aberdeen Maritime Museum
🌙 Fridays @ 6pm
🕷 Tours throughout October and the Halloween weekend
🧙 FREE (Donations welcome!)

🎟️ Book a place on scotfreetours.com

Autumn is officially upon us and the trees have begun to turn! 🍂 Here’s a rather picturesque shot of King’s College, wit...
25/09/2024

Autumn is officially upon us and the trees have begun to turn! 🍂 Here’s a rather picturesque shot of King’s College, with the fantastic sculpture by Kenny Hunter reclining in the foreground.

This sculpture is called ‘Youth with a split apple’, first unveiled in 2005. But who could it be? An infamous trickster of King’s College? Or perhaps the founder himself, Bishop William Elphinstone?

Join an autumnal tour of Old Aberdeen and let guides Rick and Rebecca enlighten you to the beginnings of King’s College.

🥾 Great Scot: Free Walking Tour of Old Aberdeen
📍 The Old Townhouse, Old Aberdeen
🍂 Selected Saturdays @ 11am and Sundays at 2pm
✨ FREE (donations are welcome)
🔗 book your place today on scotfreetours.com

This weekend marks the final day of Summer 2024! We’ve had such a blast touring people around the Granite City, hosting ...
20/09/2024

This weekend marks the final day of Summer 2024! We’ve had such a blast touring people around the Granite City, hosting locals and tourists alike. It’s been a busy summer - we’ve welcomed over 500 guests, expanded our SFT tour guide team to five, and received almost 100 5 star TripAdvisor reviews! Have you been on a tour this summer? ☀️ 🏖️

Book a tour today on scotfreetours.com - there's 5 to choose from!

🫧 City Centre
🌊 Great Scot: Free Walking Tour of Old Aberdeen
🛟 Fiends For Life: A Dark History Tour of Aberdeen
🚢 Old & Nu: Aberdeen’s Historic Centre and NuArt
⚓️ Craft Beer Tour

🌺This morning’s Duthie Park Fun Day celebrates Britain in Bloom’s 60th anniversary! 🌸Did you know Aberdeen has won a med...
09/09/2024

🌺This morning’s Duthie Park Fun Day celebrates Britain in Bloom’s 60th anniversary! 🌸

Did you know Aberdeen has won a medal every year since 2008? We’ve been award-winning since 1964!

One man responsible for many of Aberdeen’s accolades was the great David Welch. In 1967, he was appointed the city council’s director of leisure and education and he sure did ruffle feathers when he proposed replacing turf with roses down the entire stretch of Anderson Drive. Along with cultivating parkland and sewing millions of bulbs, Aberdeen won so many Britain in Bloom awards under Welch’s direction that we were excluded from the competition! (Well, excluded from winning gold after our hat-trick!)

Today, David Welch’s magnificent influence on Aberdeen’s gardens and parks can be seen at Duthie Park’s Winter Gardens. You can also learn all about this remarkable gardener on our free walking tour of Old Aberdeen where we tell tales of his long career.

🥾 Great Scot: Free Walking Tour of Old Aberdeen
📍 The Old Townhouse, Old Aberdeen
🌼 Selected Saturdays @ 11am and Sundays at 2pm
✨ FREE (donations are welcome)
🔗 book your place today on scotfreetours.com



*The family event being held in Duthie Park is from 10am to 2pm and includes Spike the Talking Cactus, origami, self-guided tours, photo selfie props, stalls, and music from Aberdeen Music Service’s String Ensemble and Aberdeen Rock Choir.

THIS WEEKEND! 📜 ⚔️September marks the 380th anniversary of the Battle of Justice Mills, the 1644 ‘Battle of Aberdeen’. T...
04/09/2024

THIS WEEKEND! 📜 ⚔️

September marks the 380th anniversary of the Battle of Justice Mills, the 1644 ‘Battle of Aberdeen’. To coincide with the anniversary, Provost Skene’s House is displaying the Montrose Letter.

Along with the letter, this Saturday visitors will be able to meet soldiers from the Royalist forces of the Marquis of Montrose and the Covenanter forces of Lord Burleigh in the Painted Gallery, Provost Skene’s House. What questions will you ask them?

On the 13th September 1644 over 100 Aberdonians suffered violent deaths when the town was ravaged by Montrose’s soldiers. With a 2000-strong army, Montrose wrote this letter to demand the city of Aberdeen surrender to King Charles I.

Join our free walking tour of The Green which goes into the bloody story of how the little drummer boy began the Battle of Justice Mills.

⚔️ Old & Nu Aberdeen: Free Walking Tour of Aberdeen’s Historic Centre & NuArt Street Art
📍 Meet outside Contour Cafe, The Green
🕰️ Selected Sundays @ 2pm
🛡️ Free (Donations welcome)

Since 2017, Nuart has brightened the Granite City nearly every year and has since become an award-winning and internatio...
28/08/2024

Since 2017, Nuart has brightened the Granite City nearly every year and has since become an award-winning and internationally renowned street art festival!

This piece by Case Maclaim is framed by Aberdeen Inspired's Umbrella Project, an installation of colourful brollies that celebrates neurodiversity.

Join us on our Sunday tour Old & Nu: Free tour of Aberdeen’s historic centre and Nuart street art to learn about the art and artists’ themselves.

🖼️ Old & Nu Aberdeen: Free Walking Tour of Aberdeen’s Historic Centre & NuArt Street Art
📍 Meet outside Contour Cafe, The Green
🕰️ Selected Sundays at 2pm
☀️ Free (Donations welcome)

Address

Mercat Cross Castlegate
Aberdeen
AB115BB

Opening Hours

11am - 12:30pm

Telephone

+447851039597

Website

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