Rothesay, Scotland
Glaswegians for many generations have made day trips to the beach resort town of Rothesay on the Isle of Bute. A short hour-long train ride to Wemyss Bay, a 35-minute ferry ride across the Firth of Clyde, and you get to walk out into downtown Rothesay.
Rothesay is the main town on the Isle of Bute and became a vacation destination during the 19th century. For someone coming from Scotland’s largest city, Rothesay is a great change of pace for anyone on a Scotland vacation. There are many things to do in and around Rothesay, and this local guide is a good start for anyone visiting the seaside resort.
We were in Rothesay for just a couple of hours, but being there in the late afternoon/early evening summer sun provided for a couple of hours of quality entertainment. First, we made a beeline for Rothesay Castle. We wanted to get one last use out of our Historic Scotland Explorer Pass. While the castle is not that large, it still makes an impression on the village. Even if you do not visit, you can walk the perimeter, which we did during our visit.
Rothesay is also rather famous for toilets. Really, the Victorian Toilets are a historic building and still fully functioning. Take a chance to see (and use) this museum. The male bathroom has all the ornate features, and if it is not in use, females can poke their heads in to check out the mosaic floors and marble features.
Nearby the toilets is a park area on the bay. The park has a playground, fountains, a natural grass putting green/miniature golf course, a winter gardens house, a beach, and the dividing line between the Highlands and the Lowlands of Scotland. We could have easily spent much longer in the park, and I would have played a round of golf, although the course was level and did not provide the challenge we had on the Himalayas course earlier in the trip in St. Andrews.
Finally, a beachside resort is a great place to grab an ice cream. During our visit to the United Kingdom, Count Binface was famously running for a Parliament seat in another seaside town in Clacton-on-Sea. One of his campaign planks in his multiple elections has been to make a 99p ice cream actually cost 99p. His campaign is a tongue-in-cheek way of addressing inflation and how rising costs have hurt seaside resort towns like Rothesay. We did grab some ice cream from Wee Zoe’s to cap our visit to this seaside resort, before catching the ferry back to Wemyss Bay.
If you visit the United Kingdom, make it a special point to visit one of the many seaside towns that dot the entire island chain. Many of these towns first became accessible and touristy with the rise of a middle class, rail travel, steamboat travel, electricity, and interior plumbing. Whether it is the pier in Brighton, the White Cliffs of Dover, the ancient city walls of Conwy or Berwick-upon-Tweed, the historic Old Course of St. Andrews, a place with family history like Banff is for me, a signpost in John O’Groats, a cathedral in Kirkwall, a charming museum in Burray, a visit to a seaside town such as Rothesay is one of the best ways to experience the United Kingdom. Most of these towns have casual and fine dining, hotels, and things to do. Many British holiday goers take advantage of cheap flights to visit beaches in Portugal, Spain, Greece, and Cyprus, but what might be lacking in sunshine and warm water makes up for it in charm. After spending a few days in a large city, you begin to see why these seaside communities became so popular for 19th Century tourists. We enjoyed our trip to Rothesay and hope to visit more seaside towns on a future visit to the United Kingdom.
