Anstruther

📌 Village in Fife
★★★

Anstruther (pronounced something like AIN-ster) is one of the biggest East Neuk fishing villages, sprawling along the Fife coast and encompassing a trio of old settlements. In the middle, bustling Anstruther Easter has a spacious main harbour. Pleasure craft and seabird colony trips to the Isle of May have long since replaced herring vessels which used to underpin the economy. The extensive Scottish Fisheries Museum is a reminder of bygone times, and the multi-award-winning Anstruther Fish Bar usually has a long queue for takeaways (deservedly, we think). At low tide, stepping stones cross the Dreel Burn at beach level to reach Anstruther Wester with its colourful church and cottages – a couple of the latter have beautiful shell mosaics adorning the walls. At high tide, use the road. Last but not least, attractive narrow streets extend east to Cellardyke. Now a quiet suburb, this is actually the older district; the busy herring port was only superseded by Anstruther after the harbour (also called Skinfast Haven) suffered storm damage in 1898. The quays now lie mostly empty except for the odd washing line or wandering seagull, but still ooze charm, along with quaint cottages with exterior staircases and house cats peering from the windows. By the way, Cellardyke is a corruption of silver dyke: a reference to the glimmering herring scales caught in the nets once hung out to dry on the harbour walls.

🌍 Location

📌 Fife

🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NO 567036

🛰️ GPS coordinates: 56.222694,-2.700242

🚶 The town centre is compact, but several key sights require a short bus ride or drive. The start of the main route up Ben Nevis can be reached by off-road paths.

🚌 Anstruther is served by buses on the route from Leven to St Andrews, via all the other East Neuk villagees.

🚗 Some parking is pay and display, but there’s plenty of free parking elsewhere.

<1 mi away

>> Scottish Fisheries Museum ★★★★

>> Walk: Pittenweem to Crail – exploring the East Neuk ★★★

<3 mi away

>> Pittenweem page: Pittenweem ★★★ & village sights (1 mi ←)

>> St Monans page: St Monans ★★★ & village sights (3 mi ←)