Dog Friendly City Guide: Aberdeen, Scotland

In 1880 Elizabeth Crombie Duthie gave Aberdeen a stretch of ground by the River Dee for the "wellbeing and recreation of Aberdeen inhabitants", and a century and a half later the city council's own page for Duthie Park begins its list of what the park is for with dog walks. Aberdeen is the granite port of north east Scotland, set between the mouths of the Dee and the Don, with a sandy beach running up its eastern edge, parks that its own citizens and kings handed to the town, and an old royal railway line leading out towards the Highlands.

Arriving From Abroad

Scotland follows the rules for bringing a pet into Great Britain. The dog must be microchipped before its rabies jab, and it can travel only once 21 full days have passed since that vaccination. A vet must give a tapeworm treatment no less than 24 hours and no more than five days before you arrive, unless you are coming straight from Ireland, Northern Ireland, Finland, Malta or Norway. Pets reach Great Britain by air as cargo unless they fly on a private charter, and a private boat is allowed only from Ireland or Northern Ireland. The Society's guides to flying a dog from the US to the UK and to crossing between Britain and Ireland take you through the paperwork.

Where to Stay

Aloft Aberdeen TECA is the first Aloft in Scotland, and it opened in August 2019 on the same day as the P&J Live arena it stands beside. It has 150 rooms and a bar called WXYZ, and it sits 1.5 miles from Aberdeen International Airport, about six miles north west of the city centre, with the 727 bus serving the complex daily.

For a dog it is generous in a way few hotels are. Nothing is charged, size is no bar and two dogs may share the room, and the dog goes where you go: into WXYZ, the restaurant, the lounge and out on the terrace. A dog bed, bowls and a treat are waiting when you arrive, and the staff are trained to look after canine guests. It holds an A on rochdog.com; read our Aloft Aberdeen TECA review.

Also at the arena, Hilton Aberdeen TECA has 200 rooms, the Quarter House Restaurant and the Devona Spa with an indoor pool, and on event nights the Flight Path Bar, run with Fierce Beer, opens for drinks, pizza and shuffleboard. It is a hotel for a small dog, up to 22 lb and two to a room, at £35 for the stay, with a bed, bowls and treats laid out for it. The dog can sit with you in the bar and lounge, though it should not be left alone in the room. Its rank is B, and the detail is in the Hilton Aberdeen TECA review.

For the city itself, the Residence Inn by Marriott Aberdeen stands on Guestrow in the centre, the street it shares with Provost Skene's House, which dates from 1545 and is the oldest surviving townhouse in Aberdeen. Its studios and suites have kitchenettes, breakfast is included, and the lobby market never closes. Dogs of every size are welcome, two to a room, for £25 a stay, with bowls provided and a place beside you in the bar, restaurant and lounge. Dinner out need not be cut short either, because the hotel lets a dog stay on in the room alone. It holds a B; see the Residence Inn Aberdeen review.

Eat and Drink

The best answer to whether a dog may come in belongs to Malones on Shiprow, an Irish pub run by Irish publicans, which puts the question in its own FAQ and replies in one word: "Extremely." There is live music seven nights a week and sport on big screens, and the food is ordered to your table from independent street food vendors: Dutch fries and smash burgers, or beer battered haddock and haggis bon bons.

At 52 The Green, Cafe 52 has fed Aberdeen for more than 25 years and says it was the first cafe or restaurant in the city to let dogs in. It puts no limit on where the dog may go: "There are no restrictions and you can take your best pal with you when you dine day and night." Lunch, tapas and dinner run Wednesday to Saturday, and the menu stays Scottish, Cullen skink to start and a clootie dumpling with Drambuie custard to finish.

At 5 to 9 Union Street, BrewDog Castlegate is tagged dog friendly on its own page and has outside tables, stacked burgers and wings, with unlimited wings every Wednesday. BrewDog says that all its bars are dog friendly, with water stations and a dog menu of dog "beer", Punk IPA biscuits and a dog friendly sorbet.

The Beach, the Parks and the Old Railway

Aberdeen Beach comes first, a long run of sand below the Esplanade with the Beach Ballroom and the links behind and seals off the mouth of the Don at the north end. The council keeps one stretch of the shore free of dogs, between groynes 6 and 13, so walk the dog on the promenade there and let it onto the sand on either side. At the south end the path reaches Footdee, the fishing village laid out in 1809 by John Smith to re-house the town's fishing community, and a good place to turn for home.

Duthie Park opened in 1883 on Polmuir Road and keeps its Victorian bandstand, fountains and boating pond, and it has held a Green Flag Award every year since 2013. The park is open around the clock. Its David Welch Winter Gardens hold the largest collection of cacti in Britain, but Visit Aberdeen notes that only assistance dogs go inside, so take turns at the glasshouse door.

From the Dee, the Deeside Way follows the line of the Old Royal Deeside Railway out of Aberdeen to Banchory, through woodland and farmland, then picks up the old line again from Aboyne to Ballater, 41 miles in all. Most of it is off road on gentle gradients, so take as short a stretch as the dog likes and turn back.

North of the centre, Seaton Park runs along the River Don from the gates by St Machar's Cathedral, past the Wallace Tower and a Bronze Age mound, and it is open at all hours. Close by is the Brig o' Balgownie, a thirteenth century gothic bridge, with cottages from the early 1600s beyond it.

On the west side of the city, Hazlehead Park was part of the land Robert the Bruce gave Aberdeen in 1319. It has woodland walks, nature trails and bridleways, a maze, two golf courses and the North Sea Memorial Rose Garden, with the Piper Alpha memorial at its heart. The council's rule is short: "Dogs are allowed but must be kept under control."

For a quieter walk on Hilton Road, Stewart Park, bought for the city in 1894, is called "a great place for walking the dog" by the council and keeps a whale's jaw bone given in 1903 by the captain of the Arctic whaler Benbow. Further north, the Society's guide to Inverness picks up the road into the Highlands.

Good to Know

The council's rules for parks ask for a dog under close control in every park, off sports pitches while games are on, and at heel or on a short lead near young farm animals and through the nesting months of April to July in woodland, grassland and on the seashore. Mess must be picked up at once, and a breach can bring a fine.

Out on the Deeside Way the Scottish Outdoor Access Code applies: keep out of fields with lambs or calves, keep a dog close or on a short lead among farm animals, and if cattle come at you, let the dog go and take the shortest safe way out.