East Neuk of Fife fishing village with a sheltered sandy bay and shoreline pub.
Elie is a small coastal village on the East Neuk of Fife, one of a string of pretty fishing villages that line the Firth of Forth between St Andrews and Kirkcaldy. It has a long sandy beach that curves around a sheltered bay — one of the best beaches on Scotland's east coast, surprisingly uncrowded even in summer.
The village is handsome rather than spectacular: stone houses, a harbour, a couple of good pubs, and a cricket ground right on the shoreline. The Ship Inn is the main draw for visitors — a pub overlooking the beach where you can eat seafood and watch the tide come in. In summer they play cricket on the beach at low tide, which is about as pleasantly eccentric as Scotland gets. East of the harbour, the Elie Chain Walk — the only fixed-chain scrambling trail in Scotland — winds along the base of the cliffs around Kincraig Point.
The East Neuk villages are best explored together. Crail, Anstruther, and Pittenweem are all within a short drive, each with its own harbour and character. The Fife Coastal Path connects them for walkers. St Andrews is about 20 minutes north.
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Day Trips
The whole East Neuk of Fife is best treated as one trip. Crail, Anstruther, Pittenweem, and St Monans are each within ten minutes' drive of Elie and all share the same arrangement — a small harbour, a cluster of crowstepped stone houses, and a tradition of inshore fishing. Anstruther has a deserved reputation for the best fish and chips in Britain.
St Andrews, 20 minutes north, is the cathedral city and home of golf — a substantial half-day in itself for the cathedral ruins, the university, the Old Course, and the West Sands beach. The Fife Coastal Path connects all of these places on foot, and the bus 95 from Leven to St Andrews runs along the same route.
Guide
Getting There
Elie is in the East Neuk of Fife, about 90 minutes by car from Edinburgh via the Forth Road Bridge and the A915. There is no train station — Elie's old line was closed in 1965 and the nearest stations are now Leuchars (45 minutes by bus, then onward by bus or taxi) for trains from the north, and Markinch for trains from Edinburgh.
The simplest public-transport route from Edinburgh is by train to Kirkcaldy and then the X60 or 95 bus along the coast. From St Andrews, the 95 bus runs every hour through Crail, Anstruther, and Pittenweem before reaching Elie.
