Peterhead is the most easterly town in Scotland, a working fishing port on the Buchan coast of Aberdeenshire. It is the largest whitefish port in Europe, and for all the decline in Scottish fishing, boats still go out from here. The town is built in large part from the local pink granite, which gives the older streets a distinctive cold glitter on grey days.
The beaches are the main draw for visitors. The sand running north from the town extends 17 miles up to St Combs — one of the longest continuous stretches of beach in Europe, and almost always empty. You can walk for miles along the dunes without seeing another person. At Rattray Head the tide exposes the remains of several shipwrecks on the sand. South of town, Cruden Bay has a beautiful beach and the ruins of the castle that inspired Bram Stoker's Dracula. The town also has its own golf course established in 1841.
Peterhead's past includes a major prison (still operating) and a history of whaling and herring fishing that the town museum documents in detail. Two museums cover local history. The town connects to Fraserburgh to the north and Aberdeen to the south.
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