The University of St Andrews was founded in 1413, making it the third-oldest in the English-speaking world after Oxford and Cambridge. Unlike most British universities, it is not a discrete campus but a network of medieval and Georgian buildings threaded through the historic town centre.
The most photographed bits are the quadrangle of St Salvator's College on North Street, with the slender chapel tower of 1450; the gateway of St Mary's College on South Street, with its 16th-century holm oak tree; and the chapel of St Leonards. During term-time you will see students in scarlet undergraduate gowns, particularly on Sundays when they walk the West Sands and along the pier in procession. The university was where Prince William and the future Princess of Wales met as students.
Public spaces — quadrangles, the chapel — can be visited freely. Guided tours leave from the Visitor Centre at 71 North Street and cost a few pounds.