The famous songs ‘Scotland the Brave’ and ‘Highland Cathedral’ travel across Union Street from Scotland’s most famous of instruments – the bagpipes. The streets are packed with people, stalls and sailors, and a street act is taking place below my hotel window – all part of the main event, the Tall Ships in Aberdeen Harbour.
From the moment I got off the train in the north of Scotland’s ‘Granite City’, I was hit by a brick wall of people. It was like a busy motorway of people; people on their Friday nights out, people in sailor hats and people shouting and singing. But why the sailor hats? Do people usually wear them on a night out? Or could it have been because of the Tall Ships event that had arrived in Aberdeen?
The Tall Ships
Almost 50 ships from around the world descended on Aberdeen on 19 July, having competed against each other from Dunkirk in France. They stayed in Scotland until 22 July, when they would compete against each other again, to Kristianstand in Norway.
To sum up the experience simply, it was amazing. Nothing short of it. All across Aberdeen Harbour, Tall Ships were lined up. People from all over Scotland and beyond lined up to see them, photograph them and board them, as I did. But, if the boats weren’t enough, there was so much more in the harbour. Food stalls, bars and ice cream vans were abundant, as were stalls offering everything from fudge to local whisky and rum to glass artwork. Also to be discovered was the official store, the source of the sailor hats that people were wearing all over the city. A hat purchase was so popular that the queuing time was over 15 minutes, but I exercised great patience in waiting for mine.
What else did Aberdeen offer?
The Tall Ships were not all Aberdeen had to offer that weekend, however.
Street acts performed outside my hotel; a funfair was on the go up King Street, and outside Marischal College, a vintage fire engine was on display for people to sit in and photograph.
Beyond that, the Granite City itself had much to offer in the way of its food and entertainment scene. With remarkable restaurants and perfect pubs, there were plenty of ways to unwind and let off steam after a day of discovering the Tall Ships. Along the way to each Aberdonian destination, I noticed graffiti; neither tacky nor obscene graffiti, but art – works of art that told a story and don’t deserve the name ‘graffiti’.
A trip down memory lane
Of course, how could I visit Aberdeen without feeling nostalgic? Ten years ago, I first visited the northern Scottish city, back then for a political party conference. But during that time, I discovered Union Square and the harbour where I took an all-time favourite photo of mine, boats in the harbour on Trinity Quay. A decade on, I stood in the exact same spot and took the exact same photo once again. The city was amazing, and it was great to rediscover it, but that moment on Trinity Quay hammered home a realisation: as passionate as I am to travel and discover new places, I am keen to return to old haunts and revisit the past with fondness.
The Aberdeen Tall Ships event of 2025 was a must-see occasion, and an event I’m grateful I visited. But even without these amazing seafaring structures, the city itself is a vibrant and wonderful place to discover. Aberdeen stands tall and mighty in Scotland’s rural north, inviting people from far and wide and offering a return visitor like me a taste of times long gone by.
More on history:
