Planning Your Trip to St. Andrews

Before leaving on your trip you should ask the most spirited St. Andrews alumnist in the world what there is to see and do in St. Andrews. (Thanks Nick!)

Bring Pringles on the train because you might sit next to a Canadian who keeps shooting glances your direction and if you have Pringles you can strike up a conversation, "do you want some Pringles?" When you want to end the conversation you can stop it dead in its tracks by saying, "Damien Rice is from Ireland."

The Museum of St. Andrews is a short walk from the bus station.

Don't bother walking 800 yards to the Royal Botanic Gardens unless you're willing to pay the £2 entry fee. If no one is on duty, you have to put your money in this box:

Steven Leavitt, the Freakonomics economist, should find out how many people pay solely because its called the honesty box.

The Cathedral, which sits on the north east side of town, was destroyed by a combination of fire, natural elements, poor design and possibly angry Reformers. Adam Ferguson's gravesite is here.


St. Andrews graduates walk down this Pier, but only women wear caps. When St. Andrews first admitted women in 1892, the men, after the fashion of the Boston Tea Party, threw their caps into the Harbour.

Here are some pictures of the time when I walked down the pier.


Chariots of Fire, though supposedly taking place at Oxford, was filmed on the West Sands. It's a great place to fly kites.

The initials PH on North Street mark the spot where Patrick Hamilton was burned at the stake for preaching heresy.

Oh, and there's a golf course.