Cruden Bay: A Pink-Sand Beach, Dracula’s Castle & the Buchan Coast

Cruden Bay: A Pink-Sand Beach, Dracula’s Castle & the Buchan Coast

The ruin of Slains Castle above dramatic sea cliffs at Cruden Bay, Aberdeenshire.
Slains Castle on the cliffs above Cruden Bay — the ruin that helped Bram Stoker dream up Dracula.

Overview — the honest take

Cruden Bay is a genuinely lovely Aberdeenshire village, and one that quietly over-delivers: a mile and a half of curving, faintly pink sand; a wild, cliff-torn coast; a little fishing harbour; a world-class golf links; and, brooding on the clifftop just to the north, the great ruin of Slains Castle — the place that helped Bram Stoker imagine Dracula. We spent a happy February day here on the beach and the cliffs, and came away thoroughly charmed.

A street in the village of Cruden Bay, Aberdeenshire.
The village itself — relaxed and friendly.

Where it is

Cruden Bay sits on the Buchan coast of Aberdeenshire, about 23 miles north of Aberdeen and a few miles south of Peterhead. The village proper is Port Erroll, tucked by the harbour and the mouth of the Water of Cruden, with the beach and the cliffs stretching away to either side.

The beach & the Water of Cruden

The wide sandy sweep of Cruden Bay beach at low tide.
A mile and a half of curving, faintly pink-tinged sand.

The beach is the heart of it — a broad, clean, gently curving sweep of sand backed by dunes, with a faint pink tinge that comes (they say) from the red cliffs eroding to the north. You reach it across the Water of Cruden on a footbridge, or by hopping the stepping stones where the burn meets the sea. At low tide the rocky ends of the bay open up into rockpools and weed-draped shelves — Lillie’s idea of heaven.

Stepping stones across the Water of Cruden where it meets the beach.
Stepping stones over the Water of Cruden onto the sand.
Surf rolling onto the sand at Cruden Bay.
Big North Sea surf on the shore.
The rocky low-tide foreshore at Cruden Bay.
Rockpools and weed at low tide.
Lillie the dog on the rocky, seaweed-covered foreshore at Cruden Bay.
Lillie exploring the rocky low-tide shore.
Arms wide on the wide open sands of Cruden Bay beach.
Room to breathe on the wide open sands.

Slains Castle & Dracula

The gaunt clifftop ruin of Slains Castle, said to have inspired Bram Stokers Dracula.
Slains Castle — the gaunt clifftop ruin that helped inspire Dracula.

On the cliffs a mile or so north stands Slains Castle (properly New Slains) — a rambling, roofless ruin right on the edge of the drop. Its fame is literary: Bram Stoker holidayed in Cruden Bay for some 17 years, staying at the Kilmarnock Arms in the village, and the brooding castle and this wild coast fed straight into his imagination. He set stories here, and an early draft of Dracula even had the Count’s ship making landfall at Cruden Bay rather than Whitby. It’s a free, open ruin — but it’s unfenced and right on the cliff, so take real care, especially with children and dogs.

A surviving tower of Slains Castle above the North Sea at Cruden Bay.
Empty windows staring out at the North Sea.
A ruined window of Slains Castle framing the sea at Cruden Bay.
You can see why it fired a Gothic imagination.
A stone archway in the ruins of Slains Castle, Cruden Bay.
Wandering the roofless rooms, right on the cliff edge.
Slains Castle spread along the clifftop above the sea near Cruden Bay.
The castle spreads right along the top of the cliff.
A ruined window of Slains Castle framing nothing but the open North Sea.
Slains’s most famous view — a ruined window framing nothing but the sea.
The tall red-stone tower of Slains Castle standing on the cliff edge.
The tall tower, right on the very edge of the drop.
The classic profile of Slains Castle across a deep rocky geo.
The classic Slains profile across a deep geo.
A gable of Slains Castle silhouetted against a burst of sun.
Sun breaking behind a ruined gable.
Red sea stacks and a turquoise cove below the cliffs at Slains, Cruden Bay.
Red stacks and a turquoise cove in the rocks below the castle.

The Buchan cliffs & the Bullers of Buchan

The coast either side of the castle is spectacular — deep geos, sea stacks, arches and coves, alive with seabirds. A little further north lies one of the great natural sights of the north-east: the Bullers of Buchan, a collapsed sea cave forming a sheer-sided rock “pot” nearly 200 feet deep, into which the sea booms through a natural archway (bullers means “boilers”). In early summer it’s thick with puffins.

A deep rocky geo cut into the cliffs on the Cruden Bay coast.
The coast is slashed with deep, dramatic geos.
A tall sea stack rising from the water on the cliffs near Cruden Bay.
Sea stacks and cliffs the whole way along.
A rocky cove below the cliffs on the Cruden Bay coast.
A hidden cove below the clifftop path.

Port Erroll harbour & the golf

A blue fishing boat in the little harbour at Port Erroll, Cruden Bay.
The wee harbour at Port Erroll.

The harbour at Port Erroll was built in the late 1870s by the Earls of Erroll in the hope of landing a herring fishery — the fishing never quite took, but the wee harbour is a charming spot still. And out on the links is Cruden Bay Golf Club: golf has been played here since 1791, the course laid out by Old Tom Morris in 1899 and reshaped in 1926, and it’s rated among the finest links courses in the world.

The village & overnight

Coffee and a roll at a cafe in Cruden Bay village.
A warm stop in the village.

The village is relaxed and welcoming, with a shop, a pub or two and somewhere for a warming coffee after the beach. We had a quiet overnight down by the shore car park — handy for a first-light beach walk and the coast path north to the castle.

Our motorhome parked at the shore car park at Cruden Bay.
Our overnight spot by the shore.

Nearby

  • Dunnottar Castle — the other great Aberdeenshire clifftop fortress, down the coast past Aberdeen.
  • Newburgh & the Ythan Estuary, just south, are famous for their big seal colony hauled out on the sands.
  • See the rest of our Castles of Scotland collection.

Sources