Anstruther ("Ainster" to locals) is the largest of the fishing towns of the East Neuk of Fife, the "nook" of coast between Largo and St Andrews, with about 3,500 people. It's really two old burghs, Anstruther Easter and Anstruther Wester, divided by the Dreel Burn, and it runs into the former fishing village of Cellardyke to the east. James VI made it a royal burgh in 1583. For centuries it lived on fishing, herring above all, until the shoals disappeared after a record catch in 1936.
The harbour is now full of yachts instead, and the old fishing life lives on in the Scottish Fisheries Museum on the quayside. It's much better than the name suggests. A few doors along, the Anstruther Fish Bar has been named the UK's best fish and chip shop more than once, and on a sunny day the queue proves it. From April to October the May Princess sails from the middle pier to the Isle of May, with its puffins, seals and ruined priory. It's the best day out on this coast.
The rest of the East Neuk is easy to reach from here. The Fife Coastal Path runs east past the Caiplie Caves to Crail, and west through Pittenweem and St Monans to Elie. Inland are the Arts and Crafts gardens of Kellie Castle and, near Crail, Scotland's Secret Bunker. In town, look out for the true-scale model of the solar system, which stretches nearly 600 metres from the Sun to Pluto, and for Buckie House in Anstruther Wester, its gable covered in shells.
There's no railway. Bus 95 runs along the coast between Leven and St Andrews, and the X60 comes from Edinburgh. With a car, St Andrews is 20 minutes away. It works well the other way round too: stay in Anstruther and make St Andrews the day trip.
