A Journal for the Thrifty Gowfer
While They Golf · Moray
Cullen is the small Moray-coast town the soup is named after. The 12-cottage harbour at the foot of the cliff, the railway viaduct that crosses the bay, the long sand beach east toward Sandend — and a 4,610-yard 18-hole links that climbs the cliffs above the village and plays across the rooftops on the back nine. For the non-golfing companion, the village is the day. Three pubs serve Cullen Skink to a standard the village will defend forever; the coastline north and east is among the prettiest in Moray. The morning belongs to the village and the coast. Walk down to the harbour, along the beach toward Sandend, back up through the viaduct arches — that circuit takes an hour and a half and covers the best of what Cullen has to offer by way of scenery. Lunch is Cullen Skink at the Three Kings, and there is no good argument for eating anything else while you're here. After lunch, the afternoon opens up southward into Speyside: Glenfiddich at Dufftown is 35 minutes, the Speyside Cooperage at Craigellachie is 30, and the two sit five minutes apart — the cooperage gives you 45 minutes watching coopers rebuild bourbon and sherry casks, and Glenfiddich's Discovery Tour covers the full process with four drams at the end. That afternoon Speyside circuit requires a plan and, crucially, a designated driver or a decision about how many tastings you're actually doing. The honest constraint is scale. Cullen village itself fills in an hour — the harbour, the square, the viaduct view — and that is more or less it for the village. The Moray coast is at its best in summer, when the light comes late and the beaches are genuinely good; in winter the coast road is scenic but the wind off the North Sea makes lingering outside punishing. The Speyside circuit requires leaving early enough to make it worthwhile, and 'popping to Glenfiddich' is not a 45-minute detour — it takes the best part of an afternoon if you're doing it properly. Plan accordingly.
Practical note
Cullen is on the A98 east of Buckie. No train station — bus services from Aberdeen and Inverness. The Moray Coast Trail walking path runs through the village.
The Picks
5 min walk · soup the village is named after
Smoked Finnan haddock, potato, onion and milk. The Three Kings makes the locals' favourite version; the Royal Oak does the rivalrous version; the Seafield Arms does the more refined hotel-restaurant version. Try at least one — preferably with a pint of local ale.
On the doorstep · long beach + Victorian rail viaduct
The bay east of the village with the four-arch railway viaduct (built 1886, closed 1968) running across it. Walk along the beach toward Sandend; the viaduct's arches are the photograph.
5 min west · two more Moray-coast cliff villages
The pair of villages just west of Cullen — Findochty (rebuilt after the herring boom) and Portknockie (with the Bow Fiddle Rock sea stack offshore). Walk the Moray Coast Trail between them; allow 2 hours.
5 min west · sea stack shaped like the tip of a fiddle bow
The natural-arch sea stack a five-minute walk from Portknockie's harbour. Waves break under the arch on a high tide; cormorants nest on the top in summer.
35 min south · pre-book · the world's most-visited distillery
The 1887 distillery in Dufftown that single-handedly made single malt a global category. The Discovery Tour (90 minutes) covers the full process and ends with four drams; the Connoisseur's Tour adds warehouse sampling and costs more but is worth it for anyone remotely interested in whisky. Book ahead — daily capacity sells out in high season.
30 min south · the working cooperage that supplies Speyside
Speyside Cooperage is the only working cooperage in the UK that opens to visitors. Watch coopers building and rebuilding bourbon and sherry casks for the Speyside distilleries; the smell of charred oak alone is the visit.
20 min west · Tugnet ice house + Moray Firth dolphin spotting
The Whale and Dolphin Conservation centre at the mouth of the Spey. The Moray Firth holds the UK's largest resident population of bottlenose dolphins — Spey Bay is one of the more reliable land-based spotting points. The Tugnet Ice House (1830, the largest in Scotland) is beside the centre and free to enter.
10 min east · long sand beach, surf school in season
A crescent of sand tucked below the village of Sandend, ten minutes east on the A98. Surfers use it in autumn when the Atlantic swell builds; in summer it's rock pools and calm water. The beach is never crowded — Cullen's lesser-known neighbour.
If the weather turns
Cullen Skink at the Three Kings
5 min walk · soup the village is named after
Glenfiddich Distillery, Dufftown
35 min south · pre-book · the world's most-visited distillery
Speyside Cooperage, Craigellachie
30 min south · the working cooperage that supplies Speyside
Spey Bay & WDC Scottish Dolphin Centre
20 min west · Tugnet ice house + Moray Firth dolphin spotting
For the golfer
Distilleries, walks, and transport guides from across our Scotland network.
Elgin's value champion — 20 minutes south. The Classic is widely available below £30 and the distillery tour is unhurried.
On TasteSCOTGordon & MacPhail's small distillery in Forres, 35 minutes west. Lightly peated, throwback Speyside style — one of the best small distillery tours in Scotland.
On TasteSCOTThe world's densest whisky region starts 20 minutes south of Cullen. 46 distilleries, Glenfiddich to Mortlach.
On TripSCOTThe region's market town — 20 minutes south. Elgin Cathedral ruins, Johnstons of Elgin cashmere mill, and the best lunch options in Moray.
On TripSCOTOn the Inverness–Aberdeen ScotRail line. Connections from Inverness (45 min) and Aberdeen (70 min).
On OutdoorSCOTThe Speyside side of the Cairngorms begins 20 minutes south of Cullen — Ben Rinnes above Dufftown, the Speyside Way walking route, and the eastern Cairngorm plateau within an hour.
Common questions
Other towns
East Lothian
Edinburgh & the Lothians
Angus & Dundee
Perthshire
Stirling
Glasgow & Lanarkshire
Argyll & Bute
Moray & Speyside