Aberdeen glitters, genuinely. The city is built almost entirely from locally quarried granite, and on a clear day the whole place catches the light in a way that stops you mid-stride. There’s nowhere else in the UK that looks quite like it, so we thought its visuals deserved a mention, as it’s a beautiful place that students tend to settle down in, even after graduating.
One thing nobody tells you: the summers are extraordinary. Aberdeen sits at roughly the same latitude as Oslo, which means June and July bring evenings where it doesn’t really get dark until near midnight. Aberdeen Beach, a proper wide sandy beach running for miles north of the city, will be absolutely bouncing during the summer from sun up to sun down, and is something you won’t take for granted having on your doorstep – especially if you’re coming from a big city! Keep an eye out for dolphins on clear days, they’ve been known to roam this part of the North Sea.
People from up and down the country travel to Aberdeen to get a glimpse of the Milky Way and even the Northern Lights at certain times of year, luckily you won’t have to travel far to see them for yourself.
Footdee is worth finding early. Locally pronounced “Fittie,” it’s an old fishing village tucked at the mouth of the harbour, built for fishermen, now a quiet backwater that most people don’t know exists. It’s a short walk from the city centre but feels entirely separate from it. One of the more quietly remarkable corners of any UK city, and very nice to visit for some headspace.
So much of the city is covered in quaint cobblestone and medieval architecture, and Old Aberdeen is a prime example of this. Spend a day there and visit Seaton Park or Cruickshank Botanic Garden, soaking up a bit of the Scotch open air.
Beyond Aberdeen, the geography in the surrounding areas is pretty breathtaking. Royal Deeside, Balmoral, and the eastern edge of the Cairngorms are all within an hour. For anyone who wants to hike, ski, or simply be somewhere that isn’t a city at the weekend, Aberdeen is a better base than it gets credit for – the question isn’t whether there’s enough to do outside the city, it’s whether three years will be enough to get through it.
Due to it being a mid-size city, parking is a bit more accessible than somewhere like Glasgow, so it might be worth bringing your car to explore with; depending on where you’re staying your housing might even have dedicated parking, ask the team and plan ahead!
Not Just a Pretty Face
The University of Aberdeen was founded in 1495, which puts it among the oldest in the English-speaking world, that history is visible on campus in a way that’s genuinely impressive rather than just decorative. Worth mentioning that around 93% of students find employment straight after graduating. Robert Gordon University sits closer to the city centre, and is particularly strong for engineering, health, and business, with serious industry connections to the energy sector (even with their own Energy Transition Institute) that translate into real graduate outcomes.
The whole area is attractive to students, but affordability definitely stands out. You get the city buzz, surrounded by vibrancy and culture, yet you don’t have to pay through the nose for it. This translates well into accommodations too, all of which are affordable, close proximity to uni & the centre, and come with all bills included as a little added extra.
Speak to enough locals and you might even catch yourself picking up on some words and phrases from the Doric dialect! More than just an accent, it’ll help you assimilate into your forever home a bit quicker. “Fit like?” means “how are you?”, as a little taster. Aberdeen doesn’t oversell itself. The people who end up loving it are usually the ones who went out and explored, and they tend to be its most vocal advocates for the rest of their lives.
