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The Five Best Towns and Cities to Move to in Scotland
Scotland isn’t all about the Highlands and Islands, Ben Nevis and other stunning scenery. There’s plenty of attractive towns and cities to move to as well. For those considering house removals to Scotland – whether that’s to Edinburgh, Glasgow or any other destinations north of the border – Hamiltons Removals have compiled this handy guide to five of the most popular places.
Edinburgh
The Scottish capital came top of the listing magazine Time Out’s poll to find the Best City in the World last year. They quizzed 20,000 city dwellers worldwide on aspects such as sustainability, walkability, public transport, overall cost, as well as the nightlife and food and drink scenes. Edinburgh scoring particularly well for its overall beauty and its walkability.
Major attractions in the city include the Royal Mile in the Old Town, Edinburgh Castle (which hosts the world-famous Military Tattoo in August), Holyrood Palace (whose art gallery is open to the public, as well as being the Royal Family’s official Scottish residence) and not forgetting the Edinburgh Festival, which is also held in August.
Glasgow
The big city rival to Edinburgh came in fourth in the same poll. For those considering moving house to Glasgow, it scored well for the overall cost of living (better than anywhere else in the poll), the friendliness of the people and the large number of green spaces. Glasgow actually means ‘dear green space’ in Gaelic.
There’s a thriving arts and cultural scene. The city is home to the Scottish Opera, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Scottish Ballet, as well as Celtic and Rangers, who have long dominated Scottish football.
Stirling
Like Edinburgh, this central Scottish town has a skyline dominated by a castle that has incredible views over the city and the surrounding countryside (see above).
It was voted the safest city in the UK by The Complete University Guide 2019 and the happiest place to live in Scotland by Rightmove in 2021. The University reference is important as the city is home to more than 10,000 students, who make up around a fifth of the total population.
Dundee
This is the fourth largest city in Scotland, and the Best Place to live in Scotland in 2019, according to the Sunday Times.
Being on the east coast, it is one of the sunniest places to live in Scotland prompting some to nickname the city ‘Sundee’. As well as having almost 1,500 hours of sunshine per year, it’s also one of the driest and coldest places to live in Scotland. The sun certainly helps as it’s got plenty of beaches to enjoy. The Urban Beach is probably the closest to the city centre, but Broughty Ferry, named after a nearby village, is probably the most famous.
And, like Stirling, Dundee benefits from its student population. There are two universities in the city, the University of Dundee and the University of Abertay Dundee.
St Andrews
This town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland (10 miles south-east of Dundee) is perhaps most famous as being the ‘home of golf’. As well as being popular with golfers, students come to the University from all over the world. It was ranked no. 1 in the UK by the 2022 Good University Guide published by the Times and Sunday Times and is usually ranked highly in all other surveys. St Andrews was also where Prince William met his future wife, the then Kate Middleton.
The town also has plenty of lovely sandy beaches, most notably The West Sands, where the opening scene from the film Chariots of Fire was shot. It is also much smaller and quieter than many of the other towns and cities. However, the town does get markedly busier at the beginning of university terms and during the Open Golf championship in July.
Removals to Scotland with Hamiltons Removals
Hamiltons Removals can offer a high-end removals service if you are considering moving house to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Stirling or any other Scottish destination.
We provide video surveys and free online removal quotes, to help make the whole process more convenient for you. We can also professionally pack all your items for you, including fragile glassware and artwork. We are highly experienced in moving larger items as well, including pianos and motorbikes.
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