What do aspirin, Dennis the Menace and Grand Theft Auto all have in common? They all originate from a city that fancy travel magazine Condé Nast Traveller (CNT) just named one of the most underrated in all of Europe – Dundee.
Normally overlooked for Edinburgh or Glasgow, Scotland’s fourth largest city has major design credentials and is the UK’s first and only UNESCO City of Design. CNT gave it a shoutout in its list of Europe’s most underrated places for being ‘a city that genuinely surprises’.
In 2018, the city became home to the V&A Dundee, Scotland’s first design museum in and the only Victoria and Albert museum outside of London. Designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma to evoke area‘s coastline, it has currently has exhibitions exploring Palestinian embroidery and garden design and next year will open shows on design and disability and the art of the fashion show.
Dundee’s UNESCO designation also celebrates numerous other innovations that have come from the city, including aspirin, Beano and Dandy comics, orange marmalade and video games like Lemmings and Grand Theft Auto (yes really, it was designed by Dundee-based company DMA Design in 1997).
The RRS Discovery, a ship that carried Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton to the Antarctic in 1901, is another of Dundee’s most acclaimed attractions, alongside the McManus Art Gallery and Museum, a Gothic building with eight gallery spaces of art and artefacts spanning 400 million years of Scottish history.
That’s not all. CNT also recommends that visitors ‘head up Dundee Law for views over the Tay bridges, then wander the revamped waterfront’ or tie their visit into a longer Highlands trip with a stay at the Fife Arms in Braemar in the Cairngorms.
While you’re here, check out Time Out’s pick of all the other best places to visit in Scotland and the most beautiful places to visit in Scotland.
ICYMI: Britain’s 5 best independent cinemas have just been announced.
Plus: Edinburgh is getting a new £162 million concert hall.
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