St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, United Kingdom

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 St Andrews (Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, 10 miles south-east of Dundee. St Andrews is Fife's fourth largest settlement and 45th most populous settlement in Scotland.

The town is home to the University of St Andrews, the third oldest university in the English-speaking world and the oldest in Scotland. It has been ranked as the best university in the UK by the 2022 Good University Guide, which is published by The Times and The Sunday Times. According to other rankings, it is ranked as one of the best universities in England, Scotland & Wales. The University of St Andrews was founded in 1413.

The town is named after Saint Andrew the Apostle. The settlement grew to the west of St Andrews Cathedral, with the southern side of the Scores to the north and the Kinness Burn to the south. The burgh soon became the ecclesiastical capital of Scotland, a position which was held until the Scottish Reformation. The famous cathedral, the largest in Scotland, now lies in ruins. St Andrews Cathedral was once the largest building in Europe.

St Andrews is also known globally as the "home of golf". This is in part because of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, founded in 1754, which until 2004 exercised legislative authority over the game world-wide (except in the United States and Mexico). It is also because the famous Old Course of St Andrews Links (acquired by the town in 1894) is the most frequent venue for The Open Championship, the oldest of golf's four major championships. Visitors travel to St Andrews in great numbers for several courses ranked amongst the finest in the world, as well as for the sandy beaches.

The Martyrs Memorial, erected to the honour of Patrick Hamilton, George Wishart, and other martyrs of the Reformation epoch, stands at the west end of the Scores on a cliff overlooking the sea.

The town also contains numerous museums, a botanic garden and an aquarium.

Economy St Andrews, whose economy stands at £660 million, relies heavily on tourism and education. In 2016, one out of every five jobs in St Andrews is related to tourism.

St Andrews is often considered as an expensive destination. In 2016, St Andrews was reported to be home to the "Most Expensive Street in Scotland", with average house prices in The Scores in excess of 2 million pounds.

Transport The St Andrews Rail Link project aims at realising a new high-speed twin-cord mainline rail link via Cupar to the south and west and via Leuchars to the north.

Nowadays, the only public transport to reach trains at Leuchars or to connect other towns in Fife is the Stagecoach bus station located near the town centre. Stagecoach's Route 99 (and its alternate routes 99A, 99B, 99C, 99D) connects St Andrews to Dundee via Leuchars with buses up to every ten minutes. Moffat & Williamson operates Route 92 (and 92A, 92B, 92C) on a lesser frequency from Balmullo via Leuchars station to St Andrews before looping the town. There are also some local bus service that links the town centre to St Andrews Community Hospital in the south.

St Andrews Bus Station provides frequent bus services to most towns in Fife and the nearby city of Dundee via Leuchars, and less frequent services to further destinations like Edinburgh and Stirling. Travellers from Edinburgh Airport may take Route 747 to Halbeath Park & Ride then take X59/X24 to St Andrews. Otherwise, they have to travel to central Edinburgh for train or bus services.

Dundee Airport, about 15 miles north of the town, has flights that connects with London-City and Belfast-City provided by Loganair.

Roads A91, A915, A917, A918 and B939 traverse the town at different locations.