10 things to do in Portpatrick, Scotland: a pretty coastal village

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📅 22. November 2024 ✍️ By Ashley Thomas ⏱️ 15 Mins Read 🗂️ Der Blog 🕒 Last updated: 23. November 2024 📌 Tags:Killantringan Lighthouse,Portpatrick,Scotland

Things to do in Portpatrick, Scotland | PACK THE SUITCASES

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Here are a few things to do in Portpatrick, Scotland, and nearby. Portpatrick is a charming coastal village on the Rhins of Galloway peninsula in South West Scotland. It’s full of lovely pastel-coloured buildings and has a picture-perfect bay, set against a backdrop of rugged scenery and stunning views. It has its own lighthouse and it’s only a 40-minute drive from the big daddy of Scottish lighthouses, the Mull of Galloway.

Like many places in the area, Portpatrick was founded on fishing. It later became a port linked to Northern Ireland. Irish couples would use it to go to Scotland to get married, like Gretna Green (but without the depressing shopping outlet!). But Portpatrick today is all about eating, drinking, walking, relaxing and enjoying sea views. Regular readers will know that I’m a huge fan of the Dumfries and Galloway area of Scotland (and Scotland in general). I normally base myself in or around Kirkcudbright or Castle Douglas when I visit, but recently decided to stay near Portpatrick for a change. I loved getting to know it better, especially as it’s right on the famous Southern Upland Way, meaning it’s great for clifftop walks before heading for a cosy pub meal in the harbour and a mooch around. Bliss.

If this all sounds like your cup of tea, here are some things to do in Portpatrick, Scotland, which should give you a good flavour of the place…

Things to do in Portpatrick, Scotland

1. Do the clifftop walk to see Killantringan Lighthouse

Killantringan Lighthouse is a striking yellow-and-white beauty within an easy walk of Portpatrick. Although it’s not got the classic lighthouse stripes, it’s clearly a good one because yellow is the best colour. And it’s set in a perfect location, surrounded by dramatic scenery and golden sands. It’s no wonder that I’ve spotted Visit Scotland using photos of it on their website a few times.

The lighthouse is fully decommissioned now and is privately owned. But if you like the look of it, you can actually stay in the lighthousekeeper’s cottage as it’s on Airbnb. Imagine the views!

Anyway, the walk to get there is easy enough, despite going along some rugged cliffs. I’d say it takes about 3.5 hours to do it as a circular route. But it depends how long you faff around taking photos of the lighthouse like I do…

I’m terrible at directions but this is roughly how you walk to Killantringan Lighthouse from Portpatrick…

Head up the coastal path from Portpatrick, going up the stairs to the north of the harbour. Don’t forget to look back down onto Portpatrick from the top of the stairs, as it’s one of the best views of the harbour. Photo opportunity!
Follow the waymarkers for the Southern Upland Way (marked with a white thistle) along the coastline. There are another two sets of uneven, rocky steps after a while (one has a chain to hold onto and hoik yourself up).
On the cliff top, there’s a stile and it opens out into grazing land. You can spot the lighthouse at that point, but the best photo spot for it is a bit further along the grassy track and through a kissing gate. It is mandatory to kiss your friend/partner/dog going through any kissing gate, of course.
You’ll eventually get to the hillock where it’s the ideal view of the lighthouse and the little bay next to it. Take 500 photos. Try to get a photo of yourself with the lighthouse in the background and get upset because it’s so windy and your hair looks mad. Look out for the shipwreck at low tide.
Keep going to the road on the right from the lighthouse. Say hello to the neighbouring cows. Head right at the T-junction and waddle until the Dunsky Gardens entrance. Through here, go left onto the signed footpath.
When the footpath reaches a track, go left again.
Keep right at the fork of the path and you’ll come out onto a road at the north end of Portpatrick. You then just need to go right to go down back to the harbour.
Have a pint at one of the local pubs, or tea and cake at the café. Calories don’t exist when you’ve done a walk.

You may want to use a proper walking website to double-check my directions and understand things like GPS. Please don’t get lost on my account…

2. Treat yourself to some homemade cake at The Port Pantry

Every Scottish town has one excellent cosy café to rule them all, and The Port Pantry is Portpatrick’s. It’s set in a quaint whitewashed house with a cheery nautical-themed interior and a welcoming atmosphere.

They do lunch food – all the usual things, salads, wraps, jacket potatoes, sandwiches, toasties and soup as well as full-on hot meals. They even do a couple of vegan dishes, which can be a pain to find in smaller towns and villages. But as regular readers of my blog will know, if there’s a scone on offer then I’m always going to have that. I can confirm The Port Pantry does a very good scone, and the lemon cake is a winner as well. Alas, like a massive idiot, I lost all my photos from my recent visit so you’re just going to have to imagine the sweet treats or visit for yourself. Soz!

Food aside, The Port Pantry also has a small shop inside selling nice homewares like throws and candles, as well as foodie bits and bobs like local cheeses and beers. If you have a dog, they do some very cute tweed/tartan collars and leads.

3. Have a pint outside one of the pubs – one of the best things to do in Portpatrick on a sunny day

What could be nicer than watching the boats bobbing in Portpatrick harbour while sipping a drink? Gorgeous.

There are a few pubs along the front in Portpatrick, most of which are also hotels/inns.

My choice is The Crown, which has plenty of outdoor seating and is right in the middle of the seafront. Perfect for maximum people-watching opportunities. They often have a good local beer on, including from the very local Portpatrick Brewery and my favourite Five Kingdoms Brewery, which is also based locally at the Isle of Whithorn (somewhere I talk about in my Wigtown guide).

4. Visit the 16-century ruin of Dunskey Castle and look out for ghosts…

Portpatrick’s Dunskey Castle is set on a rocky clifftop jutting out into the sea, again on the coastal path a short walk from the village (featuring more stairs, of course). It’s an atmospheric spot and was used in the 1950s film adaptation of Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Although it’s a ruin, it’s still recognisable as a former castle, not just the pile of rubble you sometimes get. The shell of Dunskey Castle that remains today is from the 16th century, built for the Adair family. But there was a castle there in the 13/14th century that was burned down by MacCulloch of Myrton as revenge for a murder committed by William Adair. If that wasn’t enough dark history for you, the abbot of Soulseat Abbey was kept prisoner and tortured there so that he’d sign away the abbey lands. It’s been falling into ruin since around 1700.

Needless to say, Dunskey Castle has some inevitable ghost stories. One of the resident ghosts is a ‘broonie’, something I’ve never heard of before and had to look up. People have also reported sightings of a ‘hairy man’. I couldn’t work out (from reading Scottish ghost-hunting websites!) whether a broonie is the same thing as a hairy man, though. Wikipedia mentions that broonies are hairy. I can recommend a great laser hair removal clinic in Cheshire.

On a slightly creepier note, there’s also said to be a nursemaid who dropped a baby from a castle window onto the beach (on purpose?) and a piper who you can hear playing on dark and lonely nights. Ooh.

You have to admire it from the outside as you can’t go inside Dunskey Castle’s ruins. It’s fenced off, presumably for safety reasons. Or maybe it’s to protect us from cr*pping ourselves meeting all these ghosts.

5. Eat some excellent local meals (especially fish and chips)

When you visit anywhere coastal, you’re going to end up having some good pub grub and probably some fish and chips. We all know this is a fact.

There are plenty of pubs in Portpatrick, and plenty of pubs/restaurants with fish and chips on the menu. The aforementioned The Port Pantry and The Crown both do them, as do Connor’s Restaurant and the Harbour House Hotel. Yes, I’ve perused a lot of menus in great detail when researching visits to Portpatrick. It’s a hobby…

Obviously I’ve not eaten at every single place in Portpatrick (give me time!) but I can 100% recommend Connor’s. It’s more of a restaurant than a pub and does lots of lovely options, including fish goujons and chips. And they’re spot on. You can tell it’s all homemade and very fresh, as it should be when you’re right by the seaside. They also always have a ‘cheesecake of the day’ on the menu. I’m sure that should be compulsory in every eating establishment.

The photo below, ironically, isn’t from Connor’s. Getting photos of food in the evening in low lighting is a pain and I couldn’t do it justice. These fish and chips were from a takeaway place. They were quite good but I may have just got lucky because when I googled it afterwards, the reviews were terrible. I’d better not recommend it in case any of my readers go and have a bad experience. I don’t need any (more) hate mail.

6. Clamber up to have a photo with the Saltaire

There’s a big Saltaire flying from on top of some craggy rocks in Portpatrick harbour.

Of course, when visiting, it’s mandatory to clamber up the rocks, force your partner to get a photo of you with it, and then struggle to climb down in a dignified manner. If you’re there on a busy and sunny day, the next person will be forming an orderly queue to do the same.

7. See the lifeboat and pop into the RNLI gift shop

Portpatrick has its own RNLI lifeboat based in the harbour. You may see it coming in or going out while you’re exploring the village. There’s also a little RNLI gift shop. And as you may expect, it sells lots of nautical things; I picked up a coastal-themed calendar for my kitchen the last time I was there. Definitely worth a browse.

If you’re visiting in August, see if the RNLI Lifeboat Week coincides with your dates. You can usually find out through their Facebook page. It’s a week of fundraising events, including quite interesting stuff like a clifftop rescue demo as well as the usual coffee/cake sales. It ends with a firework display in the harbour, which would be really lovely.

Side note: if you want to time a visit while something is on, there’s also the Portpatrick Folk Festival. It lasts for 3 days and is usually on the first week of September.

8. Enjoy some beach time at Killantringan Bay, Sandeel Bay (Port Mora) and Port Kale

If you do the Killantringan Lighthouse circular walk, you’ll have spotted the vast expanse of golden sand that is Killantringan Bay. It’s one of the nicest (if not the nicest) beaches around Portpatrick. If you have dogs, they’ll love running around here too, especially when the tide is out and there’s loads of room. There are some good rockpools to rootle about in as well (that goes for humans as well as dogs).

Another beach option is Sandeel Bay, officially called Port Mora. You’ll have seen this on the lighthouse walk as well. It’s a much smaller beach but still worth walking along or sitting on with a cup of tea. There’s a small waterfall and some caves too. The water from the waterfall is said to have magical powers, including curing whooping cough. I don’t think I’ll be trying it any time soon though…

Just along the cliff from Port Mora is the smaller, rockier Port Kale. This is where, back in 1852, the first submarine telephone cable between Scotland and Ireland was laid. It connected from Port Kale all the way to Donaghadee on the Irish coast, a 27-mile feat. The old cable house is still there: a funny-looking white hexagonal building in the bay.

Whichever beach you decide to linger at, make sure you keep your beadiest of eyes out for grey seals, who can often be spotted out to sea.

9. Walk through the ruins of the Portpatrick Old Parish Church

You can find the ruins of the Old Parish Church once you’re back in the village. It’s worth a look around.

The church dates back to around 1628 and it has an interesting kirkyard. Who doesn’t love nosing around a graveyard when they’re visiting somewhere? It’s up there with staring into the window of the local estate agent and muttering about what you could buy at home for those prices.

Look out for the memorials to shipwrecks in the area. There’s one from 1835 dedicated to the Lion, a ship from Boston, MA, and another from 1850 to the SS Orion.

10. Things to do around Portpatrick: day trips and afternoons out

That’s the end of my list of things to do in Portpatrick itself, or within walking distance anyway.

However, Portpatrick is a good base for exploring the wider area. Unfortunately, you do need a car (regular readers will know that I don’t really drive…). But within about 45 minutes, you can see all of the following.

Mull of Galloway Lighthouse – It takes about 40 minutes to drive from Portpatrick to the Mull of Galloway and its famous lighthouse. The views are undeniably spectacular and you can spot lots of seabirds while you’re at it (there’s an RSPB Centre there). Make sure you leave room for a cake from Gallie Craig, Scotland`s most southerly café, right on the cliff’s edge. Apparently, the lighthouse now has the only working foghorn on mainland Scotland. Toot toot.
Castle Kennedy Gardens – About 20 minutes by car from Portpatrick, this is an old castle with a walled garden and lots of beautiful forests, lochs and land you can walk around. You can spend a good half a day here and there’s also a good tearoom. It’s £6.50 to get in; check the official website for opening times. I visited in August and it was lovely but apparently spring is the time to go because they have a whopping display of rhododendrons.
Logan Botanic Gardens – Another good day trip at 25 minutes away, Logan is a real treat of a botanic garden. I tend to visit botanic gardens in every city I go to in Europe, and this is up there with the best. If you visit in summer, look out for all the newts in the ponds. Very cute. They also have the BEST scones in the café (and I am a seasoned pro at eating scones). Check their official site for opening times; it’s £8 to get in.
Wigtown – It’s a 45-minute drive to Scotland’s official book town. I’m not going to say ANYTHING about how good it is just here because I have a whole guide to Wigtown that you should read.

Other day trips that I’ve not done yet include Glenluce Abbey, Dunskey Estate and the Kirkmadrine stones. If you’ve been to Portpatrick and can think of anything else within a 45-minute drive, please do drop me a comment below and I’ll add it to my to-do list for my next visit.

Things to do in Portpatrick, Scotland – useful information for your trip

Where to stay in Portpatrick

Whenever I visit the Dumfries and Galloway area, I tend to stay in Kirkcudbright at either The Selkirk Arms or the Kirkcudbright Bay Hotel. But this is a fair old trek to Portpatrick, so I’d recommend looking within the village itself.

There is a handful of places to stay in Portpatrick, bearing in mind that it’s very small so isn’t going to have huge choice within walking distance of the harbour. I’ve done a bit of research and found some suggestions…

For a hotel, the Mount Stewart Hotel (around £105 a night) or the Harbour House Hotel (around £100 a night) would be your best bet. The latter has rooms with sea views and they’re both very central.
If you’re after self-catering accommodation, the Fairways Apartment (around £175 a night but has two bedrooms so would do for a group holiday) looks good, and it’s only a short walk from the centre.

All prices are correct at the time of writing.

When to go to Portpatrick

It’s pretty much always an acceptable level of busyness in Portpatrick. You don’t ever get huge crowds of tourists. But I always recommend Scotland in late summer or spring, avoiding the school holidays with your largest of bargepoles (and bearing in mind that different regions have different school holidays). These seasons tend to have the nicest weather.