The Conference is being held at the University of Aberdeen, which is situated in the north of the present city in an area called Old Aberdeen. This was the original medieval town and lies about 1.5 to 2 km (1 to 1.25 miles) from the present centre of the city, which is centred upon Union Street and grew up next to the harbour.
If you are staying in one of the hotels around Union Street, there are a number of ways that you can get to and from the conference venue.
The first of these is the Aberdeen city bus service, run by company called First Bus. The journey time depends on which route you get but is around 15 minutes. Details of the routes and times can be found on the First Bus website.
A ridiculously confusing map of all bus stops around Union Street can be found here, but since the routes you will need are 1, 1A or 2 (and possibly 19), the only thing you need to remember is that, to get one of these services to the Aberdeen University conference venue, the relevant bus stop is F2 which is near to the entrance to St Nicholas Kirk on Union Street. The drop-off point at Aberdeen University would be Regent Walk.
Buses on the 1, 1A, 2 service are quite frequent (every 10 – 15 minutes at peak time). Specific timetable information can be found on the First Bus website.
There are various way to buy bus tickets. The cost of a single ticket, purchased on the bus at the time of travel, is currently £2.50 per journey, or £4.20 for a “First Day” day ticket. This day ticket allows unlimited travel all day on any of the First Bus network of services in Aberdeen but it is not valid on night buses or special services.
If you are going to pay by cash, you will need the correct change to buy a ticket.
Secure contactless payments are available on all of city buses. Paying with contactless requires a contactless-enabled debit or credit card, but is a simple way to pay for tickets without cash. You can also use Apple Pay or Google Pay to buy tickets.
It is also possible to purchase tickets via the First Bus app. This can often be a cheaper option, especially when buying a “5 x single journey” carnet of tickets which costs £10. You can also buy a First Day m-ticket for £4.00.
For those staying around Aberdeen for longer, a First Week unlimited m-ticket costs £15.50, or £18 bought on the bus.
Further details can be found on the FirstBus website at https://www.firstgroup.com/aberdeen/tickets/ticket-prices
If you are feeling like a little exercise, the walk to the university takes about 20 – 25 minutes, through the southern part of Old Aberdeen and the Aberdeen University campus.
Aberdeen has a number of taxi ranks, the main one is just off Union Street, next to St Nicholas Kirk on Back Wynd.
As well as city-based bus services, there is also the “country bus” services operated by the company Stagecoach, which operates a “hub-and-spoke” service throughout Aberdeenshire (and yes, “outwith” is a real word in Scotland).
Bus service details can be found here but some relevant route numbers are:
Ticket prices depend on the region of travel.
Aberdeen has good rail links south to Dundee, Perth, Leuchars (for St Andrews University), Edinburgh and Glasgow. There is also a rail connection to Inverness and points north.
Aberdeen has good road links to the southern cities. Dundee is about an hour away by car. Perth is an an hour and a half away. Edinburgh is a two-hour drive and Glasgow is about two and a half hours away. Driving from Aberdeen on the east coast of Scotland to Fort William on the west coast takes about three and a half hours. Aberdeen to the Kyle of Lochalsh, opposite the Western Isle of Skye takes about four hours.
Road connections north of Aberdeen are less well served. Inverness is two and a half hours away. North of Inverness, the terrain in the centre of the country is sparsely populated and roads connections are mainly found around the coast
There are Ferry Services from Aberdeen Ferry Terminal to ports in the Northern Isles of Orkney and Shetland.
Aberdeen Airport is an international airport with good links to the major European hubs of London Heathrow, Amsterdam Schiphol and Paris CdG.
