Not to miss

Gordon Highlanders Museum

This excellent museum records the history of one of the British Army's most famous fighting units, described by Winston Churchill as 'the finest regiment in the world'. Originally raised in the northeast of Scotland by the fourth Duke of Gordon in 1794, the regiment was amalgamated with the Seaforths and Camerons to form the Highlanders regiment in 1994.

St Machar's Cathedral

The 15th-century St Machar's Cathedral is a rare example of a fortified cathedral with Celtic origins. It's best known for its heraldic ceiling, dating from 1520, which has 48 shields of kings, nobles, archbishops and bishops. Legend has it that St Machar was divinely inspired to establish a church where the river takes the shape of a bishop's crook.

Provost Skene's House

This turreted town house was occupied in the 17th century by the provost Sir George Skene and briefly by the Duke of Cumberland in 1746. The tempera-painted ceiling with its religious symbolism dates from 1622, having survived the depredations of the Reformation. Look for the earnest-looking angels, the soldiers and St Peter with crowing cockerels.