Hotels in Crail

Crail is the prettiest of the East Neuk fishing villages, a huddle of crow-stepped gables and red pantile roofs around a small stone harbour that still lands crab and lobster. It's the kind of place people photograph rather than party in: quiet, genteel, built for a slow walk along the coastal path and a seat by the harbour wall with a takeaway crab roll. There's very little nightlife and not much to do after dinner, and with a population under two thousand, options for eating out are limited too.

It works best as a day trip or a one- or two-night stop rather than a base for a longer holiday, though golfers use it as a cheaper, calmer alternative to staying in Saint Andrews itself, which is close enough for the Cathedral and Castle as well as the Old Course. Stay near the harbour, where the village's character actually is, rather than on the outskirts.