Ayr is the county town, an old royal burgh at the mouth of the River Ayr, and the place Girvan goes for everything Girvan hasn't got. Three and a half miles of sand run south from the harbour past the Esplanade, with the Low Green — the grassy common that was once burgh grazing — behind them. Inland there is a medieval bridge, a High Street that has been trading for eight centuries, a working theatre, a cinema, two free art galleries in a country park and a racecourse that stages the two biggest days in Scottish racing. It is not a picture-postcard town, and parts of the centre are tired, but it is a genuinely useful one: a wet Tuesday in Girvan is a good day for Ayr.
Getting there from Girvan
The train is much the best way, and the reason Ayr is the easiest car-free day out from Girvan: 27 to 30 minutes direct on the Stranraer line, with up to fourteen services a day. Ayr station is five minutes' walk from Burns Statue Square and ten from the High Street.
Driving is about 35 minutes on the A77, or nearer 50 by the A719 coast road through Dunure — slower, and much prettier. The Stagecoach 58 and 60 buses take around 75 minutes, the 60 running along the coast via Turnberry and Culzean.
Ayr beach and the Low Green
The beach is sandy and gently shelving, running from the river mouth south towards the Doon, with Arran, Holy Isle and Ailsa Craig on the horizon and National Cycle Route 7 along the promenade. Behind it the Low Green gives space for a picnic or a ball game when the wind gets up, and there is a large free play park on the Esplanade.
Be warned that this is a town beach, backed by a road and parking — busier and less wild than Girvan's own or Turnberry's. What it has that they don't is somewhere dry to go thirty seconds away.
The Auld Brig, the Auld Kirk and the High Street
The Auld Brig is the narrow cobbled bridge over the River Ayr, closed to traffic and open to walkers. A timber crossing stood near here by about 1250 and the present stone bridge dates from around 1470. Burns wrote The Brigs of Ayr as a quarrel between it and the New Bridge of 1788, in which the old bridge predicts it will outlast its smart young rival — and it did: the first New Bridge was washed away in the floods of the 1870s and the Auld Brig carried the traffic again until a replacement opened in 1878.
The Auld Kirk of Ayr is the church Cromwell paid for. When his troops requisitioned the medieval church of St John the Baptist in the 1650s to build their citadel, the town was left without a parish church; in 1654 Cromwell granted money towards a replacement and the parishioners found the rest. Inside are original timberwork, three historic lofts, a canopied pulpit and a mix of old and modern stained glass; Robert Burns was baptised here and his father was an elder. The graveyard holds the Covenanters' Stone and iron grave-covers once used to guard the dead from body snatchers. Access is through the lych gate at the top of Kirkport, and opening is seasonal rather than daily — check before making a special trip.
On the High Street, the Wallace Tower of 1832–33 stands on the site of an older building known as the Auld Tower and carries a statue of William Wallace by the self-taught Ayrshire sculptor James Thom; tradition links the site to Wallace's imprisonment in Ayr in 1297. A few doors along at number 230 is the thatched Tam o' Shanter Inn. Off the Sandgate, Loudoun Hall is a merchant's town house of about 1513 and one of the oldest of its kind in Scotland, though it opens only occasionally. Fragments of Cromwell's citadel survive on the south side of the river and can be walked round for free.
Things to do
- Ayr Racecourse — the Scottish Grand National in April and the three-day Ayr Gold Cup Festival in September, plus racing most months and Family Racedays in summer.
- Rozelle House and Belleisle Park — free galleries including Alexander Goudie's 54-painting Tam o' Shanter cycle, woodland and pond walks, a walled garden and pets' corner. The best free half-day in Ayr and the one most visitors miss.
- The Gaiety Theatre — opened 1902, twice rebuilt after fires, category B listed and known for its rococo auditorium and its acoustics. Once home of the Gaiety Whirl variety show, it is now run by the Ayr Gaiety Partnership as a social enterprise, with drama, music, comedy, dance and a Christmas panto. Box office 01292 288235.
- The Astoria cinema on Burns Statue Square — the 1938 Art Deco building that was the Odeon until 2023, reopened by Merlin Cinemas in March 2024.
- Shopping — the High Street, Newmarket Street and the Sandgate, with Ayr Central covering the chains under one roof and most of the independents clustered around Newmarket Street.
- Alloway and the Burns Birthplace Museum — two miles south, and effectively part of Ayr.
- Golf — three council courses in and around the town: Belleisle, Seafield and Dalmilling.
Walking
The Esplanade gives three flat, paved miles with the Low Green alongside. The Ayrshire Coastal Path passes through Ayr, heading north towards Prestwick and Troon and south past Doonfoot towards Greenan Castle and the Heads of Ayr — the ruined tower at Greenan, about two miles south along the sand, makes a good target for a beach walk. The River Ayr Way, a 44-mile waymarked route from Glenbuck, finishes at the harbour.
With children
Ayr is the strongest family day out within half an hour of Girvan, and it works in the rain. The seafront play park is large and free; next to it, Pirate Pete's occupies the old Ayr Pavilion with four decks of slides, tubes and ball pools, crazy golf, mini go-karts, laser games and a café — the default answer for a wet afternoon with under-tens. Add the beach at low tide, Rozelle Park for space to run, and, five miles south on the A719, Heads of Ayr Farm Park and Craig Tara.
A rainy day in Ayr
Roughly in order of usefulness: Pirate Pete's, the Astoria cinema, Rozelle House and the Maclaurin galleries, the Gaiety if something is on, Ayr Central and the High Street, and the Carnegie Library. The Citadel Leisure Centre pool has been through a phased refurbishment since late 2024, with closures at different points affecting the pools, gym access and changing rooms, so check South Ayrshire Council's sport and leisure pages on the day rather than turning up. See also Girvan on a rainy day.
Through the year
| When | What |
|---|---|
| January | Burns Night events across Ayr and Alloway |
| April | Scottish Grand National Festival — two days; the whole town is busy |
| Summer | Beach, Low Green, Family Racedays, long evenings on the Esplanade |
| September | Ayr Gold Cup Festival (three days) and the Doors Open Days weekend |
| Winter | Panto at the Gaiety, the cinema, and an empty beach with Arran under snow |
Planning your visit
Parking runs along the Esplanade and Low Green, charged during the season, and fills on the first warm weekend of the year; there is multi-storey and on-street parking in the centre. On Scottish Grand National and Gold Cup days, parking, traffic and restaurants across the whole town are affected — either go for the racing or pick another date. A major regeneration of Burns Statue Square was due to start in summer 2026 and to run around two years, so expect works near the station approach. The seafront and Low Green are level and paved, but the Auld Brig is cobbled and the Kirkport lych gate is narrow. There is no staffed tourist information centre in Ayr.
A day in Ayr from Girvan
Morning train from Girvan. Walk up the High Street from Burns Statue Square to the Wallace Tower and the Tam o' Shanter Inn, through the lych gate to the Auld Kirk, and over the Auld Brig. Lunch in town, then either the beach and Low Green if the sun is out or Rozelle for the Goudie paintings and the park. Evening train home — or stay for the Gaiety. With a car, go out by the coast road and come back down the A77; see our Burns country and Ayr day trip and car-free day out.
Ayr is the practical argument for basing a holiday in Girvan rather than in Ayr itself: everything Ayr offers is half an hour away and reachable by train, so nobody has to drive home, while Girvan gives you a quieter beach, cheaper rooms and the wild coast on the doorstep.
