St Andrews University students walking the historic stone quad in red academic gowns

The University · A travel guide

Six hundred years of learning, eighteen of getting them home.

The University of St Andrews shapes the rhythm of this town. Its term dates, traditions and processions decide our busiest days, our quietest streets and the tone of every season. Here is what we know — academic calendars, halls, traditions, and every peak travel day of the year. So you can plan accordingly, and we can get you there.

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1413

University founded

~10,800

Students each year

~45%

International students

Years of student transfers

01 — The town runs on the timetable

You cannot understand St Andrews without understanding the University.

There are roughly 10,800 students here. The town's permanent population is about 17,800. Do the maths and you can see why the calendar matters — when term begins, the place doubles in size overnight; when it ends, the streets empty in 72 hours.

Almost half the student body is international. That means a steady, predictable cadence of long-haul travel: every August, every December, every May. Edinburgh Airport is one of our favourite places in the world; we have spent eighteen years learning its rhythms.

The dates below come straight from the University's official academic calendar. The notes are ours — eighteen years of watching the same town live through the same seasons.

02 — The official calendar

Two years of term dates, in one place.

The University runs two semesters: Martinmas (autumn) and Candlemas (spring). Below are the dates as published by the Senate. Highlights mark the days we plan our entire fleet around.

Academic year

2025 / 26

Orientation Week (Freshers' Week)
Peak travel
6–13 Sept 2025
First-year arrivals across the weekend of Sat 6 Sep — Sun 7 Sep. The single busiest weekend of our year for parents flying into Edinburgh.
Martinmas Semester · Teaching
15 Sept – 12 Dec 2025
Reading Week (no teaching)
20–24 Oct 2025
Many students fly home for the long weekend. Heavy outbound traffic on the Friday.
Raisin Weekend
Peak travel
2–3 Nov 2025
St Salvator's Quad goes wild with foam on Raisin Monday. Worth being in town just to see it.
Martinmas Examinations
1–12 Dec 2025
Winter Break — students leave
Peak travel
13 Dec – 25 Jan 2026
Major outbound surge from EDI on 12–14 Dec. Single biggest week of the year for international student departures.
Candlemas Semester · Teaching
26 Jan – 8 May 2026
Reading Week (no teaching)
2–6 Mar 2026
Spring Break
23 Mar – 12 Apr 2026
Most students fly home; heavy A91 / EDI traffic both ends.
Candlemas Examinations
27 Apr – 15 May 2026
Move-out Week
Peak travel
25 May – 5 Jun 2026
Halls clear out. Multi-stop runs to EDI with luggage are bread-and-butter for us this fortnight.

Graduation ceremonies

Summer Graduation22–26 Jun 2026
Winter Graduation26–28 Nov 2025

Academic year

2026 / 27

Orientation Week (Freshers' Week)
Peak travel
5–12 Sept 2026
Martinmas Semester · Teaching
14 Sept – 11 Dec 2026
Reading Week
19–23 Oct 2026
Raisin Weekend
Peak travel
1–2 Nov 2026
Martinmas Examinations
30 Nov – 11 Dec 2026
Winter Break
12 Dec – 24 Jan 2027
Candlemas Semester · Teaching
25 Jan – 7 May 2027

Graduation ceremonies

Winter Graduation25–27 Nov 2026
Summer Graduation21–25 Jun 2027

Source: University of St Andrews Senate semester dates, published at st-andrews.ac.uk/semester-dates. Dates verified annually each summer.

03 — The seven days we plan around

Our busiest days of the academic year, ranked.

Eighteen years of dispatch data, simplified. Pre-book on these days or expect to share. The intensity bar is relative to the year's quietest week (a wet Tuesday in mid-February).

01
Freshers' arrival weekend
First weekend of September
Edinburgh Airport to halls. Hundreds of trips across two days. Book by mid-July.
100%
02
Winter break departures
12–14 December
International students fly home en masse. Arguably our single busiest 72 hours.
96%
03
Move-out week
Late May / early June
Halls close. Multi-stop runs with overweight luggage. Pre-book or you will not get one.
92%
04
Graduation week
Late June
Family arrivals in late June, departures the day after the ceremony. Black-tie kit collection runs all week.
88%
05
Reading week starts
Friday before, mid-October & early March
Outbound surge in the early hours of Friday morning.
78%
06
Spring break
Last week of March
Three full weeks of low-volume town life either side of the rush.
80%
07
Raisin Monday
First Monday of November
Inbound parent visits the weekend before. Many stay over to watch the foam fight.
70%

Students in red gowns processing along the St Andrews pier

04 — Traditions worth seeing

Six hundred years has its rituals.

If you are visiting your son or daughter, time the trip around one of these. They are the moments that make St Andrews feel like nowhere else.

Every Sunday morning during term

The Pier Walk

Students in their red undergraduate gowns process from St Salvator's Chapel along the harbour pier and back. A 200-year-old tradition. Walk it once and you understand the town.

Driver's tip

Best viewed from the East Sands footpath at around 11:45 am. We can drop and collect.

First weekend of November

Raisin Weekend

Older students (academic 'parents') host their first-year 'children' for two days of dressing up, foam fights, and a Latin-named receipt. The Quad on Raisin Monday is the most photographed scene of the academic year.

Driver's tip

Book a Sunday-evening pickup from Edinburgh well in advance — half the parents in the country are in town.

Throughout term

Academic Families & Gowns

First years inherit older 'academic parents' who guide them through their first year. The red Bejant gown is worn at formal occasions and on the pier walk. Postgraduates wear black.

Driver's tip

If you see a wave of red walking down North Street on a Sunday, you know what time it is.

1 May, before sunrise

May Dip

Hundreds of students run into the freezing North Sea at dawn on the first of May. Said to absolve a year of academic sins. Genuinely, it does happen.

Driver's tip

Pickups at 04:30 from EDI are not unheard of from parents who want to watch.

Mid-April Saturday

Kate Kennedy Procession

A historic costumed parade through the medieval streets, dating back to 1849, celebrating the town's history. Hundreds of students dress as historical figures.

Driver's tip

Town centre roads close. Schedule airport runs early or after 5 pm.

Open daily during term

St Salvator's Chapel

The 1450 chapel that anchors the Quad. Sunday choral evensong is genuinely beautiful — and free. The acoustics inside are extraordinary.

Driver's tip

We always recommend it to first-time visitors. Five minutes from any halls of residence.

05 — The halls, all of them

Every hall of residence, with a driver's note.

We have driven to every single one of these — at midnight, in snow, with twelve trunks. These notes are the practical sort you only learn after a few hundred trips.

North Street · town centre

St Salvator's Hall

Park on College Street. Two minutes to the Quad.

Queen's Terrace · town centre

St Regulus Hall

Drop on Queen's Gardens. Tight street — keep doors clear.

Kennedy Gardens · west of town

University Hall

Long driveway. Use the upper turning circle.

Abbotsford Crescent

McIntosh Hall (Chattan)

Easy access. Five-minute walk to West Sands.

North Haugh · west

Andrew Melville Hall

Modernist Stirling building. Park outside the gable end.

The Scores · clifftop

John Burnet Hall

Beautiful view, narrow road. Avoid drop-offs at peak times.

Buchanan Gardens

David Russell Apartments (DRA)

Largest hall complex. Use the central courtyard.

North Haugh · west

Agnes Blackadder Hall

Closest to the science buildings. Easy bus stop pickup.

Buchanan Gardens

Whitehorn Hall

Postgraduate. Adjacent to DRA.

North Haugh

Powell Hall

Newest residence. Modern drop-off bay.

East Sands

Albany Park

Closest to the Old Course. Self-catered.

North Haugh

Fife Park

Self-catered cottages. Good for early-morning pickups.

Foam-covered students celebrate Raisin Monday in St Salvator's Quad

A driver's view

"The first time you see Raisin Monday, you understand the place differently. Five hundred students in fancy dress, foam in their hair, parents trying to take photos through it all. It looks like joy."

Gordon

Co-founder · 18 Novembers in

We have collected parents from Edinburgh on the Friday of Raisin Weekend more times than we can count. They always come back the same way: quieter, smiling, a little bit stunned.

06 — Built for student life

The specific things we are good at.

Not airport runs in general. The runs that students and their families actually need. Six examples, from eighteen years of doing it.

Family arrival package

Multi-stop run from Edinburgh Airport: drop the trunk at halls, drop the family at their hotel, drop you back to halls for orientation evening. One booking, three drops.

End-of-term storage run

Pick up six suitcases, drop at the storage unit, take you to the airport. Common in May.

Parent visit weekend

Edinburgh Airport collection on the Friday, return on the Sunday. Same driver both ways. Book once.

Graduation chauffeur day

Hotel to ceremony to lunch to harbour photos to dinner. Driver waits, doors open, no parking stress.

Late-night essay-handed-in pickup

12:01 am collections from the library after deadline submissions are part of student life. We stay up.

Sports tour & match days

Hockey, rowing, rugby — university clubs travelling to fixtures. Eight-seat Mercedes V-Class.

07 — When to book, when to relax

A year in St Andrews, at a glance.

Month	What happens	Booking advice
September	Freshers' Week, Martinmas begins	Book by mid-July for the first weekend.
October	Term in full swing, Reading Week mid-month	Friday of Reading Week is busy.
November	Raisin Weekend, Winter Graduation	Pre-book for Raisin Sunday & Monday.
December	Exams, then mass departures	12–14 Dec is the year's biggest outbound surge.
January	Candlemas begins	Heavy inbound 25–27 Jan as students return.
February	Quiet term-time month	Easy. Book the day before is fine.
March	Reading Week, Spring Break	Friday-evening exodus, late-March outbound peak.
April	Term resumes, Kate Kennedy parade	Town centre roads close mid-April Saturday.
May	Exams, May Dip, move-out begins	Late May is heavy. Book a week ahead.
June	Move-out weeks, Summer Graduation	Graduation week is fully booked. Two weeks notice.
July	Tourist season, Open Championship years	Plenty of capacity. Easy.
August	Quiet, building up to Freshers'	Late August inbound starts to climb.

Whatever week of the term you are flying in for — we have done it before.

Tell us your flight, your child's hall, the date. We will know the traffic, the reading-week shuffle, the move-out chaos. Eighteen years of doing it for other parents.

Get a quote Parent accounts The St Andrews Index

Six hundred years of learning, eighteen of getting them home.

You cannot understand St Andrews without understanding the University.

Two years of term dates, in one place.

Orientation Week (Freshers' Week)

Martinmas Semester · Teaching

Reading Week (no teaching)

Raisin Weekend

Martinmas Examinations

Winter Break — students leave

Candlemas Semester · Teaching

Reading Week (no teaching)

Spring Break

Candlemas Examinations

Move-out Week

Orientation Week (Freshers' Week)

Martinmas Semester · Teaching

Reading Week

Raisin Weekend

Martinmas Examinations

Winter Break

Candlemas Semester · Teaching

Our busiest days of the academic year, ranked.

Six hundred years has its rituals.

The Pier Walk

Raisin Weekend

Academic Families & Gowns

May Dip

Kate Kennedy Procession

St Salvator's Chapel

Every hall of residence, with a driver's note.

St Salvator's Hall

St Regulus Hall

University Hall

McIntosh Hall (Chattan)

Andrew Melville Hall

John Burnet Hall

David Russell Apartments (DRA)

Agnes Blackadder Hall

Whitehorn Hall

Powell Hall

Albany Park

Fife Park

The specific things we are good at.

Family arrival package

End-of-term storage run

Parent visit weekend

Graduation chauffeur day

Late-night essay-handed-in pickup

Sports tour & match days

A year in St Andrews, at a glance.

Whatever week of the term you are flying in for — we have done it before.

Where to eat in St Andrews

10 things to do in St Andrews

The St Andrews Index