The annual guide, featuring 72 spots across the UK, names North Berwick in East Lothian as the best place to live in Scotland.
Seven other locations in Scotland, which you can see in our photo gallery below, are included in the comprehensive guide, which crowned Saffron Walden in Essex as the best place to live in the UK.
According to the Sunday Times, East Lothian, which was last year’s overall best place to live in the UK, took top spot in Scotland thanks to its “unbeatable combination of lovely beaches, quality schools, thriving independent businesses, just half an hour’s train ride from Edinburgh”.
The newspaper added that the pretty seaside town is “wrapped in natural beauty and whether it’s yachting, surfing, sea kayaking, paddleboarding or open-water swimming, not to mention golf, you’ll find a club for it in North Berwick”.
The Sunday Times’s expert judges visited all the locations and assessed factors from schools to transport, broadband speeds and mobile signal to culture, as well as access to green spaces and the health of the high street.
Take a look through our photo gallery to see what the Sunday Times considers Scotland’s ‘best places to live’ in 2025.
1. Scotland's 8 'best places to live' - in pictures
Take a look through our gallery to see Scotland's 8 'best places to live' in 2025, according to the Sunday Times. Photo: Pixabay
2. Winner: North Berwick, East Lothian
Last year’s overall best place to live in the UK takes top spot in Scotland thanks to its unbeatable combination of lovely beaches, quality schools and thriving independent businesses, just half an hour’s train ride from Edinburgh. It’s wrapped in natural beauty and whether it’s yachting, surfing, sea kayaking, paddleboarding or open-water swimming, not to mention golf, you’ll find a club for it in North Berwick. Cultural attractions include Fringe by the Sea, North Berwick’s laid-back alternative to the Edinburgh Fringe, every August. Photo: Third Party
3. East Neuk, Fife
For decades, holidaymakers have come out to the Neuk’s string of historic fishing villages to admire charming old crow-stepped gabled houses, dip their feet in the sea, scoff world-famous fish suppers and dream of never going home. Now more than ever, that’s a viable life choice for many, thanks to the remote-working revolution. Many former second homes are becoming first homes and an improving food and drink scene is putting the East Neuk on the map these days almost as firmly as its award-winning beaches. Photo: Visit Scotland/Kenny Lam
4. Cullen, Moray
This postcard-pretty fishing village on the northeast coast is chock full of small business owners who have set up by themselves to fill the gaps in the market that come from living a long way from the nearest city. Life is centred on the water. Stand-up paddleboarding, sailing, surfing and fishing are big hits here, but there’s plenty going on in the village too. The community centre offers dog training classes, art and knitting clubs, and Latin lessons. There are also community lunches, a men’s shed, and a tennis and bowling club. Photo: Third Party