At first sight, DUNDEE can seem a grim place. In the nineteenth century it was Britain's main processor of jute, the world's most important vegetable fibre after cotton, which earned the city the tag "Juteopolis". The decline of manufacturing wasn't kind to Dundee, but regeneration is very much the buzz-word today, with some commentators drawing comparisons to Glasgow's reinvention of itself as a city of culture in the 1980s and 1990s. Less apparent is the city's international reputation as a centre of biotechnology and cancer research, a theme soon to be given a notable monument in the construction of a cancer care centre, the first public commission in the UK of Frank O. Gehry, the world-famous US architect responsible for Bilbao's Guggenheim.

The major sight is Captain Scott's Antarctic explorer ship, RRS Discovery . Verdant Works is a recreated jute mill which has picked up tourism awards for its take on the city's distinctive industrial heritage. You should also try to spend some time at the upbeat DCA (Dundee Contemporary Arts), the totemic building of the developing cultural quarter around which most of the city's lively artistic and social life revolves. Four miles east of the city centre lies the seaside settlement of Broughty Ferry , now engulfed as a reluctant suburb. Comprising an eclectic mix of big villas built by jute barons up the hillside and small fishermen's cottages along the shoreline, "The Ferry", as it's known, has experienced a recent resurgence in popularity, and is a pleasant and relaxing spot with some good restaurants and pubs.

Even prior to its Victorian heyday, Dundee was a town of considerable importance. It was here in 1309 that Robert the Bruce was proclaimed the lawful King of Scots, and during the Reformation it earned itself a reputation for tolerance, sheltering leading figures such as John Knox . After destruction by the Jacobite Viscount Dundee, the city picked itself up in the 1800s, its train and harbour links making it a major centre for shipbuilding, whaling and the manufacture of jute . This, along with jam and journalism - the three Js which famously defined the city - has all but disappeared, with only local publishing giant D.C. Thomson, publisher of the timelessly popular Beano and Dandy comics, as well as a spread of other comics and newspapers, still playing a meaningful role in the city.