Dumfries Travel and Tourism Guide

Dumfries is the principal town in South West (Scotland). A more traditional administrative status is principal town of Dumfriesshire, but this changed in 1974. Further back, it was two towns, Dumfries and Maxwelltown; this changed in 1929 for administrative purposes, although the name is still sometimes used to describe the area west of the River Nith. Maxwelltown was not part of Dumfriesshire, so the two towns were then quite separate. In 1997, the town was deemed "best place to live in Britain", an accolade still sometimes used in describing the town by idiots.

Dumfries's main claim to fame is as the last residence of the Scottish national poet Robert Burns, and there are various sites around the town ranging including a museum in his house, his grave, the nearby Brow Well that he drank from whilst ill, Ellisland Farm, where he worked for some time, and a few sites noted for having been frequented by him. Other attractions include the (free, but seasonal) Bridge House Museum and the Camera Obscura museum, which features various historical artefacts as well as the chance to view the surrounding area using that instrument.