The picturesque houses surrounding the Harbour are of traditional Fife design with red pantile roofs with crow-step gables and many have been restored by The National Trust for Scotland.

Like St Ives in Cornwall and Provincetown in Cape Cod, Pittenweem has a reputation as a centre of art excellence and the town and surrounding areas are now home to many artists.

One of the pivotal events supporting this growth is the annual Pittenweem Arts Festival held during the first full week of August each year. Residents of Pittenweem open up their houses as exhibition spaces and here you will see work by local artists and many visiting galleries.

Places of interest include Kellie House which contains magnificent plaster ceilings, painted panelling and furniture designed by Sir Robert Lorimer.

A few steps up from the Harbour you can find the cave which legend tells us was inhabited by Saint Fillan. Saint Fillan had set himself the task of recording the scriptures prior to a day of Holy note. In the darkness of the cave, his task was looking impossible until he was visited by a vision of Christ and thereafter a luminous glow from his arm enabled him to work day and night to complete his task. The high street of Pittenweem is home to a thriving range of local businesses along with art galleries, antique shops and tearooms.

Pittenweem is famed for its fish and 'Fresh Fish from Pittenweem' is a byword for quality and freshness.

Today, Pittenweem is a shellfish port and the main landing port and market in the East Neuk. The target species are Norway lobster, Dublin Bay prawn, lobster and crab and more recently surf clams.