Tayport lies close to the northeast tip of Fife. It looks north across the River Tay to Broughty Ferry and Broughty Castle. To the east is the vast Tentsmuir Nature Reserve - a huge area of forested dunes edged by wide sands that continue round to the mouth of the River Eden.
The opening of the Tay Road Bridge in 1966 placed Tayport within a few minutes' drive of central Dundee, and it has since evolved into a pleasant dormitory village for that city. The harbour is now mainly given over to leisure craft, and new housing has been built where railway carriages were once loaded onto ferries.