Tour Glenfiddich in Dufftown, whose first spirit ran on Christmas Day 1887 after William Grant founded the distillery

Watch the coopers at work at the Speyside Cooperage in Craigellachie

Follow the Malt Whisky Trail, which links seven working Speyside distilleries, the Dallas Dhu museum and the Speyside Cooperage

Speyside holds more malt distilleries than anywhere else in Scotland. Glenfiddich in Dufftown ran its first spirit on Christmas Day 1887, the Speyside Cooperage at Craigellachie still repairs casks by hand in front of visitors, and the Malt Whisky Trail links seven of its working distilleries, the Dallas Dhu museum and the cooperage.

Speyside Whisky Trail

Speyside

Seven nights from the Fife coast to Easter Ross, following whisky from its first written record in 1494 to Speyside, by way of the Highland Line and one of Scotland's highest distilleries.

Scotch: From the 1494 Record to Speyside

Ten nights from Dunkeld to Stonehaven: Big Tree Country and Blair Castle in Highland Perthshire, reindeer and ospreys around Aviemore, the Speyside whisky trail and Tomintoul's dark skies, then Braemar and Balmoral on Royal Deeside.

Highland Perthshire, the Cairngorms and Royal Deeside

Visit the Scottish Dolphin Centre at Spey Bay, run by Whale and Dolphin Conservation, and watch for the Moray Firth's resident bottlenose dolphins, a population of about 190

Look for harbour porpoises and minke whales on the same coast

Walk the shingle spit at the mouth of the Spey

At Spey Bay, where the Spey meets the Moray Firth across a shingle spit, the Scottish Dolphin Centre is run by Whale and Dolphin Conservation in an old salmon fishing station. The firth holds a resident population of bottlenose dolphins, and porpoises and minke whales pass along the same coast.

Spey Bay: The Dolphin Centre at the Mouth of the Spey

Stand under the 13th-century west towers of Elgin Cathedral, 27.4 metres high

See the octagonal chapter house of the 15th century

Walk Elgin's medieval street plan from the cathedral to the church of St Giles

Elgin Cathedral, the Lantern of the North, was founded in 1224 on land granted by Alexander II and became the seat of the bishops of Moray. It burned in 1270 and was attacked again in 1390 by Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan, the Wolf of Badenoch; even ruined, much of the 13th-century west front and the 15th-century chapter house still stand.

Elgin: The Lantern of the North

Stargaze from the Tomintoul Field of Hope, one of the park's three dark sky discovery sites

Drive out to Blairfindy Moor or the Carrachs in the Braes of Glenlivet for the other two

Visit The Glenlivet distillery at Minmore, grown from the farm distillery George Smith licensed in 1824

Walk the grid of streets the Duke of Gordon laid out in 1775

Tomintoul was laid out on a grid by the 4th Duke of Gordon in 1775, and at 345 metres it is billed as the highest village in the Highlands, though Wanlockhead in Dumfries and Galloway, at 466 metres, is the highest in Scotland. It stands by the River Avon inside the Cairngorms National Park, and the country round it is the Glenlivet Estate, 58,000 acres of the Crown Estate. Tomintoul and Glenlivet became the first International Dark Sky Park in the Scottish Highlands in November 2018, with three discovery sites for stargazing — the Tomintoul Field of Hope, the Carrachs in the Braes of Glenlivet and Blairfindy Moor — each with a car park and boards telling you what to look for. The glen was known for illicit whisky until the Excise Act of 1823; the next year George Smith started a licensed distillery on his farm at Upper Drumin, the first in the Livet valley; it moved down the hill to Minmore in 1859 and grew into The Glenlivet, fourteen kilometres from the village.

Tomintoul and Glenlivet: The Highlands' First Dark Sky Park

Tour Duff House and its picture collection

Walk the Duff House grounds along the Deveron

Cross the bridge to Macduff and its working harbour

William Adam designed Duff House for William Duff, Lord Braco, and work on it began in 1735 and stopped in 1741 with the interior unfinished — a baroque block so expensive that owner and architect ended in a five-year court case, and Lord Braco never slept a night in it. The Dukes of Fife gave it to Banff in 1906, and it now holds a gallery of the National Galleries of Scotland. The Georgian town of Banff and the fishing village of Macduff stand on either side of the Deveron mouth.

Banff and Duff House: William Adam on the Deveron

Climb the great wheel stair Alexander Seton added in the early 1600s

Pick out the five towers and work out whose is whose

See the portrait collection in the gallery

Fyvie grew from a 13th-century castle into a great Scottish baronial front of five towers, each added by one of the five families that held it in turn — Preston, Meldrum, Seton, Gordon and Leith. Inside are the great wheel stair Alexander Seton added in the early 1600s and a collection of portraits including Raeburns; outside, a loch and parkland.

Fyvie: Five Towers and Five Families

Tour Craigievar Castle, the seven-storey pink tower finished in 1626 by the merchant William Forbes, 'Danzig Willy', with its Nine Worthies plasterwork ceilings and no electric room lighting; it is reputed to be the inspiration for Walt Disney's castle

See the plaster ceiling of the great hall

Walk the woodland paths and the kitchen garden below the tower

Craigievar was finished in 1626 for the Aberdeen merchant William Forbes — seven storeys of pink-harled stone rising to a crown of turrets and corbelling, with the plaster ceilings of the great hall still as they were made. It stands in its own woods, with a kitchen garden and woodland walks below.

Craigievar: The Pink Tower of Aberdeenshire

Visit Balmoral Castle, which Prince Albert bought in 1852 and rebuilt in granite between 1853 and 1856 to designs by William Smith of Aberdeen; book a guided tour of the rooms if you come on one of the autumn tour dates

Tour the Royal Lochnagar Distillery at Crathie, near Balmoral

Visit Crathie Kirk, the church the royal family attends when at Balmoral

Prince Albert bought Balmoral in 1852 and rebuilt it in granite between 1853 and 1856 to designs by William Smith of Aberdeen. The grounds open to visitors in spring and early summer and again in autumn, and since 2024 small guided groups have been able to tour some of the rooms on set autumn dates. Across the Dee, Crathie Kirk is where the royal family worships when at Balmoral, as every monarch has since Queen Victoria began coming in 1848; she laid the foundation stone of the present church in 1893. The Royal Lochnagar Distillery is a short walk away.

Balmoral and Crathie: Royal Deeside

Walk the 5km trail around Loch an Eilein, 5km south of Aviemore, to the 14th-century island castle linked with Alexander Stewart, the Wolf of Badenoch, which Dame Grizel Mor Grant defended against retreating Jacobites in 1690

Ride the preserved Strathspey Railway from Aviemore

Visit the Highland Wildlife Park near Kincraig

Look for crested tits and red-throated divers around the loch, in a national park that holds more than half of Scotland's surviving Caledonian forest

Five kilometres south of Aviemore, a trail of about 5km goes round Loch an Eilein, whose island castle is linked with Alexander Stewart, the Wolf of Badenoch; Dame Grizel Mor Grant held it against retreating Jacobites in 1690. Crested tits live in the pines around it, in a national park holding more than half of Scotland's surviving Caledonian forest. From Aviemore the Strathspey Railway runs preserved trains, and the Highland Wildlife Park is at Kincraig.