Walk from the Glen Tanar Visitor Centre, south-west of Aboyne, up the glen through the Caledonian pinewood

Look for Scottish crossbill, capercaillie and red squirrel in the pine forest

See the thatched Chapel of St Lesmo, built in 1872 by the estate's founder

Glen Tanar runs south from Deeside above Aboyne into Caledonian pinewood, home to Scottish crossbills, capercaillie and red squirrels. Trails lead up through the old pines from the visitor centre at the end of the public road, and the Chapel of St Lesmo, built in 1872, stands on the estate.

Glen Tanar: Caledonian Pinewood Above Aboyne

Braemar and Deeside

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

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

Watch the Braemar Gathering, held since 1832, on the first Saturday in September in the Princess Royal and Duke of Fife Memorial Park

See the heavy events — including tossing the caber — and the light events and Highland dancing

Tour Braemar Castle, run by the community since 2007

Drive up Deeside to the Linn of Dee and walk the river gorge

Braemar has held its Gathering since 1832, now on the first Saturday in September in the Princess Royal and Duke of Fife Memorial Park, its home since the Duke of Fife gave the land in 1906; since Queen Victoria's time the reigning monarch has been its patron and Chieftain. The rest of the year the village keeps its castle on the road north and the road west up Deeside to the Linn of Dee, where the river runs through a rock slot.

Braemar: The Castle, the Linn of Dee and the Gathering

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

Drive the A93 over the summit of the Cairnwell Pass

Ride the Cairnwell chairlift in summer, or walk up from the Glenshee Ski Centre

Find the Devil's Elbow on the old road a mile south of the summit

Look for the snow gates that close the pass in winter

The A93 crosses the Cairnwell Pass at 670m between Glen Shee and Braemar, the highest main road in the United Kingdom, with snow gates at Braemar, at the summit and at the Spittal of Glenshee. Scotland's largest and oldest ski centre sits on the summit, and a mile south the old road still shows the Devil's Elbow, a notorious double hairpin on the 1749 military road, since bypassed by the modern A93.

The Cairnwell Pass: The Highest Main Road in Britain

Walk the cliff path to the viewpoint over Dunnottar Castle at sunrise or sunset, and go inside during opening hours; the Honours of Scotland were hidden here in 1651–52 from Cromwell's army

Watch the Stonehaven Fireballs at midnight on Hogmanay, when about 40 local swingers parade the High Street

Walk the harbour and eat ice cream at Aunty Betty's in Stonehaven

Dunnottar Castle stands on a rock joined to the cliffs south of Stonehaven, and in 1651–52 the Honours of Scotland were hidden here from Cromwell's army. In the town, at midnight on Hogmanay, around 40 local fireball swingers march along the High Street whirling homemade balls of blazing material round their heads on chains, then throw them into the harbour — a tradition reported since at least 1911.

Stonehaven: Dunnottar Castle and the Hogmanay Fireballs

Visit V&A Dundee, Scotland's first design museum, on the waterfront, opened in 2018

Board RRS Discovery, the ship built in Dundee in 1901 for Captain Scott's Antarctic expedition, at Discovery Point

Tour the McManus Art Gallery and Museum, the Victorian Gothic landmark in the city centre

Dundee built RRS Discovery in 1901 for Captain Scott's first Antarctic expedition, and she is back on the waterfront at Discovery Point. Beside her, V&A Dundee opened in 2018 as Scotland's first design museum, and in the city centre the McManus is a Victorian Gothic art gallery and museum.

Dundee: V&A and the RRS Discovery

Go round the 27 carved stones in the Meigle Sculptured Stone Museum

Find the Pictish symbols among the Christian crosses on the stones

Walk into the churchyard next door, where most of the stones were found

Find out how the stones survived the fire at the old church

The Meigle Sculptured Stone Museum, in the village school of 1844, holds 27 carved Pictish stones, all found close by, most of them in the churchyard next door or built into the old church; after the church burned, William Galloway rescued them. So many fine stones in one place suggest there was an important church or monastery here, and a record puts Thana, son of Dudabrach, probably a monastic scribe, at Meigle in the 9th century.