Highland Perthshire, the Cairngorms and Royal Deeside

Editor's note

One night at Dunkeld, in what Perthshire calls Big Tree Country. At the Hermitage, a path runs through tall Douglas firs along the River Braan to Ossian's Hall and the Black Linn Falls. In the town, find the Parent Larch, planted in 1738, and beside it the cathedral, built from 1260 to 1501 on the site of a monastery founded after Columba's mission. The Battle of Dunkeld was fought round the cathedral in 1689.

Editor's note

Two nights around Pitlochry. At the dam that flooded the valley to make Loch Faskally, watch for salmon on the fish ladder, then walk the loop round the loch, tour the Edradour distillery or see a play at the Festival Theatre. Blair Castle, seat of the Dukes of Atholl, still garrisons the Atholl Highlanders, the only legal private army in Europe, who parade in late May. Walk the Pass of Killiecrankie, where the Jacobites broke a government army on 27 July 1689, to the Soldier's Leap. Climb Schiehallion, 1,083m, which Nevil Maskelyne used in 1774 to estimate the mass of the Earth.

Editor's note

Three nights around Aviemore. Join a hill visit from the Cairngorm Reindeer Centre at Glenmore to the free-ranging herd, brought back to the Cairngorms in 1952, and watch the ospreys at Loch Garten, where two Scandinavian birds nested in 1954 after the species had been wiped out in Britain; the RSPB centre opens from April to the end of August. Walk the 5km trail round Loch an Eilein to its island castle and look for crested tits in the pines. Ride the Strathspey Railway, visit the Highland Wildlife Park at Kincraig, and at Newtonmore step into Baile Gean, the early-18th-century township of the Highland Folk Museum.

Editor's note

One night in Speyside, which holds more malt distilleries than anywhere else in Scotland. Tour Glenfiddich in Dufftown, whose first spirit ran on Christmas Day 1887, and watch coopers repair casks by hand at the Speyside Cooperage in Craigellachie; the signposted Malt Whisky Trail links the rest. At Elgin, climb the west towers of the cathedral, the Lantern of the North, founded in 1224 and attacked in 1390 by the Wolf of Badenoch, and see its octagonal 15th-century chapter house.

Editor's note

One night at Tomintoul, at 345m one of the highest villages in the Scottish Highlands, in a bowl of moorland within the Tomintoul and Glenlivet Cairngorms Dark Sky Park. The long nights from October to March give the darkest skies. Stargaze from the moor above the village, walk the River Avon gorge at dusk, and visit The Glenlivet Distillery, where George Smith first distilled in 1824. On a clear night, drive the A939 Lecht road towards Strathdon, across open moorland with no settlement lights for 15 miles.

Editor's note

Two nights on Royal Deeside. Braemar holds its Gathering on the first Saturday in September, as it has since 1832, with tossing the caber, Highland dancing and the monarch attending as Chieftain. The rest of the year, tour Braemar Castle, run by the community since 2007, and drive up to the Linn of Dee, where the river runs through a rock slot. Balmoral's grounds open from April to July, and since 2024 some of the rooms too; Crathie Kirk and the Royal Lochnagar Distillery are close by. Above Aboyne, walk the Glen Tanar trail through Caledonian pinewood, looking for crossbills, capercaillie and red squirrels.