Accommodation Around
Cairngorms

The UK’s largest National Park, the Cairngorms, is home to astounding landscapes and a rich Scottish cultural heritage. Five of the UK's six highest mountains, with fifty-five ‘munros’ (mountains over 3,000 feet), are found amongst a wild and beautiful landscape of granite and heather, hosting rare alpine tundra vegetation and high-altitude bird species, such as snow bunting, ptarmigan and dotterel. The plateaux also supports Britain's only herd of free-ranging reindeer. As well as mountains, the Cairngorms offers sparkling lochs, roaring rivers, ancient forests, historic castles, skiing, hiking, climbing, mountain biking, fishing, golf courses and wonderful Highland hospitality. The Speyside area is world-famous for its whisky distilleries and Royal Lochnagar, Dalwhinnie, Cairngorm Brewery and Glenlivet have visitor centres. History buffs will enjoy visiting Balmoral Castle, the private holiday home of Queen Elizabeth II, where the grounds, gardens and exhibitions are open from April to July. There are ten castles to visit, also including Braemar and Blair. The National Park is home to three ski resorts: Cairngorm Mountain near Aviemore, Lecht near Tomintoul and Glenshee near Braemar. The Snow Roads is a 90-mile scenic tourist route that travels across the highest public road in Britain and other attractions include the Cairngorm Mountain Railway, Highland Folk Museum, Landmark Forest Adventure Park, Highland Wildlife Park, Loch Garten Osprey Centre, 1719 Ruthven Barracks and Strathspey Steam Railway.