Must See

Cairngorms National Park

The beautiful Cairngorms National Park is Britain’s biggest national park and the perfect place to escape everyday life

Apart from a great variety of Flora and Fauna you can find impressive waterfalls, deep rivers and stunning mountain lochs, as well as the highest sandy beach of the country, on the banks of Loch Morlich. The Cairngorm National park is a wonderful place for people to walk and to practice outdoor exercises.

Wild Nature in the Heart of the Highands

Within the Cairngorms National Park lie many important bird and nature reserves, for example the Cairngorm-Plateau, Britain’s highest plateau. Even long after the snow has melted in the rest of Scotland, here it lasts well into the summer. The weather is rough for most of the year, but still the Cairngorm-Plateau is the habitat for many animals and rare plants. Here you can find snow grouse, snow hares, snow bunting and ring thrushes. There is even a reindeer herd, which was introduced to the area in 1952.

The glens around the Cairngorm-Plateau are covered by the Caledonian Forest, Scotland’s “original” forest, which dates from around 9000 years ago, when the last glaciers in Scotland melted. Here, between the Scot’s Pines, live Capercailzies, Partridge, the Celtic Crossbill and the Crested Tit. Protected by the thick woods, the elusive Scottish Wildcat is also known to exist here.

Whisky and Castles

In the North East of the national park lies the Speyside Malt Whisky Trail, a must for all whisky lovers. There are approximately 50 distillery in Speyside, the most in any region of Scotland. Here you can taste some of the finest Scottish whiskies and learn about how there are made. The most famous ones being Glenfiddich, Glenlivet and Cardhu.

Around 18.000 people live in the Cairngorm region, the biggest towns being Aviemore, Grantown-on-Spey, Kingussie and Newtonmore in the West and Tomintoul, Ballater and Braemar in the East. Braemar is well known for its annual Highland games, which are even watched by the Queen, who likes to stay in Balmoral Castle nearby, her favourite residence.