Aviemore and around

While Aviemore is best known as a winter resort, it has a number of excellent summer activities, from gentle walking to canyoning.

Skiing

Scottish skiing on a commercial level first really took off in Aviemore. By continental European and North American standards it’s on a tiny scale, but occasionally snow, sun and lack of crowds coincide and you can have a great day. February and March are usually the best times, but there’s a chance of decent snow at any time between mid-November and April. Lots of places – not just in Aviemore itself – sell or rent equipment.

The Cairngorm Ski Area, nine miles southeast of Aviemore, above Loch Morlich in Glenmore Forest Park, is well served in winter by buses from Aviemore. Facilities include a ski school and a separate terrain park for skiers and boarders. If there’s lots of snow, the area around Loch Morlich and into the Rothiemurchus Estate provides enjoyable cross-country skiing through lovely woods, beside rushing burns and even over frozen lochs.

Walking

Walking is a highlight of the Aviemore area, though you should heed the usual safety guidelines. These are particularly important if you want to climb to the high tops, which include a number of Scotland’s loftiest peaks. There are some lovely and well-signposted low-level walks in the area, too. It takes an hour or so to complete the gentle circular walk around pretty Loch an Eilean (with its ruined castle) in the Rothiemurchus Estate, beginning at the end of the back road that turns east off the B970 a mile south of Inverdruie. The helpful estate visitor centres at the lochside and at Inverdruie provide more information on the many woodland trails that crisscross this area.

Another good shortish (half-day) walk leads along a well-surfaced forestry track from Glenmore Lodge up towards the Ryvoan Pass, taking in An Lochan Uaine, known as the “Green Loch” because of its amazing colours that range from turquoise to slate grey depending on the weather. The Glenmore Forest Park Visitor Centre by the road at the turn-off to the lodge has information on other trails in this section of the forest.

A pleasant day-trip involves walking along the Speyside Way from Aviemore to Boat of Garten, on to the RSPB osprey sanctuary at Loch Garten, and then returning on the Strathspey Steam Railway.

Mountain biking

The area around Aviemore is great for mountain biking. Both Rothiemurchus and Glenmore estates provide waymarked routes; the Rothiemurchus Visitor Centre at Inverdruie has maps.

Watersports

Full On Adventure

Whitewater rafting trips on the Findhorn River.

G2 Outdoor

Guided kayaking and canyoning.

Loch Insh Watersports Centre

Sailing, windsurfing and canoeing in beautiful surroundings; rental and tuition available.

Loch Morlich Watersports Centre

Sailing, windsurfing and canoeing in a lovely setting with a sandy beach. Rental and tuition available.

The Moray Firth, a great wedge-shaped bay forming the eastern coastline of the Highlands, is one of only three areas of UK waters that support a resident population of dolphins. More than a hundred of these beautiful, intelligent marine mammals live in the estuary, the most northerly breeding-ground in Europe for this particular species – the bottle-nosed dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) – and you stand a good chance of spotting a few, either from the shore or a boat.

One of the best places in Scotland, if not in Europe, to look for them is Chanonry Point, on the Black Isle – a spit of sand protruding into a narrow, deep channel, where converging currents bring fish close to the surface, and thus the dolphins close to shore; a rising tide is the most likely time to see them. Kessock Bridge, a mile north of Inverness, is another prime dolphin-spotting location. You can go all the way down to the beach at the small village of North Kessock, underneath the road bridge or stop above the village in a car park just off the A9 at the Dolphin and Seal Visitor Centre and listening post, run by the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS), where hydrophones allow you to eavesdrop on the clicks and whistles of underwater conversations.

Several companies run dolphin-spotting boat trips around the Moray Firth. However, researchers claim that the increased traffic is causing the dolphins unnecessary stress, particularly during the all-important breeding period when passing vessels are thought to force calves underwater for uncomfortably long periods, so if you decide to go on a cruise to see the dolphins – and perhaps minke whales, porpoises, seals and otters – make sure the operator is a member of the Dolphin Space Programme’s accreditation scheme. Trips are very popular, so book well in advance.

The Cairngorms National Park covers some 1500 square miles and incorporates the Cairngorms massif, the UK’s largest mountainscape and only sizeable plateau over 2500ft. While Aviemore and the surrounding area is the main point of entry, particularly for those planning outdoor activities, it’s also possible to access the eastern side of the park from both Deeside and Donside in Aberdeenshire. There are 52 summits higher than 2953ft in the park, as well as a quarter of Scotland’s native woodland, and a quarter of the UK’s threatened wildlife species. Vegetation ranges from one of the largest tracts of ancient Caledonian pine and birch forest remaining in Scotland, at Rothiemurchus, to subarctic tundra on the high plateau, where alpine flora such as starry saxifrage and the star-shaped pink flowers of moss campion peek out of the pink granite in the few months of summer that the ground is free of snow. Birds of prey you’re most likely to see are the osprey, especially at Loch Garten’s osprey observation centre, or fishing on the lochs around Aviemore.