Experience the best of Aviemore

Aviemore lies in Strathspey, in the Cairngorms National Park, the largest national park in Britain. It grew up as a railway town and is now the main base for walking, skiing and wildlife in the Cairngorms. A heritage steam railway runs from the town, and nearby Loch Morlich has a sandy beach and a forest of Scots pine around it.

The Rothiemurchus forest, a remnant of the ancient Caledonian pinewood, shelters red squirrels, capercaillie and crested tits, and the ruined castle on Loch an Eilein is a favourite walk. Ospreys nest at Loch Garten each summer. The high Cairngorm plateau, with Ben Macdui, the second-highest mountain in Britain, is a rare arctic landscape.

Highland menus offer venison, game, smoked salmon and cullen skink, a fish soup, and the whisky distilleries of Speyside lie to the north. Snow often covers the high ground from winter into spring, and the heather turns the hills purple in August. Autumn brings deep colours to the birch woods.