You may not have much freedom of choice when it comes to picking the dates for your holiday. However, if you are retired, or if you have a flexible job, or if you don’t have any kids – you may be able to choose freely. We’ve lived in the Cairngorms for nearly 20 years now. Over the last 20 years, we’ve noticed highlights in every season. We’ve picked a few out for you, which might help you decide when to come and visit.
February is perceived to be the best of all the winter months to come to the Cairngorms. This perception is helped by the fact that the schools have a break in mid-February. Many families utilise this time to go on a ski holiday. In Scotland, February is not always the best time to catch the snow conditions. There is usually skiing available. Some years conditions can be pretty thin in February but March and April have phenomenal snow cover. January & February can also be affected by winter storms bringing winds well in excess of 100 mph. However, when the weather does play ball, you can have the most glorious winter day out with views of over 50 miles in crystal clear air.
If you do plan to visit the area with your family during the half-term weeks in February, we would strongly advise that you prebook your accommodation
If you think it would be advisable to join a guide at this time of year, check out these options:
Classic Winter Cairngorms – a guided winter walking holiday
5 day winter skills course – to improve your own techniques and safety in the hills
It’s definitely still winter in March but the daylight hours have already extended. You don’t have to make an early retreat from your hike, but neither do you have to rise unsociably early. In mid-winter, early rising is necessary to get to the start of your route so that you can finish it before dark.
It’s often a good time to go out for a Snow Hole Expedition as the snow cover will have accumulated significantly at this point, most seasons. We do run other winter expeditions between January and March. These expeditions require a high level of fitness. They are the most strenuous and rewarding of the trips we do.
Trips include: The Cairngorm 4000ers in winter, the Southern Cairngorms Winter Odyssey, Winter Affric Shangri-La, Loch Nevis Winter Expedition, Knoydart Winter Walking. For full details contact us.
Prime time for birdwatchers as you may have seen on BBC Springwatch. This is when the Ospreys return to Loch Garten along with the beginning of the Spring migrations for most of our summer visitors. It’s also your best opportunity to see a Capercaillie or Black Grouse lec. The RSPB open up the Osprey hide at Loch Garten at 5.30am to help keen birdwatchers see the Capercaillie.
April and May can be quite cold months here. It is still common to have snow fall down to village level in April. Fortunately the sun is that bit stronger than mid winter. So when you’re in a sunny spot it will feel pretty warm. It’s a great time to be out in the hills as the air is often clear, the daylight hours are a wee bit longer and the sun can be out for long periods Watch out for the April showers which often fall as snow or sleet rather than rain.
April/Easter often mark the start of the tour season here in the Highlands. Pre-booking for accommodation, especially during the school Easter holidays is highly recommended.
When the weather is right in April, you can get very warm when out hiking in the Cairngorms.
Snow patches remaining on the high hills can mean that sun burn is a serious risk due to the reflection of sunlight on the snow.
The weather can change incredibly in April – you always need to be prepared for any season. It can go from this:
To this within 24 hours:
April is generally when the caravans start to visit the area. The campsites open up again. There are more possibilities to get outdoors without worrying about too much snow everywhere.
We’re going to run our first Outlander Adventure Experience in April. How about it? A chance to get out in the outdoors – try a piece of the experience Clare and Jamie would have lived here in the Highlands.
You’re also more likely to be able to find tourist sites open once April starts. You can visit places like:
– all without travelling more than 1hr from Fraoch Lodge.
This is a fantastic time for the wildflowers and also a good time to spot birds such as eagles and Scottish crossbills. We’ve had families of crossbills visiting the garden in June. It’s not quite such a good time for going to the wildlife hide to spot the nocturnal night life as dusk is so late in the day, if it arrives at all!
Weather can be variable in June. It has been known to snow on the high mountain tops. Some people have skied on Cairngorm on mid-summer’s day – more for publicity than good quality skiing though.
Don’t forget June 21st is mid-summer’s day – in the Highlands, including the Cairngorms, this means the sun hardly sets. June is a great time to get all those Munros with long walk-ins done. Watch our for the June Monsoon though.
We have in the past couple of years had glorious weather in July. We often have a week of clear skies and warm weather with temperatures in the high 20s or low 30s. It is by no means guaranteed. The better weather is usually earlier in the month, before most of the English schools are out for their holidays.
August is a great month to catch the Highland Games but is the busiest for all accommodation businesses across the Highlands. Pre-booking is almost essential at this time of year unless you want to be trawling round the country at 9pm still looking for beds. August can also be very showery with the highest chance of thunderstorms
Bonus: glorious colours of the heather out in full bloom turning the hills purple.
Top tip: Most of our local Highland Games take place between mid- July and mid-August. Check the dates: Abernethy Highland Games (2nd Saturday in August), Newtonmore Highland Games (1st Saturday in August) etc and make sure if your visit coincides with the Games that you pre-book your accommodation.
Some of our most reliable warm, dry weather happens in September. In addition, the end of the Highland Games season can be experienced by attending the Braemar Gathering at the beginning of the month.
Some of the best edible mushrooms start to appear in September. If you’re not familiar with the area, join one of the guided ranger walks with an expert to start to get your eye in. Make sure you follow the mushroom picking code.
Blairgowrie Walking Festival
Cairngorm Adventure Triathlon
Grantown Try Tri
Glenmore 24 Trail Race
Loch Insh Highland Splash-In – first waterplane event to be organised by the model flying club in Scotland, now on the 31st consecutive event.
Check out the colours and light in October. It is the perfect time for a photography extravaganza.
Quieter times and shorter days but with the right weather conditions. It is the perfect time to get those early morning and later evening quality light shots with a touch of winter, if the first of the snow showers have arrived.
Guided walking holidays in the Cairngorms National Park are our speciality. The one which was most popular in 2014 was Complete Cairngorms. It has attracted bookings from France, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Russia … and only goes to show that the National Park designation has its own attraction. Guests from all over the world are choosing to spend their hard earned vacation on a visit to the Cairngorms.
Photo Caption: Exploring the Cairngorms on foot
Photo Credit: Scot Mountain Holidays
This trip is a fully guided hiking vacation in Britain’s largest national park. National Park designation has attracted a lot more visitors over the past 10 years than previously when though the British were, to some degree, award of the Cairngorm mountain range and the Cairngorm Ski Centre; even they had no idea of the extent and breadth of the Park itself.
Photo Caption: Loch A’an – hidden deep in the Cairngorms this is a viewpoint you can only reach on foot.
Photo Credit: Scot Mountain Holidays
The Complete Cairngorms holiday takes place over a full week, but does have a rest day in the middle for clients to put up their weary feet or explore for a bit of retail therapy or souvenir shopping – if you’re lucky the trip might coincide with the summer sales in one of Aviemore’s multitude of hiking gear shops.
Essentially this is a hiking vacation with some culture, folklore and wildlife to enhance the hiking experience. A visit to the Cairngorms National Park would not be complete unless it took in the whole of the park. On this trip guests visit Glenlivet for the whisky and smuggler experience; Royal Deeside to walk on the Balmoral Estate (if the timing is right we may also visit the castle, though in August we may need to go to Braemar Castle instead – home of the largest Cairngorm Stone discovered) August is the Queen’s annual vacation which she spends at Balmoral Castle, so the castle is not open then; and of course we visit Cairngorm mountain itself and the surrounding estates of Glenfeshie & Rothiemurchus, with its wildlife hide, where we hope to see the elusive pine martens.
One of the rate nocturnal pine martens viewed from the Wildlife hide used by BBC Spring Watch programme
Photo caption: Pine Marten at the Speyside Wildlife hide in the Cairngorms
Photo credit: Scot Mountain Holidays
This holiday has attracted visitors from: Germany, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Russia, and Finland which only goes to show how much the National Park designation attracts visitors in its own right.
Further guided walking holidays
Information about Royal Deeside: http://visitroyaldeeside.com/
Official Cairngorms National Park website: http://cairngorms.co.uk/
Visit Cairngorms website: http://visitcairngorms.com
The advantage of the Cairngorms with kids in tow is that the walking opportunities are almost endless at all levels depending on your child’s level of interest and energy. Almost every village in the Park has had a network of paths put in with the support of the National Park to give both locals and vistors extensive opportunties to explore through the woods, across the moorland, around the lochs etc. And if you want to do a wee bit more of an adventure you could try one of the Treasure Trails or try the permanent orienteering course at Glenmore.
There’s as wide a range of walks to do with the kids as you have time for here in the Cairngorms and the majority of the walks are circular so you don’t have to retrace your footprints. Walks vary in length but the majority are aimed at being no more than a half day’s activity so you could also do something else with the rest of the day – visit a castle, see Dolphins, go to Landmark Forest Adventure Park, go for a wild swim or a swim/slide in the swimming pool, try another activity, visit the polar bears and tigers at the Wildlife Park ….. The plethora of opportunities mean that we have trouble understanding why anyone would only want to spend one night with us; but perhaps not everyone is into the scenery and the outdoors.
Treasure Trails have produced a series of mystery/adventure stories where you solve the clues/puzzles along your walking route. The trails are available all over the UK, even in the Cairngorms National Park. We have a stock of the local trails here at Fraoch Lodge so if you want to spice up a local walk instead of just admiring the scenery and seeing what nature you can spot (giant anthills, ripe bilberries, raspberries, mushrooms, red squirrels etc) you can try one of these trails or purchase your own from http://www.treasuretrails.co.uk/scotland-northeast/things-to-do.html There are trails available in Aviemore, Kingussie, Newtonmore, Forres & Grantown on Spey among others – all of which are easily accessible from our base in Boat of Garten.
Loch an Eilean – voted Britain’s most popular picnic spot. The Loch is a very attractive spot with a ruined castle on it. The path around the loch is a forest path. There are rocks and tree roots along the way but then that’s nature. The root is not really suitable for push chairs but can be managed by relatively young children. Full details are available on the link provided.
Craigellachie Nature Reserve – a lovely wee walk for all the family which passes a wee lochan and can be extended up the hill if the enthusiasm is there.
Loch Garten and Loch Mallachie – Just a wee stretch of the legs, but in season the break can be extended to include either a loop through the forest or visit to the RSPB visitor centre (open Apr – Aug) to see the Ospreys.
Farleitter Crag and Uath Lochans – This route must be access by car as there is no public transport down Glen Feshie.
There are several way marked routes in the woods behind Fraoch Lodge and they are all marked out. You can even see the Capercaillie statue made from wood with the help of the pupils at the school. We also have a woodland ranger who leads walks and produces a blog for the village (on the website). The walks have a minimal charge associated with them but are extremely informative. Examples of the routes are: The Salmon trail – or the Red Squirrel trail.
Further details:
Walks around Boat of Garten woods – no transport required as these can all be accessed from our front door
Information about the Boat of Garten area
The Speyside Way (sections)
1. Boat of Garten to Aviemore – This is a lovely section of the Speyside Way which if done from Boat to Aviemore means you’re facing the Cairngorm Mountains the whole way and if you’re lucky the steam train will puff past you as you walk. The route comes into Aviemore past the Spey Valley Golf Course and Cairngorm Brewery before getting close to the centre of Aviemore.
2. Boat of Garten to Nethybridge (or extend to Grantown on Spey) – the main problem with extending the walk through to Grantown on Spey is the number of gates you have to go through along the way – but you never know that could turn it into more of an adventure for the kids. There are also several fixed information points through Balliefurth Farm explaining a little more about the countryside and the bonus is that you’ll come down to Grantown past Spey Valley Smokehouse where you can view the workers producing packs of smoked salmon to be distributed across the country.
Anagach Woods in Grantown on Spey – http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/cairngorms/anagach-woods.shtml
Glenmore to Aviemore – can be accessed by bus. Ask for details while staying at Fraoch Lodge.
Ord Ban – http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/sub2000/ord-ban
Carn Eilrig – see Andy for route description and full details. May be for older kids or for a bike/hike combination.
Meall a’Bhucaille – http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/cairngorms/meallabhuachaille.shtml
Cairngorm – from the ski car park to the summit. Children from age 5 or 6 can probably manage this walk on a fine day. The bonus is that they or all of you can summit your/their first munro without actually climbing up 3000ft.
This is by no means a comprehensive list. A great many other options are available. Andy will be very happy to discuss with you as many options as you wish when you come to stay. He’ll then be able to tailor all his suggestions to your experience, ambitions and weather.
For some other options which you may like to read about before you visit, you could always try the Walk Highlands website. We have worked closely with Helen and Paul Webster who run the site. They too are experts on the walking opportunties in this area as they live in Grantown on Spey.
Scot Mountain Holidays (Ltd),
Fraoch Lodge, Deshar Road,
Boat of Garten,
PH24 3BN
All content © Copyright Scot Mountain Holidays 2024
Responsive web design by Summit Web Solutions
