I am recently back from walking our Speyside Whisky Trail which is a 5 day, 4 night trip taking in sections of the Speyside Way with the chance to visit lots of fantastic distilleries. Although this region is best known for the whisky and as the title suggests you will get the option to visit a lot of wonderful distilleries there is more to the area and I wanted to talk about some of my highlights:

Whisky

There are a number of world famous whisky distilleries in the region, including well-known ones that you literally pass on the route. The larger distilleries such as Glenlivet and Glenfiddich do not require any pre-booking however most others do so please keep this in mind if you plan on visiting any other distilleries. Without a doubt Glenfiddich was my favourite, we opted for the hour and a half tour taking us through the making process, the history of the company and ending with 4 lovely samples!

The walking

The Speyside Way follows the old railway tracks and with this you pass lots of old, disused and slightly eerie stations. Some have toilets and have adapted to food stops however most are just closed and left as they were. As the name suggests the route is also right next to the River Spey which is famous for salmon fishing and takes you through a variety of varied terrain from forest tracks to farmland meaning that every section offers something different!

Pubs / Inns

The Highland Inn in Craigellachie is one of the most well-known whisky bars in the region. They stock over 400 different whiskies so you can see why they are well known and so popular. Also centrally located and offer great hearty meals so ideal for after your long days walk.

Scenery

The great thing about this trip is you are taking in sections of the Speyside Way but you also get to walk both the Dufftown Spur and Tomintoul Spur, this gives you very varied walking over the heather moorland – with stunning views when you reach the top of the Cairn Daimh summit on the Tomintoul Spur.

Ballindalloch Castle

Well worth a visit! It was extremely interesting learning about the current family, touring the house and reading in to the history and links with the Royal family. Entry is £10 however this also gets you a hot drink in the castle café!

Steam Train

We opted to take the Strathspey steam train from Boat of Garten to Aviemore where we collected the car. The journey is only 15 minutes however takes in some stunning scenery and was the ideal way to finish our trip.

If you are interested in this trip please contact myself or the team on info@macsadventure.com or browse the Speyside Whisky Trail on our website.