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Driving from Skye to Aberdeen—looking for stopover ideas

Posted by (🌲🌲🌲) on

At the end of my trip, I will be driving from Skye to Aberdeen, where I will spend two nights before flying home. I'm trying to decide what to do with the first night. I already have both nights booked in Aberdeen, but could easily change that to one.

One thought was that instead of driving straight through, it would be nice to stop along the way and spend the night someplace, and then make my way to Aberdeen for that final night before I leave. If I do that, I would love some suggestions about a place or area to visit and spend the night.

Right now, Google has me routed mostly along the coast, going through Nairn and Elgin and then heading southeast down the A96 towards Aberdeen. But I've been to Elgin and Nairn and have driven along the coastline stopping to see the Bullers of Buchan, Slains Castle, and other places along there.

I loved it all and would certainly not mind doing that again, but I just wondered if I might be better off changing my route and driving more through the center, possibly going through the Cairngorms and maybe even stopping for the night in some place where there's a distillery.

Any ideas?

Posted by
1713 posts

I'm less familiar with this part of Scotland, but my first thought was to stop somewhere with a distillery! You'd be going right through the Speyside region so maybe choose your favourite Speyside whisky and see if the route makes sense. I have driven around the Cairngorms once, in the age before smartphones, and we got lost very easily. But I'm sure you won't have that issue, and it's a beautiful area.

Posted by
2663 posts

Mardee, here's a couple ideas around Aberlour, home of Walker's Shortbread.

The Speyside Cooperage has a wonderful tour (and whisky tasting) of the barrel making process. Combine that with a tour and tasting at one of the nearby distilleries. They'll send you on your way with a driver's kit of whisky for sampling back at your room.

I think you'd also like
The Knockandoo Woolmill. It's about 15 minutes drive from the Cooperage.

Posted by
3175 posts

There is Dallas Ddu distillery near Forres. This closed in 1983 and was taken over by Historic Scotland. as it was a wonderful example of a preserved C19th distillery. (As it is no longer working, you could visit areas that are normally out of bounds.) They do guided tours, but we wandered round under our own steam. Apparently it is "currently undergoing an exciting revival under the management of Aceo Distillers Company, who are actively working to reintroduce traditional, sustainable whisky production to the historic site..."

On the A95 midway beteeen between Grantown on Spey and Craigellachie is Ballindalloch Castle and Gardens This doesn't get much mention in the guide books or tourist literature but is a superb C16th baronial castle and has been the family home of the Macpherson-Grants for nearly 500 years. It has a lovely family atmosphere and you may well meet 'herself' in the house. The gardens are equally as good , especailly the walled garden.

Quite close is Inveravon Church which has examples of Pictish carved stones.

Knockando Woolmill is only a short distance beyond Inveravon Church and combined with Ballindallock would make an interesting and very different day.

Posted by
13069 posts

Cat, I really like the idea of a distillery and of course, would want to make sure I was staying there (or close) so I could actually try their products, lol! I know that there's a Glenfiddich distillery there, and ironically, a friend of mine is gifting me a bottle of that. Her partner bought it and only had a couple of drinks, but sadly, his cancer just got worse, and he's not allowed to drink anymore. He asled her to give it to me, which was really nice of him. Maybe I could get him some kind of souvenir there. Thanks!

Thanks for the links, Nick, I will check them out.

Jeanm, those all sound really nice; thank you! I love the idea of getting a driver's kit and that wool mill is right up my alley—as is Walker's Shortbread! 😂

wasleys, thanks for the information on the preserved 19th-century distillery. That sounds wonderful and I will have a membership to Historic Scotland by the time I go. And the castle and garden sounds fantastic as does Inveravon Church. You know how I like small historic churches! 😊 Jean mentioned the wool mill above, and that's great that it's so close to the church and near Ballindalloch Castle and Gardens.

It sounds to me like this all was meant to be!

Posted by
13069 posts

Thanks for all the info from everyone! I have a few more questions.

I'll be coming from Dunvegan on Skye, so it's going to take me probably 4.5 to 5 hours to get there, maybe more, depending on how traffic in Skye is. And when I leave on Wednesday for Aberdeen, I don't have to leave until mid- to late afternoon, as I'm heading to the airport hotel in Aberdeen, and it looks like that's only about and hour to an hour and a half away.

Also Glenfiddich tours are only Wednesday through Saturday, so I would definitely have to leave that for Wednesday. I'm just trying to figure out the timing of everything and how many places I would be able to see, given that I really only have a little over 24 hours.

So keeping in mind that I want to see at least one distillery and maybe more, where would be a good place to spend the night?

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