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Question about travel time/stops from Inverness to St Andrew's

Posted by on

Hi there
I have received so much help in shaping our family trip coming up in 10 days to Scotland. With the advice of many of you, we have decided to take the Snow Road and drive through the Cairngorms from Inverness to St. Andrews. I have read that there are a few charming towns on the way. My question is, if we leave by 8am (on Tuesday June 20th) and want to at least stop along the way for a coffee/pastry/snack and then again for lunch, how long can fairly expect this drive to take? I am paranoid after reading so much on here that the time will be so much longer than I think and wondering if we can plan anything in St Andrews that afternoon/evening.

My second question is which stop(s) would you make along this way?

Thanks so much again in advance!
Dabney

Posted by
4166 posts

It is about four hours without stops, but there are a few worthwhile stops on the way . Go down stopping in Grantown on Spey , Tomintoul , and Braemar . There are more worthwhile places on the way , but it hinges on your overall time frame The stretch from Grantown down to Braemar is quite striking , mostly dramatic , rugged moorland . I'm returning in late Autumn , and will repeat this route as well Also , if you have the time , and interest ,a stop in Dundee to see The RRS Discovery will be well worthwhile https://www.rrsdiscovery.co.uk/

Posted by
3124 posts

We drove the faster route down the A9, so not really comparable to the Snow Road, but anyway ... we left our B&B in Nairn (about 20 minutes east of Inverness) around 9:30 AM, stopped in Aviemore for about half an hour, then continued south until we turned off the A9 at Dunkeld onto local country roads. We stopped at the tourist office in Blairgowrie to confirm our intended route to Glamis Castle, then proceeded to the castle, arriving around 1:30 PM. We had lunch, toured the castle, and got back on the road around 4:30 PM just in time for Dundee rush hour traffic (which wasn't bad). We arrived in St. Andrews around 6:00 IIRC.

A memorable sight as we drove into St. Andrews was a helicopter landing right across from the Old Course Hotel, disgorging a group of tourists all wearing matching jackets and carrying matching overnight bags.

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