Staying in Ballater

Hi, giardina.claudia,

It depends on when you're there. Heading west, there's Braemar; the Linn o' Dee; Glen Derry/Derry Lodge; Glenshee; the Lairig Ghru, if you're up for adventure; Braemar Castle; and Inverey.

Just south of Ballater is a great hike around Loch Muick.

North of Ballater is Corgarff Castle; the Lecht Road; Tomintoul, gateway to Grantown and Speyside; and Strathdon, famous for the Lonach Gathering.

East of of Ballater are Aboyne and Banchory. Banchory for the Falls of Feugh, and gateway to Cairn o' Mount; Crathes, for Crathes Castle and Gardens, and gateway to Stonehaven and Dunnottar Castle; Alford, for Craigievar Castle; Drum Castle, close to Aberdeen; and Bonnie Aberdeen, the Silver City by the Sea.

Okay, that's a start. Check out the Lonely Planet Guide for more, because according to the RS guide, nothing east of Ballater exists.

Slainte!

Mike (Auchterless)

When I stayed in Ballater, I was exploring Aberdeenshire. So, I was looking for castles to visit and then whatever else appeared. For me, I enjoyed finding the galleries. The two that I really liked were Syllavethy near Alford where I actually my first expensive--by my terms--piece of art. And then there was the Knock Gallery which was up the hill behind Balmoral Castle. I got a couple of prints and some amber jewelry there. I visited several castles and found some stone circles. Google stone circles Aberdeenshire and you'll find lots of places to explore. I had a Penguin archaeology paperback that gave me all the interesting sites in Scotland. I enjoyed my time there and hope you do as well.

There are many, many things which you can do to occupy your time if you stay in Ballater for a few days. You have already been given some ideas, but it would help if you could say what your interests are and then more help could be given. No point suggesting you perhaps pay a visit to the local Royal Lochnagar Distillery if you are not interested in how whisky is made, or you don't like to drink it.

When is your stay planned for? I live locally and can better advise you if I have a date to work with. How many people are you travelling with? Are you one half of a couple, or part of a family group? If you are not a solo traveller, can you tell me what attractions might interest your companion/s?

May I ask if you are staying at the Hilton Grand Vacations at the Craigendarroch in Ballater? If this is the case, then quite apart from any advice for things to do and places to visit which you can find here and elsewhere on the internet, the HGV will also furnish you with a What's On guide for more localised information at the time of your stay.

I have to admit this area is not well served by public transport and you will need to hire a car. So make sure you organise one with an automatic transmission and not one with a manual/stick shift gearbox. There's nothing to tell me in your profile about where in the world you live, so I am thinking maybe it is somewhere where automatic cars are the "norm", which is not the case here in the UK. Most cars are manuals.

As it happens Rick Steves has visited this area and written about it and a couple of years ago stayed in Ballater at a local guest house. I know the proprietors who hosted him and they said he was very nice and communicated well with them when he was running late. So he does know about the Royal Deeside area and some of the attractions it has, but it's always nice to hear about other people who are following him to this part of Scotland.

Please come back with more information and any questions which you may have. The North East of Scotland does have plenty to offer visitors and it's nice to be able to welcome them here.

Queen Victoria described nearby Balmoral Castle and its lands as "My Dear Paradise in the Highlands" and for her it was and for many of those of us who live in the area now, it still is :-)

Thanks to all who have responded. I am quite new with a forum such as this. My husband and I are retired. We reside in Pennsylvania, U.S. This is our first trip to Scotland.
Our interests are many. Though neither of us are scotch drinkers, we enjoy how-to tours. We are open to visiting castles and many historic sights.
My husband enjoys hikes and walks. I like bookstores and galleries. Before we arrive in Ballater we will have been in Oban and Isle of Skye.
Thanks again for your help. Oh, we are staying at the Hilton Grand Vacation property.

If this is your first visit to Scotland then as I have suggested, you will need a car with automatic transmission. It will give the driver one less matter to concern themselves with as you tour around. I have no recommendation as to where to hire a car from, but whatever else you do please do not hire from a company called Green Motion. There are lots and lots of horror stories about them on internet and they are best avoided.

These two pages from the Undiscovered Scotland website may be of interest/help with regards negotiating Scottish roads which once away from the central belt are not straight, flat or wide and as a result it can take longer to get from A to B than you might think

https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usscotfax/travel/driving.html

https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usfeatures/singletrack/index.html

There are lots of places you can visit from Ballater including the Aberdeenshire Castle Trail and Whisky Trail

https://www.visitscotland.com/see-do/attractions/castles/scotland-castle-trail/

www.maltwhiskytrail.com

It is also possible to visit places such as Culloden Battlefield, Clava Cairns and Loch Ness, Glamis Castle, Pitlochry and Blair Athol, the Highland Folk Museum in Newtonmore, the Cairngorm Reindeer Herd and Highland Wildlife Park near Aviemore. You just need to look at a map and plan your days.

The nearest sights to the village are Balmoral Castle, the Royal Lochnagar Distillery, Braemar Castle and the newly opened Duke of Rothesay Highland Games Pavilion in Braemar. I have been told that they will be running a joint scheme to offer reductions to visitors once the visitor season is underway.

www.balmoralcastle.com

https://www.malts.com/en-row/distilleries/royal-lochnagar/

www.braemarcastle.co.uk

www.highlandgamescentre.org

There are lots of good walks in the area and these are good pages from the Walk Highlands website to tell you more

https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/cairngorms/ballater.shtml

https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/cairngorms/braemar.shtml

Ballater is well served for a number of small independent shops including this one which may be of interest

www.deesidebooks.com

I'm still not sure when your visit is going to be and perhaps you will be in the area when a highland games takes place and be interested in attending. The games calendar will give you dates and maybe you will find one which fits in with your itinerary

http://www.shga.co.uk/events.php

I hope this information helps and do feel free to send me a private message if I can assist further.

Hi again, Claudia,

You may be close to where I live. I'm down in Delaware. By "down," I mean geographically speaking, not a reference about having to live in Delaware. :) My wife would beg to differ!

Anyway, I was going to recommend the Aberdeen Art Gallery, but it was under renovation when we were there last summer, so I'm not sure if they are totally closed by now, or if there is limited opening. Perhaps sownack can let us know. The Art Gallery is just across the Denburn bridge from Education, Damnation, and Salvation, and the big bronze statue of Willy Wallace, which is directly across from Damnation.

If you're heading to Craigievar Castle, the excellent Grampian Transport Museum is just up the road in Alford. In addition to the baronial style castles (Braemar, Crathes, Craigievar, Drum, etc.) scattered along Deeside, Fyvie Castle and Haddo House are wonderful examples of ostentation. Both are NTS properties, as is Castle Fraser.

The beach at Aberdeen is one of the longest in Northeast Scotland, and parking is free all along the Promenade. The best ice cream in town can be found at the Inversnecky Cafe (Harry Gordon reference). Try the Scottish Tablet ice cream. However, there are better beaches at Balmedie and especially Newburgh, where you are almost guaranteed to see a huge colony of inquisitive seals.

There are some excellent new and used bookstores in Aberdeen. The best shop for new books is Waterstones, in the Bon Accord Centre. Waterstones is part of a nationwide chain. The best places for used books are Books and Beans (books, coffee, tea, and sandwiches) on Belmont Street; the Oxfam Bookshop, on Back Wynd; and the Mercat Bookshop, on Castle Street, in the Mercat Square. All are within a 10 minute walk of one another. You could spend a whole day just visiting those four; however, many of the charity shops, in addition to Oxfam, have huge selections of used books for sale. I think that sownack already mentioned Deeside Books in Ballater, which would be a good place to start.

If you're passing through Mallaig on your way to or from Skye, there is an excellent used book store in the Seaman's Mission, down near the harbour. The prices are just a wee bit high, but there are lots of unusual and out of print books to be found. Lots of inexpensive mass market books as well.

Hope that provides you with more information that may come in useful.

Slainte!

Mike (Auchterless)