Places to eat
Newtonmore (~5 min)
A small, intimate restaurant in the heart of Newtonmore, run by a husband-and-wife team with only around 20 covers: the kind of place where every table is the good one. Excellent food from local produce, and the venison is a highlight. Plenty of our guests have eaten here and come back with nothing but praise. It books up fast in summer and on weekends all year, so call ahead rather than chance walking in. Easy parking on the street. Directions: https://maps.app.goo.gl/opxnBtfMDNuvHENHA Guide anchor: #letterbox
The local pub of choice if you fancy a proper bar with food rather than a restaurant with drinks. There's a restaurant and two bars (the Lounge Bar and the Public Bar), with real ale, a relaxed crowd and the kind of low-key Highland hotel atmosphere where nobody minds muddy boots. The food is locally sourced and leans pub-classic rather than ambitious, which is exactly what you want after a long walk. Plenty of our guests have eaten here and gone away happy. Directions: https://maps.app.goo.gl/ddRVbJ2zPsSuDomc6 Guide anchor: #glen-hotel
Don't be put off by the outside. It's an unassuming place that won't win any architecture awards, but the food is simple and good and the prices are honest. It does a hearty breakfast and is popular with truckers passing through on the A9, which is usually a good sign for a roadside eatery. Easy parking. Worth knowing about for a no-nonsense feed when you don't want to dress up. Directions: https://maps.app.goo.gl/Z2r8qarhnUCCjHaq8 Guide anchor: #newtonmore-grill
Laggan (~15 min west)
An award-winning family café and gallery in Laggan, fifteen minutes west of us, with a farm shop stocked with local produce. Very popular, and rightly so: excellent coffee, homemade cakes and a proper lunch, with a log burner in the corner for the colder months. Daytime only, and the hours change with the season, so check their Facebook page before driving over. The perfect stop on the way to or from Craig Meagaidh. Directions: https://maps.app.goo.gl/CowHDDsYHThr1m2q9 Guide anchor: #coffee-bothy
On the way to Craig Meagaidh
Dalwhinnie (~15 min south)
A small, well-run café at the foot of the Dalwhinnie hills that has quietly become one of our favourite local stops. Good for coffee, cakes or a proper lunch, and most of what's on the plate is sourced locally. Daytime only, so plan around it. Pair it with Dalwhinnie Distillery for a wee day out heading south. Directions: https://maps.app.goo.gl/riqKB8g9nVc1pPWR8 Guide anchor: #apiary
Pair with Dalwhinnie Distillery
Kincraig (~15 min north)
Photo: Kincraig Art Cafe (kincraigartcafe.com)
A really nice place for lunch in Kincraig, about fifteen minutes north of us up the A9, well regarded by locals and very popular in summer, so go early or be ready for a short wait. It's the Old Post Office Café & Gallery: freshly prepared lunches, daily specials, cakes and good coffee, with local art and gifts on the gallery side, and it pairs well with a morning at the Highland Wildlife Park or a wander along Loch Insh.
Aviemore (~20 min north)
Our favourite for a special meal out and worth the drive. The food is excellent and the room hums with atmosphere, with roaring fires and a full house most evenings. It's known locally for its live music. The calendar varies, so check their website for upcoming acts. It gets very busy in summer and on bank-holiday weekends, so call ahead rather than chance it. About twenty minutes north in Aviemore, easy off the A9. Directions: https://maps.app.goo.gl/TpPFXhiYpvqUxjqa8 Guide anchor: #old-bridge-inn
Local walks
Two start from the door — no car needed. After that we ask one question at breakfast: west or east? Everything below is under half an hour away.
From the door
About half an hour on foot from the property — no car needed. Head back up the track to the farm, turn right along the road, and after about 100 metres you'll see an enormous boulder with a sign for the geographical centre of Scotland on it. Turn up the forest track at the boulder; the viewpoint is on your right. Sunrise and sunset are both worth setting an alarm or a glass of wine for, and on a clear evening you can pick out the line of the Cairngorms running east. Bring decent shoes and a layer — even in summer — and if you go at dusk, a torch for the way back down.
A wee low-level loop from the door, ideal for an early-morning stretch before breakfast. Take the middle track (the one between our entrance and the neighbours' driveway) and follow it down towards the river. Ignore the gate sign warning about cows: there haven't been any here for years. Do close every gate behind you anyway, though. Habit's a useful thing in this part of the world. When you reach the river, go right: the path follows the bank and loops you back. Early on you'll often see deer down at the water and hares in the bracken before the sun is properly up. Guide anchor: #river-spey-circular
Heading west
Lunch on the way: The Coffee Bothy, Laggan.
The walk in to Coire Àrdair is our usual pick for guests with a full day and the legs for it. It's moderate going, roughly four hours there and back, and finishes under cliffs that climbers have been arguing about for a century. The reserve's main car park is signposted from the A86, a couple of minutes past Aberarder. The path is wide and well graded through the woodland and out across the meadows. The last stretch up to the lochan gets boggier, so bring boots rather than trail runners. Watch the woodland for red deer on the way in and the cliffs above for golden eagles. The Coffee Bothy in Laggan is on the drive home, just right for a late lunch. Directions: https://maps.app.goo.gl/KukZDshZXZmo9bdx7 Guide anchor: #craig-meagaidh
Lunch on the way The Coffee Bothy, Laggan
Heading east
Loch Morlich, The Green Loch and Meall a' Bhuachaille all share the Glenmore Visitor Centre car park — easy to combine in a day.
A low-level loop of about three and a half miles around a loch with a ruined 13th-century castle on an island, almost entirely under Caledonian pine and easy underfoot in any weather. The path stays close to the water nearly the whole way, and red squirrels are common enough that you'll likely spot one if you slow down and look up. The car park belongs to Rothiemurchus Estate, so there's a small charge. The loch is one of the better local spots for wild swimming (clean, deep and properly cold), and on a still day the castle makes a striking backdrop. It's been voted one of the best short walks in Scotland, and for once the accolade holds up. Directions: https://maps.app.goo.gl/ozFVWegt5GZXe9mM7 Guide anchor: #loch-an-eilein
A circuit around a loch with a sandy beach: Caledonian pine forest on one side, watersports on the other, and water cold enough to clear your head in any season. The path is flat and good underfoot, about an hour and a half with stops. In high summer it gets busy. By 11 on a hot weekend the beach end is packed, so come early or aim for late afternoon and stay for the light. Wild swimming is popular at the east end, where the sand is. There's a café at the Glenmore Visitor Centre by the car park for a coffee before or a sit-down after. Directions: https://maps.app.goo.gl/wVjX29jo95zkTDEr9 Guide anchor: #loch-morlich
A short, low-level loop through ancient Scots pine around four hidden lochans: the kind of walk you can do in trainers and still come back with photographs. It's quiet, which is the whole point. You're ten minutes off the A9 and you'd never know. The easy circuit takes about 40 minutes. If you have an hour, climb the wee crag at the south end for wide views across Strathspey to the eastern Cairngorms. The car park is signed off the B970 and is small and easy to miss. One warning: in still weather between June and September the lochans are a midge factory, so bring repellent and don't dawdle on a windless evening. Directions: https://maps.app.goo.gl/7YW63q8iYzxdikGy6 Guide anchor: #uath-lochans
Two walks for the price of one, both starting from the Glenmore Visitor Centre car park. The easy version follows the track through Caledonian pine forest to An Lochan Uaine, the Green Loch, where the water really is an eerie shade of green. Local legend says the fairies wash their clothes there. The longer version carries on past the loch and Ryvoan bothy, then climbs the steep, grassy flank of Meall a' Bhuachaille to a summit with wide views over the Cairngorm plateau. Allow about an hour and a half for the loch and back, or four hours if you take on the hill. The decision point is clear: when you reach the bothy, either turn back or look up. Directions: https://maps.app.goo.gl/Xa4d4DBK52uieMT5A Guide anchor: #green-loch-meall-a-bhuachaille
Things to do
Fifteen minutes north by car, and one of the most reliable half-days out when the weather can't be trusted. The park has a drive-through reserve, where you stay in the car and watch wolves, bison and red deer at close range, and a walking section with the polar bears and Scottish wildcats. Those two are the animals guests come back talking about most. It's run by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, so welfare is taken seriously. Allow three or four hours. Directions: https://maps.app.goo.gl/wHvwj3baaGE4PUKV8 Guide anchor: #highland-wildlife-park
An open-air living-history museum a few minutes north of us in Newtonmore, covering 300 years of Highland life across a large site of reconstructed buildings, working crofts, a 1700s township and a 1930s farm. The 1700s township, Baile Gean, is where Outlander filmed the Lallybroch scenes, and it's worth seeking out even if you've never seen the show. Entry is free, which is unusual for a site of this size, and you can easily lose half a day here. It's outdoors by design, so save it for a dry day. Guests who visit speak very warmly of it. Directions: https://maps.app.goo.gl/VRJS5dVX6bpUi2M86 Guide anchor: #highland-folk-museum
The closest distillery to us, fifteen minutes south on the A9, and one of the highest in Scotland. The tour is a proper one (tasting, history, the lot) and well regarded by guests who've been. The single malt sits at the lighter, heather-honey end of the Highland range, so it suits people who don't usually drink whisky as well as those who do. Tours run all year but slots fill, especially on a wet summer day, so book ahead. Pair it with coffee at The Apiary just up the road. Directions: https://maps.app.goo.gl/zaq1rJyfGr9S9nyE6 Guide anchor: #dalwhinnie-distillery
Pair with coffee at The Apiary
A small visitor centre in the middle of Newtonmore covering local history, shinty and the Scottish wildcat. It's worth a quick visit on its own, but it really comes into its own as the starting point for the Wildcat Trail, a waymarked loop round the village with painted wildcat statues hidden along the way. Pop in for the information first, then head out the door. Directions: https://maps.app.goo.gl/K5NJvEEhihagvqgw7 Guide anchor: #wildcat-centre
On the Spey, twenty minutes north, and our favourite spot locally for wild swimming. The centre runs hire and lessons for paddleboarding, kayaking, sailing and windsurfing. You can turn up for an hour with the kit or book a half-day session with an instructor. The restaurant overlooks the water and is a fine spot for a coffee or lunch, even if you're not going out on the loch. A good half-day if you fancy a bit of activity without driving far. Directions: https://maps.app.goo.gl/byYnsc4QSwRFxq5E6 Guide anchor: #loch-insh
Practical amenities
The everyday things you might need during a stay — where to get groceries, fuel, a prescription, or a doctor.
Food shop
The closest proper supermarket, five minutes down the road on Main Street. It's not enormous but it's reliable, and surprisingly well stocked for a village shop: fresh food, dairy, bread, wine and the usual basics. Open every day until 10pm, so it's the practical fallback when you're back from a walk and dinner still needs sorting. Parking right outside. Directions: https://maps.app.goo.gl/bLL5tMmopwmuVQY88 Guide anchor: #coop-newtonmore
Fuel
The Esso garage on Perth Road as you come into Newtonmore off the A9, and easily the closest fuel to us. There's a Spar shop for snacks, an ATM, and toilets if a coffee has caught up with you. Directions: https://maps.app.goo.gl/WPWnqcueXKg1pmQS6 Guide anchor: #newtonmore-filling-station
Also good south of us: Dalwhinnie Filling Station
Fifteen minutes south on the A9 in Dalwhinnie, handy if you're heading that way for the distillery or need fuel out of hours. The pumps take cards at pay-at-pump terminals 24 hours a day, which helps for late arrivals. The shop and the small Post Office counter inside are open daytime only. It's one of the higher-altitude filling stations in Scotland, if that ever settles a pub quiz. Directions: https://maps.app.goo.gl/oRjzhkDcK4kk4uvHA Guide anchor: #dalwhinnie-filling-station
Pair with Dalwhinnie Distillery
Pharmacy & medical
The community pharmacy on Main Street in Newtonmore, five minutes down the road. Closed all day Sunday. If you need something out of hours or on a Sunday, call NHS 24 on 111 and they'll point you to whichever pharmacy in the wider area is on call that day. Directions: https://maps.app.goo.gl/eFN9bgfLqnhy3CvH7 Guide anchor: #strathspey-pharmacy
The NHS GP surgery covering Newtonmore as well as Kingussie, on Gynack Road in Kingussie, about ten minutes north of us. Weekdays only. Outside those hours or at the weekend, call NHS 24 on 111. For anything immediately life-threatening, call 999. Directions: https://maps.app.goo.gl/UMnFzqZaTmnRoKpaA Guide anchor: #kingussie-medical-practice
Book ahead
In peak season (July–August) and on bank holidays, places like The Old Bridge Inn and The Letterbox fill up days in advance. Don't just turn up and hope for the best.
The midges
Walking near water or in the woods between June and September? Bring insect repellent. They will find you if you stand still for more than ten seconds.
Weather
Four seasons in one day isn't a cliché here — it's a warning. Always carry a waterproof, even if the sun is out when you leave. The A9 has average speed cameras, so plan your time.
All distances and times are approximate and by car unless stated.