Walkies on Geal-charn Mor, Cairngorms National Park, Scotland (Duncan Andison/Shutterstock)
Looking for some Great British adventure inspiration? You're in the right place. Here you'll get an independent, ad-free lowdown on Britain's top 50 adventure locations - the online yin to the paper yang of our Joyously Busy Great British Adventure Map.
Why Go To The Cairngorms?
Don't be Cairngormless! Get some Cairngorms in your life. Just some of many things you can do in the Cairngorms that you can't do anywhere else...
Experience Britain's biggest national park and highest upland plateau, home to 4 of Britain's 5 highest mountains
Get some proper winter adventures under your belt - skiing, snowboarding, ski touring, climbing, husky sledding...
In fact, get some great adventures all year round - hiking, biking, watersports on Loch Morlich...
Go on a road trip on Britain's highest bit of tarmac, the spectacular Snow Roads
Want to find out more? Read on for great photos, articles, videos, top tips and other content to fire up your adventure appetite. Got a question? Ask away.
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A dramatic mountain landscape, Britain’s largest national park contains 4 of its 5 highest peaks and its biggest native forests. Skiing, snowboarding and ski touring country in winter / spring (when it’s good it’s great) and hiking, biking and wildlife-liking the rest of the time. Highlights include the Rothiemurchas Forest, Loch An Eilein, Royal Deeside, walking to Sgor Gaoithe / Sgoran Dubh Mor or through the Lairig Ghru, canoeing down the Spey in full flow or the beach and watersports at Loch Morlich. Highest point: Ben Macdhui at 1309m (watch out for the Big Grey Man).
The Snow Roads, near the ski resort of Lecht, Cairngorms, Scotland (Milosz Maslanka/Shutterstock)
There several essential journeys in the Cairngorms, many hiking, road cycling, mountain biking, ski touring routes... so to pick just a couple with universal appeal: a classic Cairngorms hike is the Lairig Ghru, and one of the best drives is the Snow Roads.
Find some more good walks in the Cairngorms from this Guardian article.
Distilled is an excellent film with Andy Cave ice / winter climbing on Ben Nevis and in the Cairngorms (subscription service but the first month is free).
More aerial than a terrace of suburban roofs.
Sgòr Gaoith, in the western Cairngorms, accessed from Glen Feshie...
Getting To The Cairngorms, Maps & Guides
Getting there: Couldn't be simpler. Drive from Inverness (0.5 hr), which you can fly to from most British airports or get the excellent (but pricey) Caledonian Sleeper if you're coming from down south.
Travel times from where you are: See the Cairngorms on Google Maps.
Maps: Find the right Ordnance Survey maps and / or get a month's free subscription to their excellent OS Maps app.
Guidebooks: The Rough Guide to the Highlands and Islands.
Walking route guidance: WalkingHighlands.
Tourist board: Visit Cairngorms or Visit Scotland.
Even More Cairngorms Adventure Inspiration
Loch Morlich, in the Cairngorms, Scotland (Sara Winter/Shutterstock)
Read about mountain biking in the Cairngorms in Sidetracked. For a longer read and to properly get to know the Cairngorms, The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd is a classic of the genre.
The Ordnance Survey's GetOutside blog has a good introduction to the Cairngorms, and this article from the Telegraph offers the insider's view on the national park's best bits.
Tidy official tourism video wth plenty of drone action and some wildly dramatic touches...
What Next?
Click here to see 49 other Great British adventure locations and tell us about your adventures, plans and suggestions for these pages.
Britain's Best Outdoorsy Bits... Mapped!
Liking what you see, but fancy keeping it old school with an actual paper map? Our Joyously Busy Great British Adventure Map features all of Britain's best outdoorsy bits (including the Top 50), plus some enjoyably random and vaguely useful stuff too. Available either as a 2-sided fold-out map or a framed wall map (office furniture and fake plants not included).
