Plan a trip

Route · Edinburgh · Deeside · Speyside

Estate and pinewood

Suggested 6–8 nights

Enquire about this route

Tailored to your dates. No package price.

Loch Muick in autumn, birches turning gold under low cloud
Loch Muick, Deeside
Edinburgh's Old Town skyline above autumn trees in Princes Street Gardens
Edinburgh
A path through tall Scots pines with flowering heather in the Cairngorms
Cairngorms National Park, near Aviemore
Mist lying in Deeside below autumn birches and pine-covered hills
Near Balmoral, Deeside
The River Earn running slow and dark between tree-lined banks in Perthshire
River Earn, Perthshire

Edinburgh, an exclusive-use estate in Perthshire or Deeside, the Cairngorms and Speyside, and the sleeper south.

The route

About this route.

Edinburgh, then a whole house on a Highland estate, then the pinewoods and the Spey.

Where you’ll travel: The Cairngorms and Speyside · Edinburgh

Nights 1–2

Edinburgh

Two nights in the New Town: a private walk through the Old Town closes, the galleries, and a dinner booked.

Edinburgh's Old Town skyline above autumn trees in Princes Street Gardens
Edinburgh

Nights 3–6

The estate

North to a whole estate house in Perthshire or Deeside. A cook, a ranger for the walks and the wildlife, a ghillie on the river, and a long table every night. Stalking only if you ask.

Loch Muick in autumn, birches turning gold under low cloud
Loch Muick, Deeside

Nights 7–8

The Cairngorms and the Spey

Over to the Spey: the pinewoods of Rothiemurchus, a distillery, and the sleeper south from Aviemore on the last night.

A path through tall Scots pines with flowering heather in the Cairngorms
Cairngorms National Park, near Aviemore

Everything arranged

Every crossing, booked.

Where you stay

  • Edinburgh[PLACEHOLDER] A New Town hotel or a private flat
  • The estate[PLACEHOLDER] An exclusive-use lodge in Deeside or Perthshire, sleeping 8 to 16
  • Speyside[PLACEHOLDER] A small country house near Aviemore

Crossings, in order

Edinburgh Deeside Road
Deeside Speyside Road
Aviemore London Euston Caledonian Sleeper

Routes and operatorsverify pending a specialist check. We never quote timetables or fares; we book them.

Also arranged

  • Exclusive use of the estate house
  • Cook, ranger and ghillie
  • A rod on the river for a day
  • The sleeper south

Experiences on this route

When to go

Months and light.

Daylight on the 15th of each month at Inverness, computed from the latitude. Our favourite months for this route are marked.

Day length is sunrise to sunset. The dusk is long in summer and the north never gets fully dark in June.
MonthSunrise to sunsetDaylight
January08:47 to 16:057 h 18 min
February07:47 to 17:159 h 29 min
March06:33 to 18:1911 h 46 min
April06:08 to 20:2614 h 19 min
May Best04:56 to 21:3116 h 35 min
June Best04:18 to 22:1717 h 59 min
July04:42 to 22:0417 h 23 min
August05:42 to 21:0115 h 19 min
September Best06:47 to 19:3712 h 50 min
October Best07:51 to 18:1510 h 24 min
November08:00 to 16:028 h 02 min
December08:53 to 15:316 h 39 min

The map

The route on the chart.

Dotted lines are ferries and boats; solid lines are causeways and roads; dashed is the sleeper.

Change it in the Crossings

Map of the Estate and pinewood routeEdinburghDeeside estateCairngorms and Speyside
Edinburgh to Deeside; Deeside to Speyside; Aviemore to London Euston. Approximate; not for navigation.

Speak to a specialist

Let’s plan your route.

Tell us your dates and who’s coming. A specialist will reply with questions, then a written proposal for Estate and pinewood, changed to suit you.

How this form sends for now: pressing “Send” opens your own email app with your answers filled in. Nothing reaches us until you send that email. You can also write to us at highlandandisle@tourground.com.

Your trip
Islands you have in mind, the time of year, who is travelling, anything you already know you don’t want.
A month or a season is plenty.
For example: two of us, or a family of nine across three generations.
How to reach you
With the country code.
How should we reply? (optional)
A person reads every enquiry and replies.

Rather start from scratch?

Use the trip planner
Plan a trip