Royal Lochnagar – A Distillery Tour and Lunch in Ballater
A few hours.
The route
Royal Lochnagar is a small granite distillery on the south side of the Dee, a mile from Balmoral Castle, named after the mountain Lochnagar.
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert came in 1848, the year of its first royal warrant. A guided tour round the distillery comes with a tasting, and lunch is back down the valley in Ballater.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
Book Royal Lochnagar Distillery
Book a Royal Lochnagar Distillery tour on the distillery's website.
Ring the Balmoral Arms on 01339 755413 for lunch in the Ghillies Bar.
The day
Deeside
A tour and a tasting at Royal Lochnagar, then lunch in the Ghillies Bar in the middle of Ballater.
Royal Lochnagar Distillery
An attraction
Follow the signs off the B976 to the distillery's car park, with the visitor centre, once a farm steading, straight ahead. The Expressions Tour takes an hour, past the mill and the two small stills, with a tutored tasting of four Royal Lochnagar single malts. Book it ahead on the distillery's website. Children under eight can't join a tour. The visitor centre, shop and bar are step-free; some areas of the distillery have steps.
16 min by car
Balmoral Arms
Lunch
Ballater is 16 minutes' drive back down the Dee, with a free car park two minutes' walk from the Balmoral Arms. Lunch is in the Ghillies Bar: hearty cooking from Cairngorms produce and local ales, and the bar has a fire and over 30 Scottish malts and gins. The inn has level access, and dogs have a dining area of their own in the bar. Ring 01339 755413 before you go.
If it rains
Both stops are under a roof, with a short walk from each car park.
Photograph by Royal Lochnagar Distillery via Google