Royal Deeside by bus: Crathes, Cambus o' May and Braemar
Two days by bus and on foot, from Aberdeen Union Square bus station and back.
The route
Royal Deeside needs no car.
Stagecoach's 201 runs the length of the valley on the North Deeside Road, from Union Square in Aberdeen to Braemar in the hills, and every place on this trip is a walk from one of its stops. The first day gets off at Crathes, for the Burnetts' tower house and its walled garden, then rides on through Banchory and Aboyne to Cambus o' May, where a white suspension bridge of 1905 hangs over the Dee. From there the old railway line, now the Deeside Way, walks you into Ballater for the night. The second day takes the bus on up the river, past Crathie and Balmoral, to Braemar, for the village and the Fife Arms, lunch by the Clunie Water and Braemar Castle, where the bus home stops by the gate.
Before you go
Book a bed near Ballater
Day one ends on foot at the old station in Ballater, and day two's bus to Braemar leaves from Victoria Road, so sleep in the village itself, within a walk of the square.
The nearest of ours is Darroch Learg in Ballater.
Day one
Crathes
A day up the valley by bus and on foot. It starts at Crathes, with the castle and its garden a mile up the drive, then rides west to Cambus o' May for the suspension bridge and walks the old railway line into Ballater for the night. Set off from Union Square at about 9.15am.
Crathes Castle
An attraction
It's a 45-minute ride on the 201 from Union Square to the stop called Crathes Castle, then 22 minutes' walk. The stop is at Milton of Crathes, a mile from the door: go through the courtyard, under the A93 by a short underpass and up the drive. The Burnetts finished their tower house in 1596, on land Robert the Bruce granted them in 1323. Look for the painted ceilings and the Horn of Leys, and the walled garden's yew hedges, planted as early as 1702. Café 1702 does lunch.
25 min on foot
Cambus o’ May Suspension Bridge
An attraction
Take the 2pm 201 west from the same stop, a 53-minute ride through Banchory, Kincardine O'Neil, Aboyne and Dinnet to the Cambus O'May Forest Walk Centre stop, then 25 minutes' walk. The bus passes the bridge before it stops, so get off here, on the river side, and walk 1.8 km back east on the Deeside Way, the old railway. The white suspension footbridge of 1905 was badly damaged by Storm Frank in 2015 and reopened in 2021.
1 hr 30 min on foot
Ballater
Ballater is 90 minutes' walk on along the Deeside Way: back past the stop, then west on the old line, level gravel beside the road at first, then through birch and heather with glimpses of the hills. Near Tullich the path crosses the A93, a fast road with no marked crossing, so take care. It ends at the old royal station on Station Square, rebuilt after a fire in 2015. Ballater grew as a spa from about 1770, and the railway ended here from 1866 to 1966.
If it rains
Crathes is the wet-weather half of the day: the castle's rooms, the shop and Café 1702 are all under a roof, so take longer over them. In heavy rain leave the walk to the bridge for another day and ride the 201 on to Ballater instead, about an hour from Crathes, for the village's shops and galleries around the green. The Deeside Way is gravel and drains well, but it has no shelter between Cambus o' May and Ballater.
Where to eat
Fish Shop Restaurant, a restaurant in Ballater.
Balmoral Arms, a restaurant in Ballater.
Day two
Braemar
A morning ride up the Dee into the hills, past Crathie and the Balmoral estate, to Braemar. The village comes first, with the Fife Arms and lunch by the Clunie Water, then the walk out to Braemar Castle, where the bus home to Aberdeen stops. Leave Ballater just before 9am.
33 min by bus
Braemar
An attraction
It's a 33-minute ride on the 201 from Victoria Road in Ballater, up the Dee past Crathie and the Balmoral estate, to the stop opposite the Post Office in the middle of Braemar. The village grew as two, Castleton and Auchendryne, either side of the Clunie Water, and the Earl of Mar raised the Jacobite standard here in 1715. The Fife Arms, owned by Iwan and Manuela Wirth of the Hauser & Wirth gallery, holds more than 16,000 artworks and antiques; its pub, the Flying Stag, is open to all.
1 min on foot
The Bothy Braemar
A café
The Bothy, a 1-minute walk away, is a wood-lined café with big windows and seats outside over the Clunie Water. It opens every day from 8.30am for breakfast rolls, toasties, ciabattas and home baking, with gluten-free cakes kept apart, and dogs are welcome inside and out. Have lunch here before the castle, which has no café of its own.
15 min on foot
Braemar Castle
An attraction
Braemar Castle is 15 minutes' walk towards Ballater on the pavement beside the A93; cross with care at the entrance. The Earl of Mar built it in 1628. The Black Colonel of Inverey burned it in 1689 to keep government troops out, and it stood a ruin until 1748, when a Hanoverian garrison moved in until 1831. The village runs it now. The bus home stops by the castle car park, on the castle's side of the road: about 2 hours 20 minutes to Union Square.
If it rains
Braemar Castle is indoors, up its spiral stair, and the Bothy and the Fife Arms' pub are warm places to sit out a shower. On a wet morning, add the Highland Games Centre in the Duke of Rothesay Highland Games Pavilion, 5 minutes' walk from the Post Office stop, at the games park: the story of the Braemar Gathering and its heavies, usually open Wednesday to Sunday.
Worth a detour
- Creag Choinnich
Braemar's own hill, 538 metres, fills an hour or two of a spare morning. The path starts in the village by St Margaret's Church, opposite the car park, a few minutes' walk from the Post Office stop across the Clunie. It's 2.5 km there and back, short but steep, with some steps and rocky near the top; the Park Authority says to allow one to two hours. From the cairn the village lies below and the Dee winds away east.
