Glenmore – Reindeer, a Mountain Play Park and a Sandy Beach
A day.
The route
Glenmore, under the Cairngorms, keeps plenty for small children along one short road.
There are reindeer from Britain's only free-ranging herd, a play park and a wildlife hide at the foot of Cairn Gorm, and a long beach of pink sand on Loch Morlich. Nothing on the day asks for more than a short walk, so it suits toddlers and their older brothers and sisters alike.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
Book Cairngorm Reindeer Centre
Book Paddocks and Exhibition tickets on the Centre's online calendar, which opens 30 days ahead.
The day
Glenmore and Cairn Gorm
A gentle day that climbs the ski road from Glenmore village to the foot of Cairn Gorm and comes back down to the sand for the afternoon. No drive between the places is longer than a quarter of an hour, and lunch is at the foot of the mountain.
A day
Cairngorm Reindeer Centre
An attraction
The Cairngorm Reindeer Centre is in Glenmore village, on the ski road just past Loch Morlich: stay on that road from Aviemore, as sat-navs can go astray. Its small car park is across the road from the door, and parking in Glenmore is paid. From the Easter holidays to the end of the Christmas holidays, a few of the herd come down from the hill to the paddocks for a few days at a time, and a boardwalk takes you close to them. The new exhibition tells their story, and there's a little quiz for children, so bring a pencil. The reindeer are hands-off, so there's no patting or feeding. The paddocks open at 10am, and tickets are £5.77 for children aged 3 to 16 and £6.83 for adults, with under-3s free. Dogs wait in the shop, where they're welcome. There are public toilets by the bus stop, about 200 m away.
11 min by car
Cairngorm Mountain
An attraction
It's 11 minutes' drive up the ski road to the Coire Cas car park. Parking is £3.50 for up to eight hours, paid by QR code or at the machine outside the Base Station before you leave. At the foot of Cairn Gorm, the Mountain Garden is planted with the plants of the mountain around it. Wildlife comes to the feeding tables at its hide, where a dark room holds a camera obscura that shows a live, all-round view of the surrounding landscape. On its top terrace stands a red phone box, the highest working one in the UK. The Adventure Play Park has a gentle snowflake slide for ages 2 to 8, a big jumping pillow, a climbing frame with two zip lines, and wooden ball runs through the garden that come with a quiz. It's open daily from 9.30am to 4.30pm, from spring to the end of autumn, weather permitting. A child's pass is £5.50, and grown-ups who supervise go in free. Bring waterproofs and a change of clothes; the toilets are in the Day Lodge.
Cairngorm Café
Lunch
Lunch is in the Cairngorm Café, on level 2 of the Day Lodge. Sit by the wood-burning stove, or out on the terrace if the day is fine. Until the snowsports season starts the menu is short, with rolls, soups, sandwiches and pizzas, and children's dishes too. The café opens every day but Christmas Day, and from September its hours are 9.30am to 4.30pm, with hot food until 3.30pm. Dogs are welcome, levels 1 and 2 of the Day Lodge are accessible by wheelchair, and the accessible toilets are in the Base Station, through the lower doors to the left of the Day Lodge.
10 min by car
Loch Morlich
An attraction
It's a 10-minute drive back down the ski road, past Glenmore village, to the Beach car park at the east end of Loch Morlich, signed for Loch Morlich Watersports. The council charges from 8am to 10pm: £2 for an hour, £3 for up to three hours and £5 for the day. Loch Morlich is said to have the highest beach in Britain, a long curve of coarse pink sand ground down from the granite of the Cairngorms, with pines behind it and the hills across the water. Bring buckets and spades. For a wander when small legs are ready, the easy Beach Trail, 2.4 km and about an hour, runs through the pine, birch and alder woods by the sands, mostly on wide, smooth gravel. The water is cold and open, so keep children close at the edge. The car park's toilets are open from April to October, and the ones in Glenmore village all year.
If it rains
In rain, give the reindeer exhibition longer, sit out the worst in the Cairngorm Café by its wood-burning stove, and keep the beach to a short look from the car park.
On the way
- The Pine Knoll Trail at Hayfield
Hayfield's car park is just below the snow gates, about half a mile above Glenmore village. From it the waymarked Pine Knoll Trail, 2.2 km and about three-quarters of an hour, goes under old pines where wood ants build their nests, and dragonflies hatch in its pools in summer. The path is firm gravel and earth, mostly flat, with one short flight of steps, and parking there is paid.
Allt Mor Café, a café in Glenmore.
Photographs by Vicky Dunbar, Cairngorm Cafe and Gabriel G via Google
Maps from OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles, data © OpenStreetMap contributors; heights from Mapzen's terrain tiles.