The Braemar Gathering weekend
Three days, based in Braemar.
The route
The Braemar Gathering weekend is three days in one Highland village: Friday to settle in, Saturday at the Games, Sunday for a walk and the road home.
Book a bed in Braemar before anything else, as much as a year ahead, because beds in the village go early for Gathering weekend. Then buy the Gathering ticket when sales open on 1 February 2027. One ticket covers the whole day. On the Saturday, if you're staying in Braemar, leave the car where you're staying all day and walk to the park. Staying elsewhere, come up the A93 from Ballater and park in the free Gathering car park just past Braemar Castle, then walk in; coming over Glenshee, there are Gathering car parks off the Glenshee Road.
Before you go
Book it before anything else, as much as a year ahead, for the Friday and Saturday nights: beds go early for Gathering weekend.
Allow 28 days for tickets to be posted; groups of 8 or more book by email.
Book a table when you book the bed, as the village's dining rooms fill on Gathering weekend.
Book the Gathering ceilidh at Mar Lodge
Mar Lodge is about four miles west of the village by road, and there's a bar all night, so arrange a lift or book a taxi there and back.
Book it with Friday's: after the Games every table in the village is wanted.
Day one
Friday: into Braemar
Arrive in Braemar by early afternoon, over Glenshee from the south or up Deeside from Aberdeen. Friday is on foot, for Braemar Castle and a steep climb up Creag Choinnich to look down on the village. The evening is for folk music in the Flying Stag at the Fife Arms, or the Gathering ceilidh at Mar Lodge.
Braemar Castle
An attraction
It's about a 16-minute walk east out of the village to Braemar Castle (3 minutes by car). Friday is the day to see it, as it shut on Gathering day in 2026. The Earl of Mar built the tower in 1628, and John Farquharson of Inverey, the Black Colonel, burned it in 1689. After the Jacobite risings it held a garrison of redcoats, who cut their names into the window shutters. The village has run it since 2007. It's open 10am to 5pm, with last entry at 4.30pm, and adults pay £16.
17 min on foot
Creag Choinnich
Walk 17 minutes back into the village to St Margaret's Church, opposite the village car park, where the path up Creag Choinnich leaves the A93 by the lane just left of it. It's short but very steep, 2.5 kilometres there and back with some steps, and rocky near the top at 538 metres; the Park Authority says to allow one to two hours. From the cairn Braemar lies below, the Dee winds away east towards Lochnagar, and on a clear day the granite tors stand up on Ben Avon.
If it rains
Braemar Castle is all under a roof, so give it longer. Creag Choinnich is steep and rocky near the top, and in low cloud there's no view from it. In a downpour drive 14 minutes west to the Linn of Dee instead: the river is at its best when it's high, and the gorge can be seen from the bridge in any weather.
Worth a detour
- Linn of Dee
Instead of Creag Choinnich, 14 minutes' drive west up the Dee: the whole river squeezes through a narrow rock gorge under the bridge Queen Victoria opened in 1857. The National Trust for Scotland's car park is £5, with toilets from Easter to October.
Day two
Saturday: the Gathering
Saturday 4 September 2027 is the Games and nothing else, one day in one field: walk to the park from where you're staying for the gates at 8.45am, or park just past Braemar Castle and walk in. When it ends, have a pint at the Fife Arms' Flying Stag or the Invercauld Mews Bar, behind the Invercauld Arms, and let the traffic go.
The Braemar Gathering
The whole Gathering happens in one field, the Princess Royal and Duke of Fife Memorial Park, with the crowd all round the ring. The pipe bands open it, marching in from the village; the massed bands leave the Invercauld Arms at 11.30am and march into the arena to play together at noon. Watch them come in, and walk in behind them if you wish. Then the heavies are in the ring, putting the stone and tossing the caber, and the Highland dancing is on the board in front of the royal pavilion. In the early afternoon the hill race goes up Morrone and back, finishing with a lap of the ring. The royal party usually arrives about 3pm, when the massed bands play again, and it ends at 5pm. One ticket covers the day. Bring a waterproof and sun cream; no dogs except guide dogs.
If it rains
The Gathering goes ahead in the rain, and early September on Deeside can be cold and wet, so bring warm clothes and a waterproof as well as sun cream. For a roof over your head, book a seat in the covered grandstand as soon as tickets go on sale on 1 February, as every seated section sold out in 2026; each seated ticket includes entry. If the Gathering is ever cancelled, tickets roll over to the next year.
Day three
Sunday: a Braemar morning, then home
Sunday is a walk from the village in the morning and lunch in Braemar, then home at your own pace, over Glenshee to the south or down Deeside to the east.
20 min on foot
The Morrone Birkwood
It's a 10- to 20-minute walk from the village up Chapel Brae to the duck pond, where the Morrone Birkwood starts. This birch and juniper wood on Morrone's lower slopes is the finest of its kind in Britain, says NatureScot, and its plants have changed little since soon after the last Ice Age. The Park Authority's circuit is 5.5 kilometres, about two hours, on narrow earthy paths with short slopes, past a view indicator and a bench above the Dee. Wear boots, as it can be muddy after rain.
If it rains
The Birkwood's paths get muddy in heavy rain, and the views go in low cloud. Go to Braemar Castle instead if you didn't see it on Friday (open 10am to 5pm, last entry 4.30pm), or drive 14 minutes west to the Linn of Dee, which is at its best when the river is high.
Worth a detour
- Linn of Quoich
Instead of the Birkwood, 26 minutes' drive west: over the Dee at the Linn of Dee and back along the north bank past Mar Lodge to the road end. There the Quoich Water pours through a rock channel beside the pothole called the Punch Bowl. It's much quieter than the Linn of Dee. Parking is £5 (National Trust for Scotland).
- Loch Muick
Only for those heading home east: turn off the A93 at Ballater and drive about nine miles up the single-track Glen Muick road to the Spittal car park, about 70 minutes from Braemar in all. The road collapsed in March 2026 and a new bridge has been reported since, so check the Balmoral Estate's page before you go; the car park also fills on fine days. The shore and back is about an hour's walk; the round of the loch, three hours or more, is for a Sunday without the Birkwood.
Photographs by Simon Franklin and Michal Pojman via Google