The Deeside road: Perth to Aberdeen in two days
Two days by car, from Perth to Aberdeen.
The route
The A93 goes from Perth to Aberdeen the long way: it climbs high into the hills, then follows the Dee all the way down to the sea.
You head north past Scone to the great beech hedge at Meikleour, through Blairgowrie and up Glen Shee, over the Cairnwell, the highest main road in Britain. Over the top is Braemar, the village and the Fife Arms first, then its castle, the kirk at Crathie and Balmoral, and your night is in Ballater. The second day runs down by the Burn o' Vat, over the Dee at Dinnet and along the quiet south road through Finzean and Strachan to the salmon falls by Banchory. The castles of Crathes and Drum come next, and it ends at Footdee, where the river meets the harbour in Aberdeen.
Before you go
Book beds near Ballater, one night
Book as soon as your dates are set: here are ours nearest the night.
BallaterDarroch LeargA hotel
7 miles awayTower O'EssSleeps 2
7 miles awayWoodendSleeps 4
7 miles awayWest MillfieldSleeps 5
7 miles awayJoiners CottageSleeps 4
7 miles awayGarden CottageSleeps 4
7 miles awayRowan CottageSleeps 2
7 miles awayButler's LodgeSleeps 6
13 miles awayTornahatnachSleeps 5
13 miles awayGreenstyleSleeps 6
13 miles awayDalgrassickSleeps 4
13 miles awayHome FarmSleeps 6
13 miles awayChapeltonSleeps 6
19 miles awayNo 4 Steading CottageSleeps 7
19 miles awayNorth Lodge and River CabinSleeps 6
StrachanCuttieshillockSleeps 6
StrachanGamekeeper’s CottageSleeps 6
StrachanNo 2 Steading Cottage at GlendyeSleeps 4
StrachanThe Coach HouseSleeps 12
StrachanThe Corner HouseSleeps 6
19 miles awayThe Bothy, GlendyeSleeps 2
StrachanThe Hay Loft at GlendyeSleeps 4
19 miles awayNo 5 Steading CottageSleeps 7
24 miles awayLarch HouseSleeps 6
Day one
Glenshee
North from Perth, past the great beech hedge at Meikleour and up Glen Shee, over the Cairnwell, the highest main road in Britain, and down into Deeside. Braemar and its castle come first, then Crathie Kirk and Balmoral, before the night in Ballater. Leave Perth at nine: it's about two hours at the wheel.
2 hr 1 min at the wheelAbout 67 miles
Meikleour Beech Hedge
An attraction
It's 25 minutes' drive north out of Perth, past Scone Palace and over the Isla, to the Meikleour Beech Hedge, which runs beside the A93 for a third of a mile. At about 30 metres high, it's the tallest and longest hedge in the world, says Guinness World Records. Jean Mercer and Robert Murray Nairne planted it in the 1740s, and the story goes that it was left to grow towards the heavens in memory of Robert, who was killed at Culloden. Walk along it from the lay-by.
45 min by car
Glenshee
An attraction
Allow 45 minutes' drive on up the A93, through Blairgowrie and Bridge of Cally, to the Spittal of Glenshee, at the head of the glen, where for centuries there was an inn or hostel for travellers. Glen Shee takes its name from the Gaelic word for a fairy, and behind the old kirk a prehistoric standing stone marks Dun Shith, the Hill of the Fairies. Stretch your legs up to it before the long climb to the pass.
6 min by car
Devil’s Elbow Viewpoint
An attraction
It's 6 minutes' drive up to the Devil's Elbow, where the old military road of 1749 climbed the hill in a tight double hairpin. It was said to be 1 in 3, though the real gradient is nearer 1 in 6, and it was bypassed in 1971; you can still walk the old line. A mile on, the road tops out at 670 metres, the highest main road in Britain, by the Glenshee Ski Centre. From June to September its chairlift runs up the Cairnwell, weather permitting.
16 min by car
Braemar
An attraction
It's 16 minutes' drive down Glen Clunie into Braemar. Park on Balnellan Road, by the Clunie Water, and cross the bridge to the Fife Arms, where anyone can go in. Have a drink in the Flying Stag, or book afternoon tea, served in rooms like the drawing room, under Zhang Enli's painted ceiling, with a Picasso and a Lucian Freud among its art. Browse the shops, then walk to the Gathering's park and its Highland Games Pavilion, open Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 4pm (not the Gathering Friday or Saturday).
2 min by car
Braemar Castle
An attraction
Braemar Castle is 2 minutes' drive out of the village on the A93 towards Ballater, and parking is £4. The Earl of Mar built it in 1628, the Farquharsons burned it in 1689, and after the Jacobite risings it was a garrison for government redcoats. In 2007 the village stepped in to save it, and it reopened in 2024 after a £1.6 million conservation project. It's open 10am to 5pm, daily from May to September and Wednesday to Sunday in April and October, but not on Braemar Gathering day.
13 min by car
Crathie Kirk
An attraction
It's 13 minutes' drive down the Dee to Crathie. Park in Balmoral's £6 car park by the A93 and walk up to the kirk. Queen Victoria first worshipped here in 1848, and every monarch since has followed her; she laid the foundation stone of this granite kirk in 1893. Below it, in the old kirkyard, is the grave of John Brown, her attendant. It's open April to October, Monday to Saturday, 10am to 4pm. On a Sunday in August or September, when the Royal Family worship here, drive past.
About 1 min by car
Balmoral Castle
An attraction
From the same car park, walk over the Dee to the gates. Prince Albert bought the estate in 1852, and the granite castle was finished in 1856. It's still the Royal Family's private Highland home, so the grounds, gardens and ballroom open from late March to early August, 10am to 5pm, and in October, 10am to 4pm, when they're shut on some Sundays and Mondays. In August and September, while the Royal Family are here, it's all shut: give the afternoon to the Linn of Dee instead.
13 min by car
Ballater
Ballater, your home for the night, is 13 minutes' drive on. It grew up around 1770 as a spa for the Pannanich Wells. The railway stopped here in 1866, and the story goes that Queen Victoria wanted no trains nearer Balmoral. For a century the Royal Family came and went by it. The station burned in 2015 and was rebuilt, with her waiting room remade, a replica royal carriage, the library and the Rothesay Rooms café. Walk down to the Royal Bridge, which Victoria opened in 1885.
If it rains
Braemar Castle is under a roof, and so, from late March to early August and in October, is Balmoral's ballroom, so give them longer. In Braemar, the Highland Games Pavilion tells the story of the Gathering, Wednesday to Sunday from 10am to 4pm, for a suggested £5, but not on the Friday or Saturday of the Gathering, and the Fife Arms serves afternoon tea to anyone who books. Royal Lochnagar Distillery, a mile from Crathie, is the other dry stop: book a tour ahead. Keep the Devil's Elbow short, and in low cloud don't count on a view from the Cairnwell.
Worth a detour
- Cargill’s Leap
The Ericht's gorge in Blairgowrie, a quarter of a mile up the river path from the bridge in the middle of town, where the Covenanter Donald Cargill is said to have jumped the river in 1665.
- The Cockstane: Clan MacThomas' Ancient Gathering Stone
Clach na Coileach, the stone in Glen Shee where Clan MacThomas still gather every three years.
- Linn of Dee
The Dee squeezed through a narrow rock gorge, 15 minutes west of Braemar village.
- Knock Castle
The ruined Gordon tower of about 1600, across the Dee at the mouth of Glen Muick, a mile west of Ballater by the Royal Bridge.
- Loch Muick
The loch under Lochnagar, up the single-track Glen Muick road from Ballater; the walk round it takes three hours or more, so give it a long summer evening.
BallaterFish Shop RestaurantA restaurant
BallaterBalmoral ArmsA restaurant
BraemarThe Bothy BraemarA café
BraemarFarquharson's Bar and KitchenA bar
BraemarThe Flying StagA restaurant
BraemarBertie's Whisky BarA restaurant
BraemarThe Gordon’s Tearoom BraemarA café
Crathie, near BallaterThe Highlanders BakehouseA café
BallaterBridge House CaféA café
BlairgowrieGlenshee Café & Gift ShopA caféDay two
Deeside
Down the Dee from Ballater to the sea, by the Burn o' Vat and the quiet south road through Finzean and Strachan to the Falls of Feugh, then the castles at Crathes and Drum before the harbour at Aberdeen. Leave at half past nine; it's about two hours at the wheel.
2 hr 6 min at the wheelAbout 53 miles
10 min by car
Burn o’ Vat
An attraction
It's 10 minutes' drive east past Cambus o' May and up the B9119 to the Burn o' Vat, in the Muir of Dinnet nature reserve. A firm path follows the burn, the stream, to the Vat, a giant pothole scoured out by meltwater at the end of the last Ice Age. You step in over slippery stones through a crack in the rock. The outlaw Gilderoy MacGregor is said to have hidden in the cave behind its waterfall. Wear boots that can get wet, and allow an hour.
40 min by car
Falls of Feugh
An attraction
The drive is 40 minutes, over the Dee at Dinnet and along the south Deeside road, the B976, past the Glen Tanar gates, across the river from Aboyne, then Birse, Finzean (say Fing-en), where the farm shop's tearoom looks out to Clachnaben, and Strachan (Strawn). It runs down to the old Bridge of Feugh (Fyooch), just south of Banchory, where the Water of Feugh pours through the rocks. Watch from the footbridge: salmon leap the falls from September to November, and in February and March. There's a free car park.
17 min by car
Crathes Castle
An attraction
It's 17 minutes' drive through Banchory to Crathes Castle, a tower house the Burnetts of Leys finished in 1596, on land Robert the Bruce gave the family in 1323. Its painted ceilings, hidden for years under plaster, survive in rooms like the Chamber of the Nine Worthies, and the walled garden is divided by yew hedges planted in 1702. It's open daily from 10am, until 5pm from April to October, with last entry at 4.15pm, and until 4pm in winter. It costs £18, and parking is £5. Keep lunch here short, to be at Drum for its last tour.
20 min by car
Drum Castle
An attraction
Drum Castle is 20 minutes' drive down the A93. You see inside on a guided tour of the Jacobean house of 1619, for £18, with the last tour at 3.15pm. The square tower it was built onto, from the 1200s and thought one of Scotland's three oldest tower houses, is shut for repairs. Robert the Bruce gave Drum to his armour bearer, William de Irwyn, in 1323, and the Irvines kept it until 1975. Then walk in its Old Wood, where the oaks go back to the 1700s.
35 min by car
Footdee
An attraction
It's 35 minutes' drive into Aberdeen, through Peterculter, over the Dee and along its quiet south bank, then back over and along the harbour to Footdee, which locals call Fittie, at the mouth of the Dee. Its two squares of cottages were laid out for the fishing families in the early 1800s, and they face inwards onto their yards and colourful sheds. People live here, so wander quietly, then walk out to the harbour mouth, where the river you've followed since Braemar meets the North Sea.
If it rains
Crathes and Drum are both indoor visits, so give them the time the Vat would have had. The Vat is fine in waterproofs, but after heavy rain the stepping stones can be under water; see the visitor centre and walk in the woods instead. In Aberdeen, swap Footdee for the Maritime Museum on Shiprow, which is free, Monday to Saturday from 10am to 5pm and Sunday from 11am to 4pm.
Worth a detour
- Cambus o’ May Suspension Bridge
The white suspension footbridge of 1905 over the Dee, beside the old railway line.
- The Dinnie Stones
The two lifting stones at Potarch that Donald Dinnie carried across the width of the bridge in 1860.
- Royal Deeside Railway
The heritage line's steam and diesel trains at Milton of Crathes, on the A93 just west of Crathes Castle, on its running days only (Sunday 11 October is the next in 2026); craft shops and a gallery beside it.
- Duthie Park
Aberdeen's park on the Dee, and the David Welch Winter Gardens.
Where to eat
AberdeenFafflessWine bar on Golden Square
AberdeenAberdamA restaurant
AberdeenFierce BeerA restaurant
AberdeenMaggie’s GrillA restaurant
CrathesCafé 1702 at Crathes CastleA café
BanchoryFalls by Orry ShandA restaurant
AberdeenCairn CoffeeA café
AberdeenMoonfish CaféA restaurant
AberdeenMackie's 19.2A café
AberdeenContour CafeA café
AberdeenGio's by La LombardaA restaurant
AberdeenNinety-NineA restaurantPhotograph by myinstascotland