Welcome to
Moray.
Cardhu Distillery · Morayshire
01
Morayshire
Where to go, eat and stay in Moray.
A bright morning on the Moray coast means a calm sea, empty beaches and dolphins that might break the surface just offshore. This is the land of the River Spey, which runs down from the hills through whisky country, past distilleries, a cooperage and handsome granite towns like Dufftown, to the sea at Spey Bay.
A ruined cathedral, castles and Pictish stonesPlaces to visit
Beaches, sea stacks and river gorgesWalks and the outdoors
Cullen skink, seafood and a railway carriage caféFood and drink
Shops, studios and makersShops and makers
The distilleriesWhisky
Estate houses and a woodland bothyPlaces to stay
Whisky country and the Pictish trail, stop by stopDays out
From our guide
ForresNelson’s Tower
ForresSueno’s Stone
Near ForresBrodie Castle
Near Grantown-on-SpeyLochindorb Castle
ElginElgin Cathedral
Near ElginPluscarden Abbey
ForresNelson’s TowerForresSueno’s StoneNear ForresBrodie CastleNear Grantown-on-SpeyLochindorb CastleElginElgin CathedralNear ElginPluscarden AbbeyThe history of Moray.
Archaeological remains hint at a fairly large local population in the Stone and Bronze Ages, although the region’s more tangible history kicks off in the 4th century, when the Picts occupied the area.
Read itDays out
A morningFindlater Castle, Sandend and lunch in PortsoyBy car
More than a dayA winter weekend in the CairngormsBy car
A morningLinn Falls and lunch in AberlourBy car
A morningA walk on the Elginia Trail in Quarry WoodBy car
A morningThe Giant's Chair walk from Dufftown's Clock TowerBy car
A morningThe Bridge of Avon walk from TomintoulBy car
A morningFindlater Castle, Sandend and lunch in PortsoyBy carMore than a dayA winter weekend in the CairngormsBy carA morningLinn Falls and lunch in AberlourBy carA morningA walk on the Elginia Trail in Quarry WoodBy carA morningThe Giant's Chair walk from Dufftown's Clock TowerBy carA morningThe Bridge of Avon walk from TomintoulBy carNew days out in Moray.
Ready-made days, the newest first, each with its drive times, its stops and somewhere to eat.
See every day out in Moray
-54-full-1774881242.jpg)
Lunch near Covesea Links.The lighthouse beside the golf links at Southerness, on the Solway coast of Dumfries and Galloway, is the second oldest in Scotland. When was it commissioned?The Moray Coast Trail runs 50 miles from Findhorn to Cullen, along a shore once named among the world's most beautiful by National Geographic.Telford's bridge at Craigellachie rode out the great flood of 1829 because he built it higher.Lunch near Cardhu Distillery.The Grant family of Glenfiddich only began blending whisky because their biggest customer, the Pattisons of Leith, went bust in 1898.Round the corner from Aberlour Hotel.Speyside's Malt Whisky Trail links eight of Scotland's most famous distilleries, with tours and tutored tastings.Findhorn, Morayshire.When Cardhu was rebuilt in the 1880s, its old stills were sold to William Grant for his new Glenfiddich distillery.Which golf course fills most of Chanonry Point on the Black Isle, where bottlenose dolphins come in to fish?An autumn weekend in Moray, while the bracken turns.Lunch near Water Taxi to Culbin Sands.Findhorn, in Moray, was once a busy port trading with the Baltic.Elgin Cathedral, Morayshire.Fermenting whisky froths up so hard that washbacks often carry a spinning arm, the switcher, to knock the foam down.Spey Bay, where the River Spey meets the Moray Firth near Elgin, has the longest shingle beach in Scotland.A pine marten was seen near Aviemore.Norwegian forces captured Findlater Castle, on the Banffshire coast, in the early 1260s.About how many whisky casks do the coopers at Speyside Cooperage make and mend each year?Eight of the ten washbacks at Cardhu are made of wood.Spirit of Speyside Whisky FestivalCold on the first tee.Bailies Cottage, on the Mayen Estate near Huntly, is a stroll through old rock gardens from the River Deveron, where guests can fish with a ghillie.A castle and a dram.Cullen skink, the creamy haddock and potato soup, takes its name from the little town of Cullen, on the Moray Firth.Cullen, the seaside town on the Moray coast, has filled its empty shops with new independents.True or false: in February 1918 fifty ploughs arrived at Dufftown's golf course, in Moray, and ploughed it up to grow food for the war.Some good places to go, newly added to the site.Sam Matthews named his Dufftown coffee and bookshop Beinn, because that is what locals on Speyside call Ben Rinnes, the whisky mountain above the town.A table for tonight.The poet Robert Burns stayed in Cullen, on the Moray Firth, in 1787, and Robert the Bruce's wife is said to be buried at the town's Auld Kirk.Glenfiddich opened its visitor centre in July 1969, in a building William Grant had put up in 1886.Free to visit.In the Second World War, Innes House near Elgin became an RAF officers' mess, and its new whisky room is named to honour that history.Where to See the Northern Lights in ScotlandWhich of these golf courses has red sandstone sea stacks standing in play?Glenfiddich takes its name from the Gaelic for valley of the deer, which is where the stag in its emblem comes from.The two bedrooms at Butlers Cottage, on the Mayen Estate near Huntly, have box beds painted by an artist.Sidings Cafe.Cardhu has planted an orchard to echo the orchard-fruit notes in its single malt.The 7th hole at Grantown-on-Spey is named after Bobby Cruickshank, born in the town in 1894. What did he do in the First World War?Watershed Sauna, in a converted horsebox on the beach at Findhorn in Moray, began not as a business but as a 'winter survival strategy' for its owners' cold flat.Duffus Castle, in Moray, was a fortress and home for more than 500 years.The Story of SpeysideMoray Golf Club at Lossiemouth bottled a whisky called Exclusion in 2016, a hundred years after it threw out a future Prime Minister.The village of Findhorn, in Moray, is the third to carry the name.The Keith & Dufftown Railway.No heritage railway in Britain runs further north than the eleven miles between Keith and Dufftown.Hopeman East Beach.Cardhu distillery takes its name from the Gaelic. What does it mean?Bow Fiddle Rock, off Portknockie on the Moray coast, is older than the dinosaurs.Moray Golf Club at Lossiemouth threw out Ramsay MacDonald in 1916 for opposing the First World War.Sueno’s Stone.At the Gate Lodge on the Mayen Estate near Huntly, the roll-top bath stands in the bedroom, and the sauna is out in the woods.Sidings Café in Dufftown, on Speyside, is set in a pair of period railway carriages parked for good at the town's station.Brodie Castle.Three Prime Ministers, Asquith, Balfour and Ramsay MacDonald, played holiday golf at Moray Golf Club in Lossiemouth before the First World War.A day out in Moray.A day out in Moray.A day out in Moray.A day out in Moray.A day out in Moray.A day out in Moray.A day out in Moray.What is the 'silent season' at the whisky distilleries of Speyside?Randolph’s Leap.The clubhouse at Cullen Links Golf Club.Somewhere to stay in Moray.Somewhere to stay in Moray.Somewhere to stay in Moray.Somewhere to stay in Moray.Somewhere to stay in Moray.Somewhere to stay in Moray.Somewhere to stay in Moray.When John Walker & Sons bought Cardhu distillery in 1893, the Cumming family who founded it kept running it.Knockando Woolmill.Somewhere to eat in Moray.Somewhere to eat in Moray.Somewhere to eat in Moray.Somewhere to eat in Moray.Somewhere to eat in Moray.Somewhere to eat in Moray.Somewhere to eat in Moray.Balvenie Castle, on the northern edge of Dufftown near Glenfiddich distillery, was once held for a yearly rent of what?ACE Adventures & Hideaways.Something to do in Moray.Something to do in Moray.Something to do in Moray.Something to do in Moray.Speyside, in Moray, is said to have more than half of Scotland's malt whisky distilleries, largely thanks to the water of the River Spey.Somewhere to go in Moray.Somewhere to go in Moray.Somewhere to go in Moray.Somewhere to go in Moray.Somewhere to go in Moray.Somewhere to go in Moray.Somewhere to go in Moray.