Introduction

The village of Braemar in the Scottish Highlands is located is at the confluence of the River Dee and Clunie Water, about 78 miles S.E. of Inverness and 56 miles west of Aberdeen.

Local visitor attractions include Braemar Castle (above), Balmoral Castle, Glenshee Ski Centre (the largest ski resort in Scotland) and Royal Lochnagar Distillery. The village sits in the scenic area known as Royal Deeside.

Information on Braemar

• Home to the Braemar Gathering, Scotland’s premier Highland Games event which takes place on the first Saturday in September each year.
• Population is about 850.
• Well endowed with shops, restaurants and accommodation providers.
• Spectacular location against backdrop of Grampian mountains to the north and Glen Dee to the west.
• This is the third coldest, low lying place in the U.K, with an annual average temperature of 6.8 °C. Braemar has twice recorded the lowest ever U.K temperature of –27.2 °C, on 11 February 1895, and 10 January 1982.
• Superficially, the name is of Norse (Viking) origin but, in fact, only dates back about 200 years. Previously, the eastern part was ‘Castleton’ and the hamlet across the Clunie was Auchendryne (‘thornfield’) and the parish name was Kindrochit.

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Visiting

Braemar can only be accessed by motor transport and is usually incorporated in a tour including Balmoral Castle which is the premier attraction in the area.

More information

For more information on touring Scotland please refer Visitors’ Guide to Scotland, ISBN 978-1-9161332-0-4