Aberdeenshire

Getting to Aberdeenshire

Aberdeen is the transport hub for the county, with good air, rail and road connections, and car ferries to Orkney and the Shetland Islands. In 2019 the A90 was re-routed west of Aberdeen, with the opening of the "Aberdeen Western Peripheral Road" to relieve the congested A92. For the north end of the county along the Moray Firth, another approach is via Inverness and Elgin.

Worth seeing

Castles: Balmoral on the road up the valley above Ballater is a grandiloquent Victorian pile of a castle, the prototype of the "Scottish Baronial" style, all mock-turrets and stags heads looming over the stairways. Completed in 1856, it remains the Royal Family's summer holiday home.

Things to do

Highland Gatherings and Games: each town or large village hosts an event during a summer weekend. Pipe bands, caber-tossing, field and track events, and so on; they're often combined with Agricultural Shows. The full calendar is posted online. Ski at Glenshee or Lecht. With a longer drive you can also reach Aviemore/Cairngorm in Highland Region, but its funicular is closed for engineering works as of January 2024.

Where to eat

Aberdeen has the widest choice of cuisine and price range. The small towns go for cheap and cheerful fare such as fish & chips. They often have an Indian, an Italian and a takeaway Chinese to add variety. Carron Fish Bar in Stonehaven claims to have invented the deep-fried Mars Bar, and still serves them. Aberdeen Angus, the local breed of cattle, are prized for their marbled beef.

Getting around Aberdeenshire the local way