Photo: Gordon Hatton, CC BY-SA 2.0
Kingussie and the Cairngorms, on your doorstep
Kingussie is a small Highland village on the River Spey in Badenoch, inside the Cairngorms National Park. It's on the main railway line between Perth and Inverness and just off the A9, so it's an easy base for the hills, the Spey valley and the rest of the Highlands.
Kingussie sits in the upper Spey valley, with the Monadhliath hills behind the village and the Cairngorms rising across the river. It is a quiet, friendly place with a high street of shops, cafés and pubs, a golf course, and one of the best-known shinty clubs in Scotland.
Across the Spey, on a mound just outside the village, stand the ruins of Ruthven Barracks, built by the government after the 1715 Jacobite rising and burned by the Jacobites in 1746. It is free to visit and one of the most photographed sights in the Highlands, especially in snow or at sunset.
Between Kingussie and Kincraig lie the Insh Marshes, a wide flood plain of the Spey and an RSPB nature reserve, and the hill of Creag Bheag above the village gives a short climb with long views down the strath.
Newtonmore, with the open-air Highland Folk Museum, is a few miles to the west, and Aviemore, the Highland Wildlife Park and Cairngorm Mountain are a short drive to the north east.
A few favourites
- Walk across the Spey to Ruthven Barracks, best at sunset or after snow.
- Climb Creag Bheag for the view down the Spey valley.
- Spend a day at the Highland Folk Museum in Newtonmore.
- Look for wildlife at the Insh Marshes or the Highland Wildlife Park.
- Head up to Cairngorm Mountain, or walk the pine woods around Aviemore and Loch an Eilein.
Trains, trams and buses
- By train: Kingussie is on the Highland Main Line, with direct trains from Inverness, Perth, Edinburgh and Glasgow. The station is a short walk from Manse Road.
- By road: Kingussie is just off the A9 between Perth and Inverness, about an hour from Inverness and around two and a half hours from Edinburgh or Glasgow.
- By air: Inverness Airport is the nearest, about an hour away by car.
- Ask us when you book if you'd like help with directions or onward travel.
Photo: Spike, CC BY-SA 4.0Stay at Columba House
A 15-room hotel on Manse Road, Kingussie, from £27 a night. Book direct, no fees.