The nearby village of Newtonmore also has an 18 hole golf course, the Highland Folk Park and Clan MacPherson Museum plus many spectacular walks. See Walkhighlands for a guide to 20 local walks.
Aviemore is the bustling tourist centre of the Park and has many leisure and recreational facilities including Hilton and MacDonald resort hotels with swimming pools open to the public. Nearby Rothiemurchus provides low level walking and mountain biking in ancient Scots Pinewoods and Loch Morlich also has a watersports centre. The high tops of the Cairngorms including Scotland’s second highest mountain Ben Macdui (1309m) can be ascended from the car park at 630m and the Cairngorm funicular railway runs from there to the Ptarmigan restaurant and viewpoint at 1080m
Elsewhere within the Park there are several more golf courses opportunities for fishing (permit needed) on the River Spey and for travelling in style on the Strathspey Steam Railway to Broomhill (Glenbogle). The Speyside Malt Whisky Trail is just outside the Park. There is bird watching at Loch Garten and the Insh Marshes.
Kingussie is situated within the Cairngorms National Park about 12 miles south of
Aviemore and 3 miles north of Newtonmore. It is the administrative capital of Badenoch
and Strathspey and has been a tourist resort since Victorian times. It has its own
railway station, good public transport links and quiet roads linking with the other
villages in the valley avoiding the bustle of the A9 trunk road. It is 70 miles from
Perth, 40 miles from Inverness and 45 miles from Fort William so forms an ideal base
for exploring the Central Highlands of Scotland In addition to a good range of shops
and restaurants, local attractions are: 18-
