Family Days Out in the Aviemore, Badenoch and Strathspey Area of Scotland

Aviemore and its surrounding area offer a fantastic choice for holidays and family days out. With a fantastic forest adventure park, the highest mountain cafe in the UK and the UK's only Polar Bears, it has so much to see.

As a regular visitor to the Highlands over the years, I have had plenty of opportunities to experience the many different attractions in the Aviemore area. It provides a wide choice of accommodation types and a huge choice of exciting ways to spend your precious holiday time.

The accommodation ranges from 5 star luxury to camping within an ancient Pine Forest. The area has a good choice of arranged activities including Archery, Quad Biking, Bush Craft, Wildlife Photography and also Offroad Driving. The Aviemore area has incredible walks, watersports and in season ski-ing. Whether you are looking for indoor or outdoor activities. Family or Individual quality time. Whether you want to get back to nature or to languish in luxury the Aviemore area provides it all.

The Highland Folk Museum at Newtonmore has been in it's current location since the late 1980s. It is a large outdoor experience which makes history come alive. Covering an area of approximately 80 acres and being approximately one mile long it has plenty of space to preserve the past for future generations. It does seem to be continually expanding and just keeps getting better.

The museum focuses on highland life over the passage of time and is divided into four main areas. Three areas feature a large number of original or recreated period buildings including a garage, post office and even a sawmill. The fourth area is a Highland township recreated to how it would have looked in the 1700's.

There is a working farm which is home to both original and rare scottish breeds. A wartime kitchen and even a church. Children are well catered for with colouring materials in the kitchen, a playpark and off course the farm animals.

Both children and adults are guided into the school building by a period 'teacher' and invited to partake in some school work on traditional slates. Which was an entertaining and also enlighting experience.

The Highland Folk Museum is fun, educational, and a great interactive way to learn about Scotland's history. Admission is free although donations are welcomed to support the museum's future. There is something for all the family to enjoy and I cannot recommend it enough.

The Cairngorms National Park houses the Cairngorm Ski Resort. The resort is open over the winter months and has a wide range of slopes suitable for both beginners and advanced skiers. There are 30km in runs and also ample provision for snowboarders.

The unique Funicular Mountain railway is a quick and easy way to travel up the 1100 metres to the Ptarmigan Top Station. The Ptarmigan offer much needed refreshment after a busy day ski-ing and is actually the highest cafe in the UK.

For more outdoor pursuits you don't have to travel far. Watersports including windsurfing are provided by Loch Morlich Watersports. Loch Morlich is very close to Aviemore and a beautiful location to spend the day on the water.

Rothiemurchus Estate also offers a large choice of outdoor pursuits including Archery, Quad Treking and Wildlife Watching.

The whole Aviemore area is rich in beautiful scenery and stunning wildlife and is a real pleasure to walk and cycle through.

A area rich in natural beauty with a stunning mountain backdrop. Surrounded by ancient pine forests, with it's own beaches and natural lochs.

The location is perfect for a huge range of outdoor activities with the bonus of incredible scenery.

Landmark Forest Adventure Park is situation in Carrbridge. It provides a huge range of activities within a natural forest environment.

There is a rollercoaster, watercoaster and also a huge playpark area with slides. Apart from these attractions the park also has high rope works to balance right up in the trees.

There is an ancient pine forest within the park where if you are lucky you can spot red squirrels and also some rare birds. The forest walk around the pines has information points throughout, which provide interesting and fun facts about our natural habitat and it's wildlife. The pine tree which was struck, survived and is now scarred by lightning is an awe inspiring sight.

A large wildlife feeding area exsists where there are a multitude of different birds to spot and also the occasional appearance of a red squirrel.

There is also an excellent maze and a very interesting scientific building called Bamboozle with multiple hands on activities to try.

They even have a steam powered working saw mill with it's own Clydesdale horse. The engine in the saw mill has been replicated to the kind originally used within the Highlands in the 1800's.

The park really does has something for everyone.

Landmark provides a great range of activities in a natural environment. You can walk high amongst the trees, splash down on one of the water slides or hunt for red squirrels.

It is excellent value for money and definitely a place which you will revist. again and again.

Owned by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland and spreading over approximately 260 acres. The Highland Wildlife Park gives the rare opportunity to view a wide variety of animals up close.

There is a focus on Scottish native wildlife but there is also a lot of other incredible creatures within the park. The park consists of a drive round area and also an area where you can walk around and view the animals.

It hosts a number of endangered species and hopes to play it's part in helping to ensure their survival.

I found the Wolf Wood within the park an amazing experience. Within a large woodland area a pack of wolves continue with their lives and display such incredible behaviour, that it really is mesmorising.

The Highland Wildlife Park is a large natural environment which allows the viewing of some incredible animals. It is also seems to be a place where the animals feel at home.

I hope my article was helpful and showcased some of the many highlights of the Aviemore area. It really is a superb location and if you go once, you will keep going back.

(All opinions expressed in this article are purely the author's thoughts and are in no way connected to any of the businesses or attractions mentioned).