Aberdeenshire stretches from the Cairngorm to the Coast. The Scotsman (one of Scotland’s national newspapers) calls its city of Aberdeen – where ships dock right up against the city-centre streets and dolphins leap in the busy North Sea harbour – “one of the most architecturally distinctive in Europe”.

With over 260 castles, stately homes and ruins dotting its landscape, Aberdeenshire is unsurprisingly known as ‘Scotland’s Castle Country.’ There are more castles per acre here than anywhere else in the UK, and you can discover 19 of the most famous and dramatic castles in Aberdeenshire on Scotland’s Castle Trail

Whisky distilleries in Aberdeenshire are bottling the essence of our land into iconic blends loved the world over.
Visit the most easterly distillery in Scotland at Glen Garioch which maintains its original features like its barley mill. In the heart of the Cairngorms National Park try Royal Lochnagar which was favoured by Queen Victoria so much it was bestowed a Royal Warrant. Then there’s Glenglassaugh Distillery located on the Banffshire coast where its fans say you can taste the sea and further inland find GlenDronach Distillery, outside Huntly where the finest sherried malts have been created for over 200 years.

Movie fans will even be pleased to know that Whisky Galore (2017) was filmed in Aberdeenshire taking advantage of the stunning seaside towns of Portsoy and Pennan.