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Tomintoul community paths leaflet

Wel­come to Tomintoul

The vil­lage was foun­ded between 1775 and 1776 by the 4th Duke of Gor­don to encour­age scattered ten­ants to move into a planned vil­lage. The vil­lage still retains this ​‘planned’ char­ac­ter with its attract­ive wide main street, vil­lage square and grid lay­out. On the vil­lage square you’ll find the Tomin­toul and Glen­liv­et Dis­cov­ery Centre, with exhib­i­tions and vis­it­or information.

Paths around Tomintoul

If you enjoyed explor­ing the paths around Tomin­toul, look out for oth­er path leaf­lets in this series to help you explore more of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park. Pick up a leaf­let loc­ally or down­load from cairngorms​.co​.uk

The highest vil­lage in the Highlands

Tomin­toul comes from the Gael­ic Tom an t‑Sabhail mean­ing ​‘the mound of the barn’ or ​‘the barn knoll’. At 355m above sea level, Tomin­toul is the highest vil­lage in the Highlands.

Tomin­toul sits with­in Glen­liv­et Estate, part of Crown Estate Scot­land, where vis­it­ors are wel­come to explore the extens­ive net­work of way­marked paths in the wider countryside.

glen​liv​etest​ate​.co​.uk Crown Estate Scot­land Oighreachd a’ Chrùin Alba

PRO­TECT OUR NATION­AL PARK NO FLAME, NO SPARK

Explore the SnowRoads, a 90-mile road trip, one of the best driv­ing routes in the Scot­tish Highlands.

Vis­it­or inform­a­tion is avail­able at vis​it​cairngorms​.com

Pro­duced by the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity, in asso­ci­ation with the Tomin­toul community.

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

Land­scapes and lapwings

In the spring and sum­mer the wet mead­ows around Tomin­toul are noisy with the calls of wad­ing birds, such as lap­wing and cur­lew. The Tomin­toul bird hide situ­ated a few minutes’ walk from the vil­lage is a great spot to see the birds.

Next to the bird hide is the vil­lage wild­flower mead­ow. The nat­ive flowers bloom in late spring and sum­mer, attract­ing a range of pol­lin­at­ors includ­ing but­ter­flies and moths. Each autumn volun­teers gath­er to hand scythe the mead­ow, keep­ing this tra­di­tion­al skill alive.

The River Avon (pro­nounced A’an) flows close by Tomin­toul, rising from Loch Avon, a mighty loch in the heart of the Cairngorm Moun­tains. There are sev­er­al paths and view­points that allow you to enjoy the river, includ­ing the Vic­tor Gaffney view­point (named after a loc­al his­tor­i­an) and Queen’s View.

Skies and stars

Tomin­toul and Glen­liv­et are the heart of the Cairngorms Inter­na­tion­al Dark Sky Park, the most north­erly Dark Sky Park in the UK and one of the best places in Scot­land to dis­cov­er the won­ders of the night sky.

The Tomin­toul Dark Sky Dis­cov­ery Site has a sky view­ing hide, park­ing and inform­a­tion and is the per­fect place to enjoy some star­gaz­ing (or day­time cloud gaz­ing!). The Aurora Boreal­is (the North­ern Lights) often put on a show for lucky star­gazers too.

Dis­cov­er more about the plan­ets of the sol­ar sys­tem by fol­low­ing the Glen­mul­lie Plan­et Trail (starts Glen­mul­liach car park, two miles south of Tomin­toul off the A939).

cairngorms​dark​sky​park​.org

His­tory and heritage

The mil­it­ary road con­struc­ted by Major Caulfield in the 1750s des­cends from the Lecht moun­tain pass, carving a route through the land­scape and link­ing the mil­it­ary forts at Cor­garff and Brae­mar to Fort George on the coast. It brought occu­pa­tion to these wild lands where cattle thefts and illeg­al whisky dis­tilling were rife.

The road (today the A939) con­tin­ues to bring trav­el­lers to Tomin­toul to enjoy the warm high­land hos­pit­al­ity of the village.

Form­ing part of the SnowRoads, there are art install­a­tions along the route, includ­ing ​“Still” by Angus Ritch­ie, just north of Tomintoul.

The Tomin­toul Games is an import­ant part of the village’s cul­tur­al her­it­age. It is one of the old­est high­land games in Scot­land, tak­ing place on the third Sat­urday in July. People come from all over to test their strength in the tra­di­tion­al events includ­ing the caber toss, ham­mer throw and tug o’ war.

Paths around Tomintoul

We hope you enjoy explor­ing the trails around Tomin­toul, but please do so respons­ibly. The Cairngorms Nation­al Park is a spe­cial place with beau­ti­ful land­scapes and rare wild­life. You can help pro­tect the loc­al wild­life by fol­low­ing all signs and keep­ing dogs close by (on a lead where requested).

To help pre­vent wild­fires and pro­tect the Nation­al Park a sea­son­al fire byelaw is in place. It is not per­mit­ted to light a camp­fire or use a bar­be­cue between 1 April and 30 September.

SCOT­TISH OUT­DOOR ACCESS CODE outdooraccess-scotland.scot

Please note — not all routes are way­marked on the ground.

Tomin­toul circular

An enjoy­able loop through the coun­tryside around Tomin­toul. On your way you’ll see the bird hide, the sky hide and the Vic­tor Gaffney view­point — with stun­ning views over the River Avon to the peaks of Ben Avon in the distance.

A mix of firm grassy paths and tracks with numer­ous gates, quiet lanes and one main road cross­ing. Mostly flat on the Con­glass side, with mod­er­ate slope up to the view­point and steps to the road. On the Cults side of the road is a long, steep flight of steps. Dis­tance: 2.5 miles / 4 km Allow: 1.5 hours Dif­fi­culty: moderate

Bridge of Avon

Scen­ic walk through grass­land and wood­land, passing the Vic­tor Gaffney view­point and offer­ing excel­lent views back to Tomin­toul. A nice pic­nic spot awaits at the old Bridge of Avon, built as part of the mil­it­ary road in 1754.

Tracks and nar­row, rough, undu­lat­ing grassy paths. Can be muddy. One long, steep rough climb. Short sec­tion on road to reach bridge. Dis­tance: 2.5 miles / 4 km Allow: 2 hours Dif­fi­culty: strenu­ous Dis­tance / time is there and back.

Mind­ful­ness trail

A short access­ible loop through the wood­land at the Glen­liv­et Estate inform­a­tion centre with views across sur­round­ing farm­land. Stone art­works around the trail help engage users with their nat­ur­al surroundings.

Mostly smooth, firm path with gentle slopes and bridges. Mod­er­ate slope from car park to trail. Dis­tance: 0.25 mile / 0.5 km Allow: 0.25 hour Dif­fi­culty: easy

Tomin­toul coun­try walk

A pleas­ant cir­cuit along Glen Avon with an oppor­tun­ity to take in Queen Victoria’s view­point. Along the way there are lovely views and rich wood­lands of nat­ive birch and juniper.

Minor roads and firm track which can be loose and uneven in places with mod­er­ate slopes. Steps up to Queens’ View. Dis­tance: 4.75 miles / 7.5 km Allow: 3 hours Dif­fi­culty: moderate

Squir­rel trail

A lovely loop that heads up the old mil­it­ary road from the Glen­liv­et Estate inform­a­tion centre, before loop­ing back through pine­woods, with an oppor­tun­ity to dis­cov­er about, and maybe glimpse, the nat­ive red squirrel.

Track and rough grassy, earthy and wood­chip paths. Can be muddy. Long gentle slopes. Dis­tance: 0.5 mile / 0.8 km Allow: 0.5 hour Dif­fi­culty: moderate

Old Mil­it­ary Road

March, walk or cycle in the foot­steps of 18th cen­tury red­coats along a sec­tion of old mil­it­ary road. Lovely views over the Con­glass val­ley and farm­land to Ben Rinnes.

Track, loose and uneven in places and may have large puddles. Long (1km) gentle slope to view­point. Dis­tance: 2.5 miles / 4 km Allow: 1.5 hours Dif­fi­culty: mod­er­ate Dis­tance / time is there and back.

Based on Ord­nance Sur­vey map­ping with the per­mis­sion of the Con­trol­ler of HMSO © Crown Copy­right 2026. All rights reserved. Ord­nance Sur­vey licence num­ber 100040965. Map and text © Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity 2026.