Pitlochry is a gentle sort of family destination. There is no theme park and no zoo; what there is instead is a fish ladder with an underwater window, boats to hire on a loch, a castle with white turrets and a private army, a chocolatier who makes truffles in front of you, waterfalls with bridges over them, and — for older children — white water and a bungee jump off a bridge.
It is also small, walkable and surrounded by woods, which makes it a good deal easier with young children than a big Highland base.
Eight hundred metres from the centre, beside the dam. Thirty-four linked pools let salmon climb past the hydro dam to spawn, and there is an underwater viewing chamber where you can watch them come through, plus a counter recording the run. It is free, it takes twenty minutes, and children find it much more interesting than the description suggests. Best from late spring through autumn.
On Loch Faskally, a few minutes’ walk from the town. Rowing boats, motor boats, canoes, kayaks and pedalos by the hour, plus a café. On a warm afternoon it is the best value family activity in Pitlochry.
The eight-kilometre path round Loch Faskally is level, shaded and crosses the river twice, with a suspension bridge and the theatre on the way. Broken into sections it works with young children; the whole circuit suits about seven upwards.
Beside the Festival Theatre — a garden telling the story of the Scottish plant hunters, with sculpture and a woodland trail. Small and pleasant rather than a main event.
Ten kilometres north at Blair Atholl, and the family day out of choice in the area. A white-harled castle with more than thirty rooms open, a ballroom hung with antlers, armour, a walled garden, a deer park, woodland trails and Highland ponies. The Duke of Atholl keeps the Atholl Highlanders, the only remaining private army in Europe, and they parade here once a year.
Allow most of a day. There is a caravan park and an enormous amount of space for children to run.
Five kilometres north. A wooded gorge, a battle in 1689, and the spot where a fleeing soldier is said to have jumped the River Garry — a leap that looks impossible from the viewing platform, which is exactly why children like it. There is a bungee jump from the Garry Bridge above for teenagers who want to improve on it.
At Blair Atholl, in the old school: a small local museum of crofting, smiddy and school life. Cheap, unpretentious and good for half an hour.
Iain Burnett, the Highland Chocolatier, at Grandtully six kilometres west, makes truffles on the premises and runs tastings and a café with a viewing window into the kitchen. It is unashamedly a treat stop and it is very good.
Grandtully also has the River Tay running through it with a rapid beside the village, which is where the rafting and kayaking companies put in.
Nae Limits at Logierait, seven kilometres south, runs white water rafting, canyoning, river tubing and cliff jumping on the Tay and the Tummel, with minimum ages depending on the activity — generally around eight to twelve for the gentler trips.
Bungee jumping from the Garry Bridge at Killiecrankie is for older teenagers and adults.
Cycling on the forest tracks around Faskally and in Tay Forest Park suits families, and hire is available in the town.
The Falls of Bruar, fifteen kilometres north, have paths and bridges climbing beside a series of waterfalls in a rocky gorge — twenty minutes to the lower falls, an hour and a half for the full circuit.
The Black Spout, two kilometres from the town, is a sixty-metre fall with a viewing platform and a short woodland walk.
The Hermitage at Dunkeld has Ossian’s Hall standing directly over the Black Linn waterfall, among some of the tallest trees in Britain. The folly’s windows frame the fall, which is a good trick and one children remember.
Worth planning around. Highland Perthshire is the best place in Britain for autumn colour, and the Enchanted Forest — a sound and light show staged in Faskally Wood through October — is a genuinely spectacular evening out for a family. It sells out, so book early. Our autumn guide has more.
Blair Castle is thirty rooms of indoors. The Festival Theatre runs family shows. The Atholl Palace Museum and the Moulin Heritage Centre are small and dry. The Highland Chocolatier is a legitimate wet afternoon. And the Explorers Garden and the forest trails are wooded enough to take a shower. Our wet weather guide has more.
Pitlochry’s high street has more places to eat than a town of three thousand people has any right to, most of them informal. Port-na-Craig Inn by the theatre and the river is the pleasant one; McKays and the Red Deer cover pub food; there is Thai, Italian, Indian and Chinese within a few hundred metres. Our eating guide has the list.
Getting here. Pitlochry is on the main line from Edinburgh and Glasgow, with trains every hour or two and a station in the middle of the village. Children generally enjoy the journey, which runs through the Highlands. The Caledonian Sleeper from London Euston arrives around six in the morning.
The town is walkable — the fish ladder, the loch, the theatre and the shops are all within fifteen minutes on foot.
Midges appear from June to September near the water and in the woods in still weather.
A town and water day. Fish ladder first thing to see the salmon and the underwater window; then boat hire on Loch Faskally for an hour or two; lunch at Port-na-Craig by the river; and the afternoon walking a section of the loch circuit through Faskally Forest. Nothing costs much and nobody has to get in a car.
A castle and falls day. North to Blair Castle for the morning — armour, the ballroom, the deer park and the grounds — then on to the Falls of Bruar for the walk up the gorge, and back via Killiecrankie for Soldier’s Leap and the gorge path. A castle, a waterfall and a battlefield in one day, all within fifteen kilometres.
Under five: the fish ladder, the boating station, the Recreation Ground, the level sections of the loch path, and the Blair Castle grounds.
Five to eleven: the sweet spot. Blair Castle, the Falls of Bruar, Soldier’s Leap, the Black Spout, the Highland Chocolatier and the Enchanted Forest in October.
Teenagers: white water rafting and canyoning at Logierait, the bungee jump at Killiecrankie, Ben Vrackie, and mountain biking in the forests.
Two Highland-specific ones. Midges appear from June to September, worst near water and in the woods in still weather, and they bother children more than adults — repellent and, in a bad week, head nets. And ticks are present in bracken and long grass from spring to autumn; check afterwards, particularly behind knees and around hairlines.
Beyond that, the rivers here run fast and cold and the gorges have steep unfenced drops — Killiecrankie and the Black Spout both have viewing platforms for a reason.
The fish ladder, boat hire on Loch Faskally, Blair Castle ten kilometres north, and the waterfalls at Bruar and the Black Spout.
Very — thirty rooms, armour, a deer park, ponies and a great deal of outdoor space.
Yes, through an underwater viewing chamber, mainly from late spring through autumn.
White water rafting and canyoning at Logierait, the bungee jump at Killiecrankie, and mountain biking in the forests.
October, in Faskally Wood. It sells out — book well ahead.