Aviemore
Drab gateway town & outdoor centre
Sadly, Aviemore doesn’t live up to its Cairngorms National Park surroundings, even if the town's strip-malls and coniferous backdrop give it a whiff of Rocky Mountain Canada.
For the most part it’s a soulless place largely developed in the 1960s and not one that justifies lingering.
It does however have plenty of all the kinds of outdoor shops, cafes and restaurants you’d expect (including the Old Bridge Inn), and so provides a useful pit-stop before heading to the hills.