What is the Cairngorm National Park, and why should you visit?

Laggan is one of Scotland’s favourite trail centres. It offers great trails for families and less experienced riders with the green route, and the amazing new blue and red grade trails allow riders to have fun progressing up to the classic rocky Laggan trails. The black route is an absolute classic, blurring the boundaries between technical cross country and enduro – it has flow but you need to find it between all the technical rock features! Laggan is a popular venue for the Scottish Enduro series, with the steep and rocky trails being a favourite of riders, putting it on the map as a must ride for technical trail and enduro riders. There is a good café on site, and its location halfway between Aviemore and Fort William makes it a great way of linking the popular outdoor towns for mountain bikers.

Glenlivet’s location at the northern edge of the national park gives it a different feel – its more remote, and the trails pass over the tops of the lower more rolling hills, but hidden in the forest are some delights. Glenlivet has some great cross country trails that allow a longer ride than many trail centres. The trails have been evolving though, and over recent years Biek Glenlivet have built 'Bazzas Berms', a fantastic jump and berm laden blue trail, The Orange Jump line - a 1km jumptrail that is great for building skills, and the exciting new Keiran's Line - a progressive trail with pretty huge jumps. Their are also numerous handbuild enduro trails to explore. Glenlivet’s café is surrounded by great wee skills trails to keep kids lapping while parents take time to enjoy lunch, making this a great place for an active family day out.

In summer 2023, after many years of interest from riders, Cairngorm Mountain developed bike facilities. The Cairngorm Mountain Bike Park is a bit different, having a real focus on being a family bike park, with lift assisted (by magic carpet lift!) gravity blue and green trails, as well as flowing blue and reds with berms and jumps, all with the scenic surroundings of the Cairngorm Mountains and Glenmore. So whether you have a family and are looking for accessible high quality trails, or an experienced rider wanting a day of riding fun flow trails in a Scottish Mountain location, Cairngorm Mountain is worth a look!

The vast network of easier tracks and trails makes the area great for longer gravel rides between communities and out into the wider landscape. Add in some great cafes and the Cairngorms could be the perfect place to get the miles in through the inspiring landscape around the Cairngorm mountains.

Visit Cairngorms has been working with local bike shops to collate a collection of off road cycle routes on generally well surfaced gravel tracks. These routes have been planned to avoid sensitive habitats to reduce disturbance to nature, building a network of great rides from villages through inspiring landscapes, visiting great cafes along the way.

The Cairngorms is well set up for families with attractions like Landmark and Kincraig wildlife park.

The accessible routes in the area make family cycles a great way to spend an active day out. Hire a bike from one of the great bike shops in the area and explore the area, stopping for a break at cafes and viewpoints along the way. Popular routes include the Old Logging way to Glenmore and the Speyside Way that has some good riding for families between Kingussie Aviemore and Boat of Garten, on easy well maintained and relatively flat trails.

For good simple fun, the village of Boat of Garten has an amazing Pumptrack that is well worth a visit or linking into a ride along the Speyside Way from Aviemore. For a step up to singletrack, trails Annagach Woods in Grantown in Spey has a series of short fun trails from green to red grade, or Laggan and Glenlivet are have great options for all abilities.

The Cairngorms area has some truly classic Scottish trails - singletrack trails weaving their way through beautiful rolling forests and out into the rocky lower slopes of the Cairngorm mountains. The landscape constantly changes, and inspiring views are guaranteed around every corner, whether the mountain panorama, a tranquil loch or a passing glimpse into the Scots pines with the forest floor laden with blaeberries. The Badenoch and Strathspey area around Aviemore has a great network of paths that can be linked to make great routes. To the East, Ballater has gained a reputation as a technical trail riding destination, with the village well set up for mountain bike visitors and brilliant trails like Heartbreak ridge. For more information on the eastern Cairngorms check out our Aberdeenshire Ride Guide

To help you plan your visit to the North Highlands we have collated the official trail centre maps and rider-driven apps which can help you discover the best trails across the area.

Rider populated apps are a great way to discover new trails however they may not be up to date with trail conditions and we recommend doing further research before you ride.

Please ride responsibly on all trails - follow our Do The Ride Thing guidance.