Dufftown and Keuth

Dufftown is the very heart of whisky country. There are no less than five distilleries either in the town or immediately around it and it is a mecca for enthusiasts. It is, however, a beautiful town in its own right, with its fine clocktower and the ruins of Balvenie Castle. This is a great place for walkers with wide, fast rivers, lovely glens and rolling hills building up to the great bulk of Ben Rinnes.

An old heritage railway line runs northeeast through the hills to Keith. Astride the main road to Aberdeen, Keith has two separate town squares as well as four distilleries of its own. Heading in the opposite direction from Dufftown the hills of Moray rise into the Cairngorms National Park; this part of Moray is covered in our Glenlivet and Tomintoul section.