Scotland's top adventure playground?

The Aviemore and Cairngorm district of the Highlands is undergoing a major transformation. Dominic Roskrow gives this special report

If you've visited Aviemore in recent years then chances are you won't have made plans to rush back.

From Scotland's most progressive ski resort in the ‘60s, complete with state of the art hotels and leisure facilities, it has over the last decade or so most visually represented the declining fortunes of the area's ski industry.

With tourists flocking off to Europe and America for their piste action, and increasingly unpredictable winters making skiing in the Cairngorms something of a lottery, Aviemore has been in not so slow decline. Its accommodation, sharp and progressive 40 years ago, became, to borrow a Royal phrase, ugly carbuncles blighting the route from Fort William in to the Speyside region.

Simply put, Aviemore had had its day.

Fast forward to 2004 and an ambitious double whammy that will put Aviemore firmly back on the map as a tourist destination. The area is benefiting from both a multimillion pound building investment and a new promotional alliance that is bringing together a range of attractions aimed at making the whole district arguably Scotland's biggest adventure playground.

At the heart of the area's change in fortunes is a £30 million ($52 million) redevelopment programme by Macdonald Hotels and Resorts in to a new project known as Aviemore Highland Resort.

In effect the old hotels have gone. In its place a variety of new accommodation has been built, including top quality hotel rooms and self-catering chalets in secluded woods around the complex...

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• By : Dominic Roskrow
• In : Best of Scotland
• Issue : 16
• Page : 44
• Words : 2,423