Parking
Use the village centre car park beside the Linn of Dee road. The route starts at Mar Road in Auchendryne, a short walk away; follow the pedestrian ramp to the A93 and take the lane just left of the church.
Overview
About Creag Choinnich Trail
Why go
- A true summit and wide Dee valley views from a Braemar start.
Heads up
- A steep, sometimes rough climb, with rocky footing near the top.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Cairngorms map
Full mapElevation335–523 m
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
3 active Cairngorms alerts
- CautionStorm Boelo high windsStorm Boelo will bring extremely windy weather to the Cairngorms; take extra care and limit time outdoors. - The Park Authority expects the very windy weather to last until Monday 26 October.Official details
- ClosureGlenmore wildfire closures and dangerous treesWildfire damage has closed Allt Mor car park and the path to Sugarbowl/Utsi’s Bridge; keep out of the closed area.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Cairngorms Tour Guide
Your drive to Creag Choinnich Trail, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Cairngorms National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Cairngorms audio tourRecorded for this trailhead
Braemar, the Flying Stag and Kindrochit0:00 / 0:31
“You're nearing the centre of Braemar, a good place to combine a meal with a short wander. The Flying Stag, the public pub at the Fife Arms hotel, serves Scottish favourites such as fish and chips and pies.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Cairngorms Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Braemar Highland Games Pavilion
- Morrone Birkwood from Chapel Brae
- Braemar Castle’s Pink Rooms
- Loch Callater from Auchallater
- 298 audio storiesacross Cairngorms’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Red Deer, Reindeer, Osprey, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 260 trails, 90 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Creag Choinnich Trail
A steep little summit from BraemarCreag Choinnich is a short, steep out-and-back from Braemar to a 538 m summit cairn.
Creag Choinnich is a short, steep out-and-back from Braemar to a 538 m summit cairn. Allow around two hours. The mapped climb is about 1.5 km each way, so budget close to 3 km (1.9 miles) return; shorter 2.5–2.7 km figures appear for this walk, but they do not match the current mapped line. With roughly 200 m of climbing, it is a proper hill walk packed into half a day, not a flat village stroll.
Follow the marked climbFrom the village centre, cross the A93 by the pedestrian ramp and take the lane just left of…
From the village centre, cross the A93 by the pedestrian ramp and take the lane just left of the church. After about 300 m, where the lane bends right, continue straight through the large gate into pine woodland. At the fingerpost, take the left branch for Creag Choinnich; straight ahead leads toward the separate Lion’s Face route. The path climbs steeply past a bench. When the Cromlins path joins from the left, keep straight uphill. The woods thin and open a view back over Braemar.
Keep going to the cairnThe upper path turns rocky.
The upper path turns rocky. An outcrop on the right can look like the top, but the main path passes it and continues to the true summit cairn. From there the Dee valley opens toward Balmoral, with Lochnagar to the right and Invercauld Castle to the left; northward, look for Beinn a’ Bhùird and the sharp granite tors on Ben Avon. For a useful summit photo, keep the cairn or foreground rock in the frame so the wide valley has scale.
Name and local traditionCreag Choinnich is glossed as “mossy hill.”
Creag Choinnich is glossed as “mossy hill.” The Braemar community paths follow in the footsteps of competitors in the village’s annual hill race, and Creag Choinnich is the lower, easier hill route in that local mix. The summit’s rounded, wooded approach makes the open view feel bigger when you reach it.
Getting there and backStart at Mar Road in Auchendryne, a short walk from Braemar’s village centre car park beside…
Start at Mar Road in Auchendryne, a short walk from Braemar’s village centre car park beside the Linn of Dee road. Retrace the same path to return; the Lion’s Face and Cromlins circuit is a separate extension, not part of this route distance. Dogs may accompany walkers under Scotland’s outdoor access rules, provided they are kept under proper control. Expect steps, narrow rough stretches and rocky footing near the top.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Cairngorms
159 sightingsRed DeerMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
63 sightingsReindeerMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
102 sightingsOspreyMost seen around 5 PMSighting map
37 sightingsBlack GrouseMost seen around 4 AMSighting map
72 sightingsRed GrouseMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
82 sightingsPine MartenMost seen around 9 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Cairngorms. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
