Parking
Start at the Garten Woods car park on the B970, opposite the Boat of Garten road junction. The official leaflet marks it as the starting point for the red circuit.
Overview
About Garten Woods Trail
Why go
- Short, marked woodland circuit with only gentle inclines
- A complete loop that fits into about an hour
Heads up
- No lochside or summit stop; the payoff is the woodland walk
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Cairngorms map
Full mapElevation206–238 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 Garten Woods 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
Garten Woods and the Two Lochs0:00 / 0:27
“You're approaching Garten Woods car park, the start of a forest circuit linking Loch Mallachie and Loch Garten.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Cairngorms Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Boat of Garten and the Spey
- A Crown Among the Needles
- The Jay’s Hidden Oaks
- The Boat in Boat of Garten
- 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 Garten Woods Trail
A short woodland loopGarten Woods is a 2-mile (3.
Garten Woods is a 2-mile (3.2 km) circular walk from the B970 car park through Boat of Garten woods. The Cairngorms National Park Authority rates it Moderate and allows about one hour; the route follows forest tracks with a few short, gentle inclines. Choose it for a short woodland walk, not a loch shore or summit viewpoint.
Follow the red routeHead east on the Speyside Way, then follow the red Garten Woods waymarks as the circuit turns…
Head east on the Speyside Way, then follow the red Garten Woods waymarks as the circuit turns back through the forest to the same car park. The route shares paths with the blue Osprey Trail, and the green Loch Mallachie loop is a separate walk farther east. Keep to the red markers at junctions so you finish the short circuit rather than continuing toward Loch Garten.
Give capercaillie spaceFrom April to mid-August, keep dogs on a short lead and on the paths in Garten Woods to avoid…
From April to mid-August, keep dogs on a short lead and on the paths in Garten Woods to avoid disturbing nesting capercaillie. It is an easy walk underfoot, but this seasonal wildlife rule is important throughout the woods.
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.
