It's over 40 miles and a taxi would be somewhat expensive. You could take the bus - airport bus into Aberdeen then 201 to Ballater but that would take 3 hours and still wouldn't put you where you want to be. Hiring a car is not a good idea and in any case you'd have several days of it sitting there doing nothing except creating debt.

I think you are going to have to get a taxi - and given the area it will have to be an Aberdeen based company. You can get the bus back into Aberdeen though

Oh, and I wouldn't recommend driving to Edinburgh unless you intend taking your time and visiting places. Parking in Edinburgh is expensive. Take the train from Aberdeen.

I assume you are staying at Craigendarroch -if so, you will love LOVE it.

But you most definitely 100% will need a car if staying there. Ballater is a tiny town -- you'll need to get a car in Aberdeen. A bit better planning would have had you flying into Scotland a day early, resting up and collecting a car the next day after a good night's rest.

If your flights are already booked, I'd be tempted to 'eat' one night at Craigendarroch. Stay the night in Aberdeen and then pick up a car early the next morning for the drive to Ballater.

If you are just going to Edinburgh, you should drop the car back in A'deen and take the train down. But there is soooooooo much to see/do enroute, I'd drive it myself and drop the car when I got to EDI and take public transport into the city.

We hopefully will not need to go back to Aberdeen as we are staying in Edinburgh for a few days and on to London from there.. We won't be needing a car while in Edinburgh as everything is within walking distance from our hotel. From there we are taking an East Coast train to London. Am I mistaken in thinking there are no car rentals in Ballater? I think the taxi from Aberdeen airport to Ballater may be the best option as you stated alanRow.

How did you plan on getting from Ballater to Edinburgh?

You are going to have to return to Aberdeen if you are taking a train to Edinburgh.

There may be a small local car hire firm in Ballater (I've never seen one though) but if so it would not allow one way rentals so you could not take the car to Edinburgh (or drop it in Aberdeen). I do think there is a small local garage/car hire firm in Banchory - but again you could not leave the car in either Aberdeen or Edinburgh. Banchory is about 40 minutes from Ballater.

"We won't be needing a car while in Edinburgh as everything is within walking distance from our hotel." You wouldn't need a car there even for the sites that are not walking distance. Edinburgh isn't your problem, Ballater and Deeside is

janisj, are you saying we definately need a car for Ballater? We were thinking about hiring a bike for a day or so to go sightseeing. I assumed we could walk into town on a daily basis if we wanted to. We dont plan on venturing too far from the resort, which is Craigendarroch! Im glad to hear its a good place!

Yes, I'm saying you will need a car if you are staying in Ballater for 6 days. Or, you'll need to hire a drive/guide. Or rely on limited bus service.

The town has enough of interest for maybe one afternoon. We are talking a small place - probably less than 1500 total population, w/ nothing but a few shops and restaurants. It is in a beautiful area -- but to see anything in the area easily . . . Balmoral, the Castle Trail, Braemar, anything much, you'll need wheels. And I don' t mean bicycles

If you just mean to chill and not see anything you won't need a car. But you can't 'sightsee' w/o one. The nearest 'site' is Balmoral which is about 10 miles up the road. Everything else is miles away.

Craigendarroch is a really lovely/comfortable resort (I've stayed there 3 times for 1 week each) but you'll want to get out and about most days (or every day IMO).

Oh - and there is still the question of how you plan on traveling to Edinburgh?

So maybe we should get a car from the Aberdeen airport and keep it for the time we are in Ballater and drive it to Edinburgh and drop it when we get there? Are there many roundabout's or challenging driving situations between Aberdeen and Ballater and Ballater to Edinburgh? I feel pretty confident in my driving abilities, but it's a whole different ballgame there.

The driving is super easy - for the most part. Unfortunately the only 'complicated' bits are from the airport to the A93. The A93 is the road that travels along the river Dee and goes to Ballater. No problem along the A93 at all. But to get from the airport to the A93 is pretty complicated for a newbie. Several roundabouts. Total trip is between 90 mins and 2 hours, but 99% of the 'issues' are in the first 6 or 7 miles.

That is why I suggested 'eating' a night and not driving until the next morning after you've recovered from the jetlag.

Then, for the trip from Ballater to Edinburgh - you won't have any trouble because you'd be totally used to the car/driving. You can drop the car at EDI airport and not have to drive IN Edinburgh at all.

We stayed 3 nights in Ballater last week (unfortunately coinciding with some fairly nasty weather). Janis is right when she says it's a small place - there really is very little to see in the village, apart from the Old Railway Station museum which has an interesting display related to Quenn Victoria's trips to the area.

You absolutely do need a car to see this area. We just used Ballater as a base to visit the surrounding castles, distilleries and mountain scenery and I'd have to say that's pretty much all it's good for - not really a destination in it's own right.

We were rather disappointed by the sparse choice of affordable restaurants in the village, though we did eat one night at the Hilton Craigendarroch mentioned above (it was OK - good service but little atmosphere in the Clubhouse restaurant - the other on-site restaurant was too formal for our tastes).

Gordon, which castles did you visit? I've been looking at a few around Ballater that interest me. Balmoral is not one of them however, as you can't really see much on the inside. Well, everything you did there is pretty much what is on our agenda while there(6 days). It's our "chill" time before we head south to bigger cities. Any tips on the best points of your visit would be great! We did reserve a car at the Aberdeen airport, so I hope my jetlag will not come into play too bad!

Melanie - we only visited Crathes castle while in the area (which was excellent). We didn't go to Balmoral as the weather was unpredicable and, as you correctly mentiond, it's mainly the grounds that are accessible to visitors. There are many other castles in the area of course (Castle Fraser, Drum Castle, Braemar, Craigiever to name but a few).

We went to Royal Lochnagar and Fettercairn distilleries, both of which were very good (much smaller and more personalised tours that we've seen elsewhere).

A great (but long) day out from Ballater we did was to drive over to Aviemore and go up the top of Cairngorm mountain on the funicular railway. Plenty of snow at the top when we were there 2 weeks ago. On a clear day the views are amazing. Be advised that some of the roads over the mountain passes are narrow (single track in places), twisty and demand skill and attention.

Just curious by the way how Janis correctly guessed you were staying at the Craigendarroch Hilton (which I'd never even heard of until we visited Ballater). There are many hotels and B&B's in and around Ballater - is there something particular about Craigendarroch that attracts overseas visitors?

"is there something particular about Craigendarroch that attracts overseas visitors?"

It is a high end resort that has timeshare units in the grounds. So a lot of North Americans can trade for it through RCI and others.

Unfortunately, many who trade for it think it is much nearer Aberdeen than is the case (because of the way it is listed in the RCI catalogue). It is a very nice place.

MelanieZ: I've been to just about every castle in the region. A few of the best are Fraser, Craigievar (one of my VERY favorites but maybe not for a first timer w/ limited time), Dunnottar, Crathes (the castle is very nice but the garden is almost incomparable), Drum, Braemar, Balmoral (Maybe not usually a 'must' but is is practically next door to where you are staying), Fyvie, Corgarff, Huntly, Haddo House, Kildrummy, Leith Hall, Tolquhon . . .and others.

Glamis on your way down to Edinburgh

The ones in BOLD would be my 'must list' for first timers if you are running short of time --but all would be worth a visit.

Gordon- Janisj is correct. We have a Hilton timeshare and received enough bonus points when we purchased it for a European vacation. There are 3 Hilton resorts in Scotland and the Craigendarroch seemed to suit our needs best.

Thank you both for your input! I will take it all to heart! We also go south to Edinburgh, London, Amsterdam, and Cologne Germany! So, any experiences there would be appreciated also! We have more of a desire to do as the locals do and relax and enjoy rather than rush around doing the touristy things. The castles are the exception in Scotland. The only touristy thing I would like to do in London is the Tower.

I have one other suggestion. You could hire a private driver. There's a guy in Westhill does it, for example. You could mx and match, not worry about driving but still have some flexibility about what you see and where you go. And they can either take you to Aberdeen to catch a train to Edinburgh or take you all the way.

The area is best for outdoors stuf. Try a walk round Loch Muick one day.

Another thought. At a cost, I'm sure the Craigendarroch will send someone to fetch you.

Craigievar would be my castle of choice.

Yes, a driver/guide would be great. But you are there 6 days so having a driver for at least 5 days plus to/from Aberdeen or Edinburgh would cost quite a bit. Might be worth it if you really don't want to drive.

Plus a local will make MUCH better time than you will, so you could squeeze in a lot more sightseeing

I've been to most of the castles in Aberdeenshire, and Crathes gardens are amazing. I did not enjoy Balmoral at all. Glamis is my absolute favorite, though not in Aberdeenshire.

And I haven't been to Craigievar, but I'm going next visit.

I was thinking more of a driver to get you there; then maybe one or two days driven sightseeing. Also worth asking Craigendarroch if they have any ideas.

". . . then maybe one or two days driven sightseeing."

But w/o a driver they'd sort of stuck in Ballater, which while a nice place its not really worth more than a morning or afternoon walk around. That's why they'd probably want a driver for several days.

Probably no issue since Melanie decided to pick up a car at ABZ.

Yes, we did reserve a car from the Aberdeen airport and will be keeping it all week dropping it off in Edinburgh. 30 days now and we will be on our way! Again, thanks for all the helpful input!

OK. Let me know if I can help at all. This is, pretty much, my home patch

Hi MZ,

Have you considered staying the night in Aberdeen?