The Cairngorm reindeer herd lives on the mountainside above Glenmore, eight kilometres east of Aviemore, and it is the only free-ranging reindeer herd in Britain. The animals graze the open hill year-round, they are not fenced in, and they are tame enough to walk up to and feed by hand.
For most visitors to Strathspey it is the thing they remember.
Reindeer were native to Scotland and died out here centuries ago. In 1952 a Swedish Sámi reindeer herder, Mikel Utsi, visited the Cairngorms, recognised the ground as suitable — the plateau carries the lichen reindeer eat and a subarctic climate — and reintroduced a small herd with his wife, Dr Ethel Lindgren.
The herd has grown and been managed continuously ever since, and the family who run it now have done so for decades. It sits at around 150 animals, split between the free-ranging hill herd and a smaller group in a paddock.
The main experience, and the one to book. A guide takes a group up onto the hill from a meeting point on the ski road, and the herd — which knows what a group of people carrying feed means — comes to meet you.
You stand among them, feed them from your hand, and hear about how the herd is managed. The animals are entirely unbothered by people, which is the strange and lovely part; nothing about it feels like a wildlife encounter arranged for visitors, because it isn’t one.
Practicalities: the walk up is short but it is a hill walk over rough, often wet ground, and it takes about twenty minutes each way. Wear boots and waterproofs regardless of the weather in Aviemore.
Booking is essential in summer and strongly advised at any time. Trips run to a set timetable and they fill.
Weather: trips are cancelled in severe conditions. In winter the herd may be lower down or the trip may run differently.
At Glenmore there is a visitor centre with an exhibition on the herd’s history and reindeer generally, a shop, and a paddock with a small number of animals for anyone who cannot manage the hill walk. Paddock entry is separate and cheaper, and it is a reasonable alternative with very young children or limited mobility.
Worth knowing: because the herd is free-ranging, walkers on the Glenmore and ski-road paths sometimes meet reindeer without paying for anything. It is luck rather than a plan, but it happens often enough to be worth keeping an eye out for.
They wander widely across the northern Cairngorms, and in bad weather they come lower down.
Spring — calves are born in May, and calves are exactly as appealing as you would expect.
Summer — the busiest season and the one that needs booking furthest ahead.
Autumn — the rut, when the bulls are in antler and in poor temper; the trips adapt accordingly.
Winter — the reindeer are in their element and the hill is at its most atmospheric. Some of the herd famously appear at Christmas events around the country.
By bus: the Stagecoach service from outside Aviemore railway station runs up the ski road to Glenmore.
By car: eight kilometres up the ski road, with parking at the centre.
By bike: forest tracks from Aviemore through Rothiemurchus to Glenmore, about ten kilometres.
Boots and waterproofs for the hill trip, in any month.
Dogs are not permitted on the hill trips.
The reindeer are large animals with antlers and should be treated with the respect any livestock deserves, particularly in the autumn rut.
Midges near the loch and in the forest from June to September.
They are free-ranging rather than wild — a managed herd introduced in 1952 that grazes the open hill without fencing, and is handled regularly.
Yes, for the hill trips, particularly in summer. They run to a timetable and they fill.
Short but genuinely uphill over rough, often wet ground — about twenty minutes each way. Boots and waterproofs are needed.
Yes, a paddock at the centre with a small number of animals, at a lower price.
Sometimes. The herd ranges freely across the northern Cairngorms and walkers do meet them on the paths, but it is luck rather than a plan.