Macdonald Aviemore Resort
Macdonald Aviemore Resort is a four-star resort in the centre of Aviemore, in the Cairngorms National Park in the Scottish Highlands. It's three hotels and a set of self-catering woodland lodges arranged around a shared leisure complex, with a heated pool and flume, a four-storey soft play centre and Spey Valley Shopping all a few minutes' walk apart. The draw is the setting: a year-round base for skiing, watersports, wildlife and walking, directly opposite Aviemore station.
On this page
Is it worth it?
The quick read before the detail: who the resort suits, how the childcare model works and the facts to skim first.
What you're really buying at Aviemore is the location. The resort sits in the centre of a Highland village inside the UK's largest national park, opposite the railway station and 45 minutes from Inverness, which makes it a year-round base for the Cairngorms: skiing and sledging in winter, watersports, wildlife, cycling and walking the rest of the year. On site there's a heated lagoon pool with a flume and wave machine and a four-storey soft play centre, both free and unlimited for guests, three restaurants, a cinema and a shopping hall, so a wet day is easily filled without leaving.
The thing to understand before you book is that this is a self-supervised resort, not a supervised-childcare one. There's no crèche and no kids' club: the soft play and the pool are yours to use as much as you like, but you're in them with the children throughout. It's also a large, older estate, and the two things guests raise most are value once weekend supplements and extras are added, and dated décor in places. Set against that are strong family facilities and the best base-camp location on the Scotland shortlist. You'll get the most from it if you want to be out in the Cairngorms every day and treat the pool and soft play as the wet-weather backup rather than the whole holiday.
Best for
You want a central Cairngorms base for skiing, watersports, wildlife and walking, with a big free pool and soft play on site and the train station across the road.
Maybe not for
You want staffed childcare so you can have a morning off, a beach holiday, or a slick, recently-built resort. This is a large, characterful, older estate.
Best ages
Babies upwards for the pool and soft play, though you supervise throughout. The bunk rooms and the outdoor activities suit older children just as well.
What stands out
A year-round Highland base opposite the station, with a heated flume pool and a four-storey soft play centre, free and unlimited for guests.
What to check
The value once weekend supplements and extras are added, and which of the three hotels or the lodges fits your family and budget.
Where is it?
In the centre of Aviemore, in the Cairngorms National Park, about 45 minutes south of Inverness and just off the A9.
Quick facts for families
What the resort is like
Where it sits, how the three hotels and the lodges are laid out, and what the ground is like with a pushchair.
Macdonald Aviemore Resort is run by Macdonald Hotels & Resorts and sits in the centre of Aviemore, in Strathspey, within the Cairngorms National Park, the largest national park in the UK. It's a big estate of roughly 332 rooms and units in total: three four-star hotels, the Aviemore Hotel, the Highlands Hotel and the Morlich Hotel, plus 18 self-catering woodland lodges, all on one site (postcode PH22 1PN). The resort is directly opposite Aviemore railway station and about 350 yards from the centre of the village, just off the A9, the main north-south Highland road.
The hotels and lodges are arranged around a shared central spine that holds the leisure and pool complex, the four-storey soft play, Spey Valley Shopping, The Coffee Shop, the cinema and an outdoor play park. Everything is within a few minutes' walk of everything else, which is a large part of the appeal with young children: you can move between your room, the pool, a meal and the shops without getting in the car. The woodland lodges sit in pine forest on the resort grounds, between the Morlich Hotel and the play park, with a direct walk on foot into the neighbouring Craigellachie Nature Reserve.
One point of confusion worth clearing up. Macdonald also runs two further, physically separate resorts nearby under the same brand: Macdonald Spey Valley Resort, home to the golf course, Dalfaber Bar & Kitchen and The Clubhouse, and Macdonald Lochanhully Resort, a set of woodland cabins at Carrbridge about 15 minutes away. These are cross-sold heavily on the Aviemore pages and you can drive over to eat, but they aren't part of the three-hotel-and-lodges resort this guide covers.
Getting around with a pushchair is easy across the central resort, which is flat and paved and walkable between buildings in a couple of minutes. The lodges area and the walk into Craigellachie are forest paths, so how they suit a pushchair depends on the ground on the day. All three hotels are described as fully accessible to wheelchair users, and some ground-floor lodges are accessible if you call ahead to reserve one; for a specific access need it's worth contacting the resort directly, as the finer detail isn't set out publicly. For the wider Highlands, its seasons and where else to go with children, see our Scotland guide.
Every restaurant and bar
Each place to eat and drink on the core resort, what they do for children, and how booking works.
Meals here are paid rather than all-inclusive: breakfast comes with a hotel room, and lodge guests get breakfast included each morning at a nearby hotel restaurant, but lunch and dinner you buy across the outlets below. Two proper restaurants anchor the resort, alongside a couple of casual outlets, a bar and a coffee shop, all on the central spine.
| Venue | What they serve | When it’s open |
|---|---|---|
| Aspects Restaurant (Highlands Hotel) | The signature restaurant: contemporary Scottish cooking with seasonal ingredients, steaks and 21-day-matured Scotch beef, wild white fish and vegetarian and vegan options. A children’s menu or buffet, and a Sunday roast lunch. Terrace dining in summer. | 5pm to 9pm daily, plus Sunday roast noon to 3pm. Booking recommended. |
| Giovanni’s Italian Ristorante (Morlich Hotel) | Stone-baked handmade pizzas and fresh pasta, a kids’ menu and vegetarian and vegan options. Takeaway too, including delivery to the lodges. Consistently the most praised place to eat here. | 5pm to 9pm daily. Booking recommended. |
| Highland Fish Bar (Aviemore Hotel) | A fish and chips eatery: freshly battered local fish and daily specials for a relaxed family meal. A seasonal outlet, open in the busier parts of the year. | Seasonal, in the busier months. |
| Spey Burger (Aviemore Hotel) | A separate American-style diner on the ground floor: burgers, burritos and milkshakes, with an adjoining family lounge bar. Also seasonal. | Seasonal, in the busier months. |
| The Laggan Whisky & Cocktail Bar (Highlands Hotel) | A malt whisky and gin specialist with cocktails and a log fire, indoor and al fresco. It serves afternoon tea and food through the day as well as drinks in the evening. | Noon till late, daily. |
| The Coffee Shop (resort centre) | Hot and cold drinks, cakes and sandwiches, beside Spey Valley Shopping. Walk-in. | 10am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday. |
Aspects, in the Highlands Hotel, is the signature restaurant, contemporary Scottish cooking built around seasonal ingredients and 21-day-matured Scotch beef, with a children's menu or buffet and a Sunday roast lunch served from noon to 3pm on top of the usual evening service. Giovanni's, on the ground floor of the Morlich Hotel, is the Italian, stone-baked handmade pizzas and fresh pasta with a kids' menu, and it's the one guests single out as better than they expected for a resort restaurant. It does takeaway too, including delivery to the lodges, which is a useful thing on an evening nobody wants to get the children dressed again.
The Aviemore Hotel has two separate casual outlets that run seasonally: the Highland Fish Bar, which opened in summer 2024 for fish and chips, and Spey Burger, an American-style diner doing burgers, burritos and milkshakes with a family lounge bar alongside. Both open in the busier parts of the year rather than all year round. The Laggan, in the Highlands Hotel, is the whisky and cocktail bar, and it also serves afternoon tea, a three-tier stand of finger sandwiches, scones with jam and clotted cream and cakes, with Prosecco or Champagne options. The Coffee Shop by the shopping hall handles drinks, cakes and sandwiches through the day.
A short drive away at the sister Spey Valley Resort there are two more places to eat if you fancy a change: Dalfaber Bar & Kitchen, serving Scotbeef beef aged a minimum of 21 days on the bone, with a kids' menu and Sunday lunch, and The Clubhouse at the golf course, open daily from 8am to 7pm with Cairngorm views and non-golfers welcome. Both are off the core site, so treat them as an outing rather than something on your doorstep.
How booking works
The two main restaurants, Aspects and Giovanni's, take reservations online or by calling 0344 879 9152 and choosing option 3, or by emailing [email protected]. The casual Aviemore Hotel outlets, The Laggan and The Coffee Shop are walk-in. If you're after an early sitting to suit small children, book it ahead rather than turning up, especially in school holidays when the resort is busiest.
Rooms and suites
Every room type across the three hotels and the lodges, then which suit a family with a baby or toddler.
Accommodation splits four ways, and which one you book shapes the stay more than the room grade does. Every hotel room comes with free Wi-Fi, an en-suite and breakfast. Just one room category on the whole resort publishes a size, the Highlands Deluxe at 21 m², so for the rest the tables below give occupancy rather than a floor area; don't read space into a category name. Toiletries aren't uniform either: ELEMIS is the standard-room baseline, the Highlands Suite has Penhaligon, the Morlich Deluxe and Suite have unbranded fine toiletries and the lodges have their own. The tables are the full line-up by building; the guidance after them is which suit a family.
The one built for families
All 100 rooms here are family rooms, and there's in-room ski storage for winter.
| Room | Sleeps | Size | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard Family Bedroom | Up to 5 (2 adults, 2 children and an infant in a cot) | Not published | Neutral tones, en-suite, breakfast included. In-room ski storage for winter. |
| Family Bunk Room | Up to 4 (2 adults, 2 children) | Not published | A partitioned bunk area with its own flat-screen TV. Some of these rooms have a soft or pop-up bed rather than a bunk. |
The largest, joined to the leisure centre
At 149 rooms this is the biggest of the three, and it's joined directly to the leisure centre under one roof. It's also the only hotel to offer 24-hour room service.
| Room | Sleeps | Size | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard Room | Up to 2 | Not published | Twin or double beds, purple tones, en-suite with a shower or bath. |
| Deluxe Room | Up to 2 adults | 21 m² | A king bed, enhanced ELEMIS toiletries, mineral water, robes and slippers. The only room on the resort with a published size. |
| Family Room | A family of 3 or 4 | Not published | Interconnecting rooms can link up to three together, booked by phone. |
| Highlands Suite | A family | Not published | A private lounge, two flat-screen TVs, mineral water and Penhaligon toiletries. |
The smallest, home to Giovanni's
The Morlich has 65 rooms, sits by the conference centre and hosts Giovanni's on the ground floor. Check-in is earlier here, at 3pm. It's the one hotel that takes no dogs.
| Room | Sleeps | Size | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard Room | 1 or 2 | Not published | Double or king bed, purple tones, some with National Park or Craigellachie Nature Reserve views. |
| Deluxe Room | Up to 2 adults | Not published | Craigellachie views, fine toiletries, robes, a mattress topper and a thick duvet. |
| Morlich Suite | Up to 2 | Not published | A separate seating area, Craigellachie views, robes and slippers. Framed for couples in the official copy. |
Self-catering in the pine forest
The 18 lodges sit in forest on the resort grounds, with outdoor decks, and are described as family and dog friendly. They're self-catering, though breakfast is still included each morning at a hotel restaurant.
| Room | Sleeps | Size | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Two Bed lodge | Up to 4 | Not published | Two bedrooms and two bathrooms, a kitchenette with a microwave and fridge but no oven. Breakfast included each morning at a hotel restaurant. |
| Three Bed lodge | Up to 6 | Not published | All rooms en-suite, a galley kitchen, a Nespresso machine, a wood-burning stove and an outdoor deck. Breakfast included; an earlier 10am check-out. |
For a family, the Aviemore Hotel is the obvious first look, since every room is a family room. The Standard Family Bedroom sleeps up to five, with room for two children and an infant in a cot, and the Family Bunk Room sleeps up to four with a partitioned bunk area and its own TV, which older children tend to love and which won't suit a baby who can't be left on a bunk. The Highlands Hotel also has Family Rooms and the family-focused Highlands Suite, so it's a fair alternative if you want to be next to the leisure centre. If you need a separate room for an older child or a grandparent, interconnecting rooms link up to three together at the Highlands, but they have to be arranged by phone on 0344 879 9152 rather than booked online. Cots are named for the Aviemore Standard Family Bedroom and can be requested more widely, so ask for one when you book. The lodges suit a family that would rather self-cater and have more space, and the Three Bed lodge is the one with the wood-burning stove, though note its earlier 10am check-out.
Pools and leisure
The lagoon pool and its features, the four-storey soft play, the supervision rules and what childcare the resort does and doesn't offer.
The shared leisure complex, called the Lagoon Pool Complex in the resort's navigation and the Aviemore Activity Centre in the hotels' own copy, is the same facility under two names. It's free, unlimited and for resident guests only, not open to non-guests, so it's part of what you're paying for rather than a public pool you share.
For families there's a heated lagoon pool with a toddler pool and shallow end, a waterslide and flume, a wave machine and pool toys, with aqua jets available for hire and the soft play under the same roof. For adults there are poolside sun loungers, a whirlpool bath, a sauna and steam room and a gym; under-16s aren't allowed in the sauna, steam room or whirlpool. Sea scooters can be booked for children through the Leisure Desk on arrival for use in the large lagoon pool, with age restrictions and a charge. The pool's opening hours and its exact dimensions and depth aren't published, so treat those as things to ask about at check-in rather than plan around.
Children are supervised by you, and the pool sets out the ratios plainly: children aged 8 to 16 must be accompanied by an adult of 18 or over on a one-to-three basis, 5 to 7-year-olds one-to-two in the water, and under-fives one-to-one in the water. So a couple with two very young children has both parents in the pool at once, which is worth knowing when you picture how a swim actually goes.
Under one roof with the poolThe four-storey soft play
The four-storey soft play centre is the other headline facility for young children, and like the pool it's included for guests, with no charge or time limit. There's seating overlooking it for adults and a café that runs at busy times, so you can sit with a coffee while they climb. During school holidays an activities programme, arts and crafts and other planned activities, runs in rooms next to the soft play.
The thing to understand before you bookThere's no staffed childcare
Both the soft play and the pool are self-supervised family spaces, not a staffed kids' club or crèche. There are no age-banded sessions, no session times and no entry charge; you use them as much as you like, but you're in them with your children the whole time. That's a real difference from a resort like Crieff Hydro, which runs staffed, regulated childcare you book in sessions. Neither model is better, they just suit different families: unlimited free access with no booking here, against a paid morning off there. Alongside the everyday facilities, school-holiday weeks and seasonal breaks bring a programme of children's entertainment; arts and crafts, a pantomime and an evening kids' disco have all featured in recent years, though there's no fixed schedule to promise ahead of time.
The nearest beach
Loch Morlich as the practical answer to the beach question, then babies and toddlers, everything on site and the days out across the Cairngorms.
This is an inland Highland resort, so there's no beach of its own. The practical answer is Loch Morlich, a freshwater loch about 15 minutes' drive away, also reachable on the six-mile (10 km) Old Logging Way cycle route. Its beach is genuine sand, coarse and pink-tinted from the Cairngorm granite it's ground down from, and it won a Keep Scotland Beautiful Seaside Award in 2009, the first ever given to a freshwater loch and, at around 300m above sea level, the highest-altitude beach to receive one. A watersports centre on the loch runs from Easter to October, with kayaking, sailing, windsurfing, paddleboarding and boat hire.
Babies and toddlers
The everyday things for the youngest are the pool with its toddler pool and shallow end, the four-storey soft play and the outdoor play park. The resort has long pitched itself at this age group: a Toddler-Tastic break aimed at pre-schoolers was a named package in the past, though it isn't currently bookable under that name, and today's general family-breaks copy still promises the pool with its flume, the soft play and the cinema for younger children. Remember the pool ratios above: an under-five is one-to-one with an adult in the water, so you're hands-on rather than watching from a lounger.
Cots are confirmed for the Aviemore Hotel's Standard Family Bedroom and can be requested more widely, so ask for one when you book. For specifics like high chairs, baby changing, baby food or weaning and any in-room babysitting, check directly with the resort when you book. A few family things cost extra or need arranging ahead: the sea scooters in the pool, interconnecting rooms (by phone), dog fees where they apply, beauty treatments and tickets to the nearby attractions, which are sometimes sold separately and sometimes bundled into a family package.
On resortThings to do
Beyond the pool and soft play, the central spine keeps a wet day busy. There's an outdoor play park between the lodges and the Morlich Hotel, with adult seating and a direct route into Craigellachie Nature Reserve; in school holidays a partner runs extra outdoor activities alongside it, mini archery, grass sledging and bike hire, at a charge. The Spey Valley Cinema next to Giovanni's is a 600-seat screen showing the latest films, walk-up or pre-booked, with popcorn, snacks and a licensed bar, and it's available for private hire. An ice rink, a 20m by 12m marquee rink, runs in the grounds, operated by a third party at a charge and pre-booking advised; it's seasonal, typically through winter into spring. Spey Valley Shopping is a department-store-style hall with ladies', gents' and children's clothing, homewares, a food and drink hall and gifts, and brands including Barbour, Dubarry, Elemis and Neom, open 10am to 5pm Monday to Saturday (10am to 4pm in January). There are also two ELEMIS beauty therapy rooms on site, with treatments such as the Deeper than Deep Hot Stone Massage in 25, 55 or 85-minute options, booked on 01479 815275.
Off resortThe area and days out
The resort's biggest asset is really its position as a base for the wider Cairngorms, the largest national park in the UK and a year-round outdoor hub. Several of the best family attractions are a short drive: Highland Wildlife Park at Kincraig (about 15 minutes), a drive-round reserve of deer, elk and bison plus walk-round areas with a polar bear, red pandas and snow monkeys; Landmark Forest Adventure Park at Carrbridge (under 15 minutes), with Dinosaur Kingdom, the Bamboozeleum illusion attraction, waterslides, rope courses for a range of heights and a nature trail through the pinewoods; and Cairngorm Mountain (around 20 minutes), where the funicular railway, 30km of ski trails and winter sledding and tubing sit alongside year-round walking with long views.
Closer still, Rothiemurchus Estate is about five minutes away, with quad biking, river tubing, guided 4x4 driving, fly fishing with a kids' fish-feeding option and Little Landys mini Land Rover driving for ages 6 to 11. The Strathspey Steam Railway departs from Aviemore station right opposite the resort, a 10-mile restored line to Boat of Garten. The Cairngorm Reindeer Centre (about 15 minutes) has Britain's only free-roaming reindeer herd, and RSPB Loch Garten (about 25 minutes) has ospreys with CCTV screens, telescopes and daily talks. The Highland Folk Museum at Newtonmore (about 20 minutes) is Britain's first open-air museum, with 35-plus historical buildings and free entry, and the Aviemore Kart Raceway (about 5 minutes) takes children from age four, with kiddie karts for age three to drive solo. There are also escape rooms nearby and a run of visitor-welcoming distilleries and breweries, from Glenlivet and Glenfiddich to the local Kinrara Gin and Cairngorm Ale.
For the outdoors themselves, the options run from gorge walking, river tubing and white-water rafting to kayaking, canoeing and paddleboarding on Loch Morlich, sailing and windsurfing on Loch Insh and fly fishing at Rothiemurchus. Family walks include Craigellachie Nature Reserve straight from the resort, the three-mile Loch an Eilein loop past an island castle ruin, the two-mile Cairngorm summit walk, the Green Loch via Ryvoan Pass and the 2.25-mile Loch Vaa circuit off the A95. In winter it's a proper ski base: Cairngorm Mountain, about 20 minutes away, has 30km of trails, and the resort partners with Ski Norwest, whose ski and snowboard school is based at the Cairngorm Ski Area itself, for lessons and lift passes; hire is separate, from an equipment rental depot at the kart raceway, open 4pm to 6pm daily during the season for evening or early-morning fitting and collection. The Spey Valley Championship golf course, an 18-hole, 7,153-yard par-72 Dave Thomas design that hosted the Scottish Hydro Challenge from 2009 to 2018 and has been voted the most picturesque course in the UK, sits at the separate sister resort a short drive away rather than on this site.
Loves and gripes
What comes up for and against across guest reviews, how it compares on the Scotland shortlist, the journey in and the weather by month.
The resort's own pages show a Google rating of 3.9 out of 5 from around 1,335 reviews, a middling score that fits the picture below: strong family facilities and location alongside a real and repeated pattern of value and upkeep complaints. The general impression on TripAdvisor is broadly middling too, and some feedback suggests the smaller Morlich Hotel and the lodges are a little more consistently liked than the larger, busier Aviemore Hotel.
What families rate
- The central Cairngorms location, in the village and opposite the station, which comes up again and again as the resort's real strength.
- The pool with its flume and wave machine and the four-storey soft play, the most-praised facilities for young children.
- The family bunk rooms, singled out as a hit with children.
- Giovanni's, repeatedly called better than expected for a resort restaurant.
- The school-holiday entertainment, the panto and kids' disco, when guests catch it.
- Friendly staff, though this one is less consistent across reviews.
What comes up against
- Value for money and unexpected extra charges, the most consistent theme: weekend supplements on voucher stays, food costs and billing friction.
- Dated décor and maintenance in places, the second recurring theme across independent reviews.
- Some room descriptions not matching reality, including a mountain view that wasn't delivered.
- No staffed childcare, so no morning off unless you were happy to supervise throughout anyway.
How it compares
Within the resort the three hotels don't all read the same in guest feedback, so the surer approach is to choose on which room type actually fits your family rather than on sentiment. Against the other Scottish family resorts, the clearest fork is the childcare model.
| Resort | Childcare | Water and play | The trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Macdonald Aviemore | No crèche or kids’ club; free, unlimited soft play and pool for guests, self-supervised | A heated lagoon pool with a flume and wave machine, and a four-storey soft play | A year-round Cairngorms base opposite the station at a mid-range price, but you supervise the children throughout |
| Crieff Hydro | Staffed BIG Country for ages 2 to 12, Care Inspectorate regulated, in pre-booked two-hour sessions | Pools alongside a wide activity programme | Drop-off childcare you book in sessions, if a morning off is the priority |
| Auchrannie (Arran) | Self-supervised, like Aviemore: free-access Playbarn soft play | Two pools including a children’s pool, plus an outdoor playground | A similar free-access model, over on the Isle of Arran and reached by ferry |
If you want a supervised morning off, Crieff Hydro is the one set up for it, with its staffed, regulated BIG Country childcare booked in sessions. If you'd rather have unlimited free access to a big pool and soft play without booking anything, Aviemore's model suits, and Auchrannie on Arran works much the same way. What none of the others match is Aviemore's single biggest asset, its year-round base-camp position for the Cairngorms: skiing in winter, watersports, wildlife and walking the rest of the year, with the train station across the road. For most families that location is the reason to book here rather than any one facility on site.
The journey and the seasonGetting there and when to go
The standout here is the train. The resort is directly opposite Aviemore station, on the main line from Inverness to Perth, Edinburgh and Glasgow, so there's no transfer at all, a rarity. By road it's just off the A9, with official drive times of 45 minutes from Inverness, an hour and a half from Perth, two hours from Aberdeen and two and a half hours from Edinburgh or Glasgow (satnav PH22 1PN). By air, Inverness airport is nearest at about 34 miles (55 km), roughly 45 minutes' drive, with routes from Gatwick, Luton, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Belfast, Amsterdam and the Scottish islands; there's no resort airport shuttle, so you drive, hire a car or take a taxi. National Cycle Route 7 also runs through Aviemore for anyone arriving by bike.
Parking is free on site for every guest whatever way you book, with EV charging and accessible spaces. Booking direct through the resort adds a handful of other perks on top, a best-available-room guarantee, a price match, an extra hour's late check-out and free pool and gym access, but the parking itself isn't conditional on booking direct.
The resort runs all year. The hotels, lodges, pool and soft play are open twelve months, with some elements seasonal, the Highland Fish Bar, the ice rink into spring and the outdoor terraces in summer, while winter brings real snow for ski breaks. May to September is the mildest, driest and sunniest window and the best for outdoor days, while December to February is the ski season, with genuine snow and sub-zero overnight lows to pack and drive for.
When to goWeather
Aviemore has a very different climate from the beach candidates on our Scotland list: it's inland and at altitude in the Cairngorms, so summers are mild rather than hot and winters are cold and often snowy. Rainfall is fairly even across the year, with no single dry season, though May to September is the sunniest and driest stretch. The figures below are the Met Office long-term averages for Aviemore itself.
| Month | Daytime high | Overnight low | Rain | Wet days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5.5° | -0.5° | 118 mm | 16 |
| February | 6° | -0.5° | 87 mm | 14 |
| March | 8° | 0.5° | 75 mm | 14 |
| April | 11.5° | 2° | 60 mm | 12 |
| May | 14.5° | 4.5° | 65 mm | 13 |
| June | 16.5° | 7.5° | 66 mm | 13 |
| July | 19° | 9.5° | 64 mm | 13 |
| August | 18° | 9° | 73 mm | 13 |
| September | 15.5° | 7° | 72 mm | 13 |
| October | 11.5° | 4° | 100 mm | 16 |
| November | 8° | 1.5° | 97 mm | 16 |
| December | 5.5° | -1° | 110 mm | 15 |
Typical monthly averages from weather-station records.
Questions
The things families ask most, the official pages worth a look and when this guide was last updated.
Can we bring the dog?
Yes at the Aviemore and Highlands hotels and the lodges, pre-booked, at £15 a night (the lodges cap it at £45 a pet), with guide dogs free. The Morlich Hotel is the one that takes no dogs, so book one of the others if you’re travelling with one.
What are the check-in and check-out times?
They vary by building. The Aviemore and Highlands hotels are 4pm in and 11am out, or midday out if you booked direct. The Morlich Hotel lets you in earlier at 3pm. The lodges are 4pm in with an earlier 10am check-out, so plan the last morning around that.
Is parking free, or only if we book direct?
Free for every guest whatever way you book, with EV charging and accessible spaces, and no small print. Booking direct through the resort adds other perks, a best-available-room guarantee, a price match, an extra hour’s late check-out and free pool and gym access, but parking isn’t one you have to book direct for.
Can non-guests use the pool and soft play?
No. Both are for resident guests only, free and unlimited through your stay, with no day-pass option. It’s a reason to stay on the resort itself rather than somewhere cheaper nearby if the pool and soft play are the draw.
Is there a kids’ club or crèche?
No staffed childcare of any kind. The soft play and pool are yours to use freely, but you’re with the children throughout. If bookable drop-off sessions are what you want, Crieff Hydro is the Scottish resort set up for that, with its staffed BIG Country from age two.
How do we book a table at Aspects or Giovanni’s?
Online, or by calling 0344 879 9152 and choosing option 3, or emailing [email protected]. The two casual outlets in the Aviemore Hotel and The Coffee Shop are walk-in, so you only need to book the two main restaurants.
Are the sister resorts part of this one?
No. Macdonald Spey Valley (the golf course, Dalfaber Bar & Kitchen and The Clubhouse) and Macdonald Lochanhully (cabins at Carrbridge) are separate resorts a short drive away, cross-sold under the same brand. You can drive over to dine, but don’t book expecting them on your doorstep.
See more Macdonald Aviemore Resort photos
Open the Macdonald Aviemore Resort photo gallery →Useful links
- Macdonald Aviemore Resort: the resort's own site for the hotels, the lodges, the leisure complex and what's on.
- Scotland with little ones: our guide to the Highlands and beyond, and when to go.
- Crieff Hydro: the Scottish resort with staffed, bookable childcare, for comparison.
Last updated 16 July 2026.
