Blairgowrie

Blairgowrie works well as a base rather than a destination hotel town: expect guest houses, pub rooms and country hotels rather than big chains. Because it sits at the southern end of the Cateran Trail and on the main road to Glenshee, many places are geared towards outdoor visitors, with drying facilities, early breakfasts and local walking advice often on offer. Book ahead for winter weekends when snow is forecast, as Glenshee day-trippers fill up the town's beds quickly, and again in summer during the Cateran Trail's busier months. Staying in central Blairgowrie near Wellmeadow keeps you close to the bus link to Perth and the shops, while cottages out towards Rattray or along the Ericht valley suit those prioritising quiet and river views over convenience. Self-catering options are plentiful in the surrounding farmland, reflecting the area's agricultural character, and can work out better value for longer stays or larger groups.

The town itself is compact, but it opens onto some of Perthshire's best walking, cycling and heritage sites within a short drive.

• The Cateran Trail — the full circuit is a serious 5-day undertaking, but the riverside stretch out of Blairgowrie along the Ericht past old mill buildings makes a fine half-day walk without committing to the whole route.
• Cargill's Leap and the River Ericht gorge — a short, dramatic walk through the wooded gorge that cuts right through town, named after a Covenanter who is said to have leapt the chasm to escape dragoons.
• Meikleour Beech Hedge — around 6 miles south of Blairgowrie, this Guinness World Record holder is roughly 30 metres high and 530 metres long, planted in 1745 and now a genuine botanical curiosity rather than a mere hedgerow.
• Glenshee Ski Centre — 24 miles north on the A93, the UK's largest ski area by number of runs, and increasingly used for hillwalking, mountain biking and chairlift-assisted days out once the snow has gone.
• Golf at Blairgowrie Golf Club — a well-regarded parkland course (the Rosemount) that regularly hosts Open Qualifying, one of several courses in a county that also boasts Gleneagles.
• Cateran Ecomuseum — a scattered, open-air network of historic and archaeological sites across the surrounding glens, from standing stones to old mill lades, that can be explored via a self-guided trail.
• Dunkeld Cathedral — around 12 miles west, a part-ruined, part-working cathedral with roots to the 9th century and the present building dating largely from 1318, set beside the Tay in one of Perthshire's prettiest small towns.

Blairgowrie's food scene is modest but solid rather than a destination in itself. The town has a handful of independent cafés around Wellmeadow and the High Street, along with the usual mix of pubs, a chip shop and Indian and Chinese takeaways that serve a working market town well. In season, look out for local raspberries and other soft fruit sold directly from farm shops on the roads out of town, a direct link to the industry that built Blairgowrie. For a more considered meal, several country house hotels in the surrounding countryside offer restaurants open to non-residents, and the wider Perthshire area, including Dunkeld and Pitlochry, is within easy reach for a bigger night out.

Blairgowrie sits in rolling, fertile Strathmore countryside that gives way quickly to the hillier terrain of the Angus glens and the Grampians towards Glenshee, so camping options range from gentle riverside pitches to more exposed, higher-altitude spots depending on how far out you head. As with the rest of Scotland, wild camping is generally legal here under the Scottish Outdoor Access Code, which grants a right of responsible access to most open land and water, including for lightweight backpacking camps, a freedom that does not exist in England or Wales. That said, the code asks campers to keep pitches small, stay away from buildings and roads, move on after a night or two, and take everything away with them, including waste; some areas near Loch Lomond fall under separate camping management byelaws, though Blairgowrie itself is well outside that zone. Midges are the main practical hazard, particularly near the river and any standing water from late May to September, so repellent and a head net are worth packing for summer trips. The best camping weather generally runs from May to early September, when long daylight hours suit both walking the Cateran Trail and pitching up afterwards, though early autumn can bring calmer, midge-free conditions with good colour in the glens. For those who would rather not rely on the weather, glamping pods and static caravan sites are dotted through the surrounding countryside, often on working farms that also supply the area's famous raspberries, offering a warmer alternative within easy reach of both the town and the hills beyond.