Private whisky tours
The Malt Whisky Trail, driven.
The trail
The Malt Whisky Trail links famous distilleries and a working cooperage across Moray. Doing it properly means a lot of driving between them, and that’s the part we take off your hands.
Most of our drivers have worked in the distilling industry, so the road between stops becomes part of the tour: stories from inside the stillhouse, the history of each glen and the best places to stop for lunch.
We collect you from your accommodation, arrange the tours, wait while you taste and bring you home again.
Along the trail
The stops we visit.
The heart of Speyside
Four stops within a short drive of each other, around Dufftown, Craigellachie, Rothes and Knockando.
- Glenfiddich, Dufftown: the family-owned name everyone knows
- Speyside Cooperage, Craigellachie: coopers building the casks by hand
- Glen Grant, Rothes: Victorian gardens and a walk up the glen
- Cardhu, on the hillside above Knockando
Out to the edges
Further apart, and well worth the drive: the hills of Glenlivet to the south, Keith to the east and the coast towns to the west.
- The Glenlivet, high in its own glen
- Strathisla, Keith: twin pagodas and the home of Chivas Regal
- Glen Moray, on the banks of the Lossie in Elgin
- Benromach, a small, traditional distillery in Forres
Trail stops, tour times and opening hours change from season to season, so we check what’s open on your date before we plan the day. Prefer to mix in a few names that aren’t on the trail? Just ask.
Pacing the trail
Two or three a day.
The trail runs from Forres in the west to Keith in the east, with The Glenlivet up in the hills to the south. Most tours take an hour or more, so trying to see it all in one day means rushing every one.
We’d suggest two or three stops a day, grouped so the driving is short, and a second day if you’d like to see more.
- Collection from your accommodation
- Tours arranged around opening hours on your date
- Lunch suggestions on the way
- Taste freely: we do the driving
Questions
Before you set off.
Can you do the whole Malt Whisky Trail in one day?
Not comfortably. The stops are spread across Moray and most tours take an hour or more, so we recommend two or three stops in a day, or spreading the trail over two or three days.
Do you book the distillery tours for us?
Yes. Tell us which stops you’d like and we’ll plan the day around tour availability and opening hours on your date, then send you an itinerary to confirm.
Where can you collect us from?
From your hotel, cottage or B&B anywhere on Speyside, and from Inverness, Elgin, Aviemore and Inverness Airport. Staying in Inverness? See our whisky tours from Inverness.
Is Speyside Cooperage worth adding?
We’re often there with guests. It isn’t a distillery: you watch coopers build and repair the casks whisky matures in, which makes a good contrast to the stillhouses.
How many people can travel together?
Our Mercedes-Benz Vitos seat up to eight. Larger groups travel in more than one vehicle. See the fleet.
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