Discover Inverness & the Highlands - Discover Scotland: Experience the Best of Scotland - page 563

( 01479-810278; www.aviemoreonline.com ; Grampian Rd; r per person £35-42; ) Ravenscraig
is a large, flower-bedecked Victorian villa with six spacious en suite rooms, plus another
six in a modern chalet at the back (one wheelchair accessible). It serves traditional and ve-
ggie breakfasts in an attractive conservatory dining room.

Detour:
Orkney's Prehistoric Sites
There's a magic to the Orkney Islands that you'll begin to feel as soon as the Scottish mainland slips away astern.
It's an archipelago of old-style hospitality and Viking heritage, a spot whose ports tell of lives led with the blessings
and rough moods of the sea. Above all it's famous for a series of magnificent prehistoric monuments.
Skara Brae (HS; www.historic-scotland.gov.uk ; joint ticket with Skaill House adult/child £6.90/4.10;
9.30am-5.30pm Apr-Sep, to 4.30pm Oct-Mar) is one of Scotland's most evocative ancient sites, offering an
authentic glimpse of Stone Age life. Idyllically situated by a sandy bay 8 miles north of Stromness, and predating
Stonehenge and the pyramids of Giza, Skara Brae is northern Europe's best-preserved prehistoric village.
Egypt has its pyramids, Scotland has Maes Howe (HS; 01856-761606; www.historic-scotland.gov.uk ;
adult/child £5.50/3.30; tours hourly 10am-4pm) . Built about 5000 years ago, it's an extraordinary place, a
Stone Age tomb built from enormous sandstone blocks. Creeping down the long stone passageway to the central
chamber, you feel the gulf of years that separate us from the architects of this mysterious place. Though nothing is
known about who and what was interred here, the scope of the project suggests it was a structure of great signific-
ance.
Across the loch from Maes Howe is the atmospheric Ring of Brodgar (HS; www.historic-scotland.gov.uk ;
admission free; 24hr) , a circle of standing stones built around 2500-2000BC. Twenty-one of the original 60
stones still stand among the heather, their curious shapes mutilated by years of climatic onslaught.
For information on tours of the Orkneys, Click here .

CAIRNGORM HOTEL££
( 01479-810233; www.cairngorm.com ; Grampian Rd; s/d from £59/98; ) Better known as
'the Cairn', this long-established hotel is set in the fine old granite building with the
pointy turret opposite the train station. It's a welcoming place with comfortable rooms and
a determinedly Scottish atmosphere, all tartan carpets and stags' antlers. There's live mu-
sic on weekends, so it can get a bit noisy - not for early-to-bedders.

| Hotel

HILTON COYLUMBRIDGE££
( 01479-810661; www.coylumbridge.hilton.com ; Coylumbridge; d from £110; ) This
modern, low-rise Hilton, set amid the pine woods just outside Aviemore, is a wonderfully

| Hotel