Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Glen Moray
Bruceland Rd • Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, also Sat 10am-4.30pm May-Sept • £4 •
W
www.glenmoray.com
Elgin is on the edge of whisky country, and while the attractive local distillery,
Glen
Moray
isn't part of the o
cial Malt Whisky Trail (see p.431), tours are still available
- the distinctive thing here is that your guide is quite likely to be the stillman,
mashman or one of the other workers from the distillery floor.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
ELGIN
10
By train
The train station, served by the Aberdeen-
Inverness line, is slightly detached from the city centre on
the south side of town.
Destinations
Aberdeen (5-11 daily; 1hr 30min); Forres
(5-13 daily; 15min); Inverness (5-13 daily; 50min); Nairn
(5-13 daily; 25min).
By bus
The bus station is on Alexandra Road, right in the
town centre.
Destinations
Aberdeen (hourly; 2hr 20min); Burghead
(hourly; 30min); Duffus (hourly; 15min); Forres (every
30min; 25min); Inverurie (hourly; 1hr 40min); Lossiemouth
(every 30min; 20min); Nairn (every 30min; 45min).
INFORMATION
Tourist information
The information point at Elgin
Library, Cooper Park, provides information on local
attractions
and
accommodation
options
(Mon-Fri
10am-8pm, Sat 10am-4pm;
T
01343 562608).
ACCOMMODATION
Moraydale Guest House
276 High Street
T
01343
546381,
W
moraydaleguesthouse.com.
Grand Victorian
B&B with off-road parking and seven top-class rooms,
some of which are on the ground
floor.
There's a sunny
conservatory to eat your breakfast in.
£70
Old Church of Urquhart
Meft Road, Urquhart
T
01343
843063,
W
oldchurch.eu.
Five miles east of town, the
Old
Church of Urquhart
is one of the area's most appealing
places to stay: an unusual and comfortable B&B in an
imaginatively convert
ed c
hurch. There's also a self-catering
apartment available.
£74
EATING AND DRINKING
Lido
29 South St
T
01343 556464.
Neatly styled French
restaurant near the High Street, with mid-priced mains (the
beef bourguignon is £11.95). There's also a good range of
appetizers, including grilled asparagus with hollandaise
sauce (£4.45).
Scribbles
154 High St
T
01343 542835,
W
facebook
.com/scribbles.elgin
. Get past the scruffy facade and
try-hard interior design and you'll find very good fruit
smoothies (£3.05), plus reasonable coffees, main meals
and pizzas (£7.50). Good for families with kids (crayons
provided).
Mon-Sat 9am-10pm, Sun noon-10pm.
SHOPPING
Gordon & MacPhail
58 South St
T
01343 545110,
W
www.gordonandmacphail.com.
You can pick up some
great picnic foods at this old-fashioned Aladdin's cave of
delicacies; they claim to have the largest selection of
whiskies in the world.
Mon-Sat 8.30am-5pm.
Pluscarden Abbey
Six miles southwest of Elgin • Daily 4.30am-8.30pm • Free •
W
www.pluscardenabbey.org
Set in an attractive, verdant valley seven miles southwest of Elgin,
Pluscarden Abbey
,
looms impressively large in a peaceful clearing off an unmarked road. One of only two
abbeys in Scotland with a permanent community of monks, it was founded in 1230
for a French order and, in 1390, became another of the properties burnt by the Wolf of
Badenoch (see p.330); recovering from this, it became a priory of the Benedictine
Abbey of Dunfermline in 1454 and continued as such until monastic life was
suppressed in Scotland in 1560. he abbey's revival began in 1897 when the Catholic
antiquarian, John, third Marquess of Bute, started to repair the building. In 1948 his
son donated it to a small group of Benedictine monks from Gloucester who
established the present community. It is possible to
stay
here on retreat for a few days;
see the website for details.
