We visited this national park on our drive from St. Andrews to Inverness.

We were following Apple Maps for the drive and for unknown reasons it guided us through the park after we started driving (original route only skirted the park on A9).

We are incredibly grateful to the meandering route Apple Maps took us. Every minute of it was worth it. The scenery is spectacular - barren mountains without trees is not something we were used to. This enhances the experience giving you a surreal feeling.

Do pick Apple Maps on your drive and let it get lost - it took us through B<NNN> roads, single lane road where we didn't see another car for 30+ minutes. This added to the excitement. It did get us to the destination without issues.

I left Inverness in time to enter the national park in time to see the sun rise. I felt alone and at one with earth. It was the most phenomenal feeling. The 90 mile route took around 3 hours which included plenty of stops.

I drove a small Peugeot van which had me worried at first as I had never visited however the roads are well maintained with all snow cleared. Short stop parking areas were deep in thick snow along parts of the route so be careful if you choose to leave the route.

I began in Grantown on Spey and headed South. Surrounded by the most beautiful scenery I’ve ever encountered.

Another bit of advice - you’ll lose phone signal in parts and if you use Apple Car Play for SATNAV don’t go amending the route as you’ll end up possibly lost. Back up your navigation with a map downloaded on your iPad or if you’re that way inclined, get yourself an AA road map.

Final bit of advice - bring a full flask for the journey if you’re a thirsty type. Didn’t see any coffee shops etc open as I drove through.

I don’t have the superlatives to describe my experience so please refer to my pictures. If only trip advisor didn’t have a 5mb limit per photo and only a total of 10 photos per review.

Great place to be in scotland we found the watersports beach by accident during 2020 and weve waited to get back since to camp nearby to wake up to the stunning scenery, looking online at the legalities of this all was set, looked it up and planned to stay 2-3nights as it was my girlfriends birthday, packed the car up (448miles) and we set off arrived about 5.30/6pm settting the tent up to have a lady walking around to inform us that it was only a one night stay due to the area being overwhelmed by people although it saying 3nights online and then move to not ruin wildlife, not mentioning a tri-athalon going on overnight from 12-7am, which was ok, woken up by supporters shouting to then have someone from the (scotland.gov) on theyre jumper to say we had to be off within an hour, with nowhere really planned to stay we ended up panicking and booking a nearby hotel for £219!! Lucky this wasnt a budget getaway! Would love to stay again but its a bit disappointing it wasnt on the website beforehand for me to plan other arrangements, it was a great stay and lovely views