North East 250 | A Comprehensive Overview From a Native
The North East 250 (a.k.a NE250) is one of Scotland's most scenic road trips. It is a 250-mile circular route around Aberdeenshire in Scotland. After the NC500 tourist campaign was launched in 2015, the NE250 tourist campaign quickly followed suit in 2017 and whilst this route isn't as popular as the NC500, it has been gaining popularity since its launch. The route was featured in Lonely Planet's Ultimate Travel Guide in the top 500 unmissable global travel experiences and has been referred to as "Scotland's best-kept secret" by Visit Scotland.
Aberdeenshire is known as "castle country", having more than 300 castles, ruins and stately homes per acre than anywhere else in the UK. If that doesn't convince you to visit, then with it's 165 miles of coastline, you'll find an abundance of lovely seaside old fishing villages, beautiful coastal views and wildlife spots. And if all that has failed, then there's whiskey!
I'm going to be doing a 5-week blog post series on the NE250. The first, being this blog post, which will cover a comprehensive overview of the route and need to know information. The next four blog posts will follow a section of the route, providing information on things to do and where to stay. So, make sure to follow along to get started on planning your own North East adventure!
This blog post covers...
- Where does the route start and end?
- Recommended route
- What direction should I drive it in?
- How long to go for?
- Suggested itinerary for the NE250 (for 5, 7 and 10 days)
- If you don't have time to do the full NE250, here's my recommendation on which section of the route you should do
- Best time to go?
- What vehicle can you travel in?
- Where can I hire a vehicle in Aberdeen?
- 5 tips for driving in Scotland
- Petrol, diesel points and electric car charging points
- Suitable attire for the different seasons in Scotland
- Additional blog posts covering parts of the route in more detail
Where does the route start and end?
The NE250 route is essentially a loop, which typically starts and ends at Aberdeen Airport (or Dyce). However, there is no rule of thumb that says it has to start there. You could even start in Aberdeen city, Elgin or Fraserburgh or Braemar in the Cairngorms National Park - it's totally up to you, wherever you start is where you will end.
Aberdeen is Scotland's third largest city, situated on the north east-coast. There's some great transport links including it's own airport and train/bus links with the major cities (Glasgow/Edinburgh) in the central belt, so its a great place to start.
Recommended route
I've made a wee map of the NE250 that you can see below. It includes the official route but also, additional optional trips, which you can take if you want to lengthen your trip. As you can see from the map, the route hugs the North coast and East coast before going inland towards the Cairngorms National Park. You don't have to stick to this specific route either, that's the beauty of this road trip - you can go wherever you want. If you want to take a detour into the Cairngorms National Park or up to Inverness, than go for it!
What direction should I drive it in?
It's really up to you! The NE250 is a loop, so that means you can go in whatever direction you want as you will finish in the same location you started anyway. So, you can either go clockwise from Aberdeen Airport (or Dyce) to Braemar, up to Buckie, across to Fraserburgh and back down to Aberdeen Airport (or Dyce). This is the route I took when I done the NE250. The other option is you can go the anti-clockwise direction.
How long to go for?
I would personally recommend 4-5 days for doing the NE250 route by car. We only took 3 days to complete the route and the last day felt so rushed trying to get it complete. I also don't think 3 days is enough to see everything this route has to offer. If you have 3 days or less, I would choose only a section of the route as its means you'll have more time to actually enjoy sightseeing instead of rushing round trying to complete it. However, if you have 6 days or more, this would allow you to visit other additional places just off the route like spend some days exploring Aberdeen city or Dunnottar Castle in Stonehaven or the Cairngorms National Park (Aviemore) or Inverness (depending on how much time you have).
Suggested itinerary for the NE250 (for 4, 5 and 7 days)
Your itinerary will depend on how long you go for and whether you will take the clockwise or anti-clockwise direction. Below are suggested itineraries for a 4-day, 5-day and 7-day trip. The itineraries will be in an clockwise direction but you can easily reverse them to go anti-clockwise instead.
4-day itinerary
- Day 1 - Aberdeen Airport (or Dyce) to Braemar
- Day 2 - Braemar to Buckie
- Day 3 - Buckie to Fraserburgh
- Day 4 - Fraserburgh to Aberdeen Airport (or Dyce)
5-day itinerary
- Day 1 - Aberdeen Airport (or Dyce) to Banchory
- Day 2 - Banchory to Braemar
- Day 3 - Braemar to Buckie
- Day 4 - Buckie to Fraserburgh
- Day 5 - Fraserburgh to Aberdeen Airport (or Dyce)
- Optional extras: Aberdeen city, Dunnottar Castle and Elgin.
7-day itinerary
- Day 1 - Aberdeen Airport (or Dyce) to Banchory
- Day 2 - Banchory to Braemar
- Day 3 - Braemar to Glenlivet
- Day 4 - Glenlivet to Elgin
- Day 5 - Elgin to Fraserburgh
- Day 6 - Fraserburgh to Peterhead
- Day 7 - Peterhead to Aberdeen Airport (or Dyce)
- Optional extras: Aberdeen city, Dunnottar Castle, the Cairngorms National Park, Aviemore and Elgin. You could definitely fit these in your 7-day itinerary.
If you don't have time to do the full NE250, here's my recommendation on which section of the route you should do...
- Castles (or whiskey distilleries) - If you want to spend the majority of your time visiting castles (or whiskey distilleries), then you'll want to go inland (west from Aberdeen Airport) or spend most of your time between Aberdeen and Braemar as it has loads of castles!
- Seaside fishing villages, wildlife spots and coastal views - If you are more interested in spending the majority of your time on the coast, then you'll want to go north from Aberdeen Airport to Fraserburgh, then across to Elgin.
Best time to go?
I completed the NE250 in April during the Easter holidays, and I personally think this was a great time to go as it was so quiet! However, it was still quite chilly during this time. I would also recommend May, September or October.
The summer season (June-August) is the busiest time on the NE250. This is when the schools are on holiday in Scotland and the weather is usually as it's best so you can expect the sightseeing spots and the roads to be much busier. However, this can also mean accommodation is dearer and gets booked up in advance quicker.
I wouldn't recommend the winter months from November to March. As quite a lot of the businesses or tourist attractions have reduced business hours or are shut all together and the winter weather can be quite harsh with snowfall and ice being common.
What vehicle can you travel in?
- Cars: Any car can manage the NE250 as the majority of roads are in really good condition and there's not many single track roads. I personally completed the route in my little FIAT 500, and it managed just fine! However, a bigger car would allow for a much more enjoyable trip.
- Camper-vans/RV's: You could also take a camper-van (RV), this would also mean you wouldn't have to book accommodation on the route round.
- Motorbikes/bikes: It is possible to complete the NE250 by motorbike or bike. Just be careful on the roads and wear protective gear.
- Buses: It is possible to get buses around the NE250. However, they usually take much longer than if you were to just drive directly to where you want to go, they can be quite expensive, they aren't always reliable and there's not always bus stops near all the tourist attractions.
- Walking: It is possible to walk the NE250, however it would take much much longer and I wouldn't really recommend it unless you are physically fit. You would also have to be very careful as there is no guaranteed footpaths along the way.
It is not possible to travel the NE250 by train as there isn't many train stations near the tourist attractions.
Where can I hire a vehicle in Aberdeen?
If you don't have a vehicle and need to rent one, don't worry there are loads of rental places in Aberdeen. Aberdeen is the best place to pick up a rental vehicle on the NE250. I've included the highest ranked rental places for each vehicle below:
Cars
Campervans/RVs
Bikes
- BeCyCle
- Macdui Bike Adventure (guided cycling tours)
5 tips for driving in Scotland
- We drive on the left-hand side of the road - this is very important! Always drive on the left-hand side of the road!!
- Scottish alcohol laws for driving - the limit is very low in Scotland to discourage people from drinking and driving. This means even one alcoholic drink can send you over the limit.
- Be mindful of your speed - some of the roads are not designed for high speed, so make sure you have a reduced speed on these roads and stick to the speed limits.
- Animals on the road - It can be a common occurance to have cows, sheep and even, deer on the road especially on country roads. Slow down if this happens and wait for them to move before driving on.
- Use passing places - If you are on a single-track road, it can be quite common to meet other cars. Use passing places to allow that other car past. If you are closer to the passing place, it's common courtesy that you would go into yours. However, if the other car is closer to a passing place, they should go into theirs. It might even be the case that one of you will have to reverse into a passing place.
Petrol, diesel points and electric car charging points
- There are lots of petrol, diesel stations and electric charging points along the NE250. However that being said, there can be quite some distance between stations. I'd suggest making it a rule of thumb that if you're below half a tank to fill up at the next station you come too.
Suitable attire for the different seasons in Scotland
Scottish weather can be very unpredictable and it's very common to experience 4 seasons in one day. Therefore, prepare for all weather!
Typically the weather for each season is as follows in Scotland:
- Spring - You can expect high temperatures between 8°C and 15°C and lows of 3°C and 9°C. A mix of all weather in spring should be expected - rain, sun and clouds. It's not very warm, so wrap up. A jumper and jacket will be needed.
- Summer - The average high temperature in summer in Aberdeenshire is between 15-17°C. This still isn't very warm, so I'd recommend you pack warmer clothes. However, in Scotland we can sometimes get the odd really warm day, I'm talking 20°C+ so maybe include a short sleeved t-shirt and some sunscreen.
- Autumn - The average day time temperatures in Autumn are 9°C to 15°C. Bring some jumpers, layers and a comfy jacket as it starts to get really cold again.
- Winter - Daytime temperatures are typically between 7°C, but they can go much lower than this towards freezing. There's a high possibly of ice and snow in winter in Aberdeenshire, so pack your thermals, lots of layers, a big comfy jacket and scarf, hat and gloves etc.
Additional blog posts covering parts of the route in more detail
Stay tuned - they will be uploaded here.
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Kirsty x