Public toilets in the Cairngorms

The Cairngorms are the biggest national park in Britain, a vast sweep of high plateau, ancient pinewood and ski country around Aviemore, Braemar and Ballater. The towns and the main visitor sites are where you'll find facilities: Aviemore, Braemar, Ballater, Grantown-on-Spey and Kingussie have public toilets, and the big hubs at the mountain base have their own.

A handful are genuinely round-the-clock, including the 24-hour toilet at Nethy Bridge, but most are tied to a visitor centre's opening hours, so it pays to check before you rely on one. In Aviemore, the Highland Comfort Scheme lets you use the loos in participating businesses free. Beyond the resorts this is serious, remote country, with long approaches and almost no conveniences once you're walking into the high corries or along the Lairig Ghru. Treat the plateau as completely self-sufficient territory.

Check the map for what's open near your start, and remember that in this park, more than most, the next loo can be a very long way off.

Accessibility

There are Changing Places facilities at the Craig MacLean leisure centre in Grantown-on-Spey, at Tiso and the community centre in Aviemore, and at RSPB Loch Garten, and accessible toilets are noted at Glenmore, Tomintoul, Glen Doll and the Glenlivet Estate. The high ground has none, so plan around the towns and the staffed centres.

Seasonal

Winter here is real mountain weather, and some facilities run reduced hours out of season, so don't assume anything beyond the towns and the ski base is open; Nethy Bridge and Burn O'Vat are among the few open all year.

Where the gaps are

The high plateau and the long glen approaches have nothing; everything is in the resort towns and at the main mountain hubs.