A Day Trip to a Scottish Highlands Scotch Whiskey Distillery: Edinburgh to Pitlochry

On my most recent trip to the United Kingdom, my husband and I decided to visit Scotland for the first time. We focused just on Edinburgh on this first trip to Scotland, as we felt there was so much we wanted to see and experience in Edinburgh for the time that we had. However, we still wanted to catch a glimpse of the Scottish Highlands.

What better way to see the Highlands than by also touring a Scotch whiskey distillery?!

The village of Pitlochry

I researched Scotch distilleries that were easily accessible by train from Edinburgh, which led us to visit Blair Athol Distillery in Pitlochry, Scotland. Pitlochry is known to be “the gateway to the Highlands” and has a charming village to explore before or after touring Blair Athol.

We booked tickets ahead of time on ScotRail, departing midmorning (10:30 a.m.) for a ~2-hour train ride to Pitlochry. On the train, we enjoyed coffee and brought books to read, but also enjoyed views of the passing countryside and of the landscape changing from rolling hills to mountains.

We arrived in Pitlochry a few hours before our scheduled tour. We walked around the town, had lunch at a local pizza bakery, popped into a few shops, and walked around the green spaces/parks surrounding the town.

River running through Pitlochry

We walked along the river to head towards Blair Athol Distillery. It’s a 15-20 minute walk from the center of Pitlochry to and from the train station. Don’t forget to bring your umbrellas and raincoats because it is Scotland! While we lucked out on our walk there, it was raining later when we returned to the train station.

Blair Athol Distillery

Our tour started shortly after arriving at 3 p.m. We chose the 1-hour signature tour, but the distillery also offers more in-depth tours and tastings for the true Scotch connoisseurs. We got to see all the old buildings that used to be in use at the distillery, along with the new ones. We learned the whole Scotch whiskey distilling process, including getting to see the aging barrels of whiskey in the storerooms.

Scotch whiskey storeroom

Touring the distillery

Once the tour concluded, we got to the most important part: tasting! Included in the tour was a guided tasting of three of Blair Athol’s Scotches. My husband and I are huge whiskey fans, so we very much enjoyed this part. After the tasting ended, we got to explore the gift shop, where yes, you can buy some Scotch to take home.

We had some extra time to kill before our train departed back to Edinburgh (at 5:30 p.m.), so we grabbed some Scotch-based cocktails in their bar.

Scotch whiskey tasting

Scotch whiskey tasting

Overall, we had a great day heading outside of Edinburgh to see the Highlands and getting the opportunity to try some Scotch directly from the source. I highly recommend adding a distillery tour and tasting and/or a day trip when visiting Edinburgh!

For more inspiration and insider recommendations, visit our Scotland page.