Aviemore is a town and tourist resort, situated within the Cairngorms National Park in the Highlands of Scotland. It is in the Badenoch and Strathspey committee area, within the Highland council area. The town is popular for skiing and other winter sports, and for hill-walking in the Cairngorm Mountains. The Aviemore stone circle is located within a residential neighbourhood of the town.
Aviemore lies on the B9152 (the "old" A9 road since the main road from Inverness to Perth was rebuilt further west in 1980). Aviemore railway station is on the Highland Main Line and Aviemore is also the southern terminus of the Strathspey Railway, a heritage railway.
Prior to 1890 it was in an exclave of the county of Moray and from 1890 to 1975 it was in the county of Inverness-shire, until the later date being within the Civil Parish of Duthil and Rothiemurchus. The village began to grow as a result of it becoming a railway junction in 1898, following which the Highland Railway became a major emp constructing housing for its staff and the Aviemore Hotel. Aviemore became one of the first skiing resorts to be established in Scotland with the opening of the chairlift in 1961 and is also notable for being near the freely grazing reindeer herd at Glen More, the only one in the United Kingdom. The resort has since grown into Britain's most visited ski resort during the winter months.
The Aviemore Hotel was destroyed by fire in 1950, and its site and that of its Golf course were used in the 1960s for the construction of the Aviemore Centre. It was opened by Lady Fraser of Allander in 1966, (wife of Sir Hugh Fraser 2nd Baronet- House of Fraser). "The Centre", as it became affectionately known, quickly developed into a major Scottish tourist destination, and in its heyday royalty were regular visitors, including Prince Charles and Princess Anne who attended Royal Hunt Balls hosted in the Aviemore Centre's Osprey Rooms. The very popular BBC TV show "It's A Christmas Knockout" was held in the complex twice in the 1970s.
In around 1998 many of the original John Poulson buildings were demolished as part of a promised £50 million overhaul. Although the visitor buildings were replaced, many of the other leisure facilities were not. In 2006 a privately led tourist organisation began a programme of attracting tourists to the area. Aviemore Centre now consists of a publicly accessible swimming pool with flume, health spa, 4 hotels and a 4 restaurants including Giovanni's Italian restaurant.
