Number 11 of 282 by height · Cairngorms and Monadhliath
Beinn a' Bhuird North Top
Beinn a' Bhùird
3,927 ft (1,197 m)
Facts
- Grid reference
- NJ 092 006
- Latitude, longitude
- 57.08760, -3.49937
- Area
- Cairngorms and Monadhliath
The walk up
- Distance, one way
- 8.6 mi (14 km)
- Climb
- 2,943 ft (897 m)
- Estimated time up
- 4 h 15 min
- Start
- Car park near Cragan
Route picked by computer, not yet checked on the hill
Summit conditions
From Sunday 1 November, 17:07. Not live.
- Weather
- Fair
- Temperature
- 33°F (0°C)
- Wind chill
- 26°F (−3°C)
- Wind
- 7 mph (12 km/h) from the northwest
- Cloud cover
- 37%
- Rain or snow, next hour
- None
- Freezing level, rough estimate
- 4,078 ft (1,243 m)
- Sunrise, sunset
- 07:23, 16:31
The way up
From Car park near Cragan, follow the path west for 0.3 mi, climbing gently from 1,100 ft to 1,200 ft. Then follow the track north-west for 1.1 mi, almost level. Then follow the path west for 0.9 mi, almost level. Then follow the track north for 2.2 mi, almost level. On the way you cross the Allt Clais Fhearnaig and the Allt an Dubh-ghlinne and ford a burn. Then follow the path north for 0.5 mi, climbing steeply from 1,650 ft to 2,100 ft. It then turns north-west for 0.6 mi, climbing steadily from 2,100 ft to 2,500 ft. It then turns north-east for the last 2.9 mi to the summit, climbing steadily from 2,500 ft to 3,950 ft. The steepest part is between 2,400 ft and 2,850 ft, about 5.4 mi from the start. The summit is at 3,927 ft (1,197 m).
Written from the map, not from walking it. Paths on the ground can differ, so carry a map and compass.See it in 3D.
Getting there
By car
Car park near Cragan. Parking charge not known. This is where the walking route starts.
Driving directions to the Beinn a' Bhuird North Top car park57.00177,-3.45520
By train
Nearest station: Aviemore, 19 mi (31 km) from the car park. Too far to walk in from.
By bus
Nearest bus stop on the map: Auchendryne Square, 2.0 mi (3.2 km) from the car park. Check the times first: many Highland buses run only a few times a day.
Public transport directionsBus and train times on Traveline Scotland
About Beinn a' Bhuird North Top
- In Gaelic
- Beinn a' Bhùird
- Means
- Table hill
Beinn a' Bhuird is a Cairngorm Munro on the border of Aberdeenshire and Moray, with Braemar the nearest village. At 3,927 ft (1,197 m) its North Top is the 11th highest Munro, and it rises 1,497 ft (456 m) above the col that links it to higher ground. Its nearest higher Munro is Cairn Gorm, 5.8 miles away, while Ben Avon lies 2.6 miles off across the bealach known as The Sneck. Beinn a' Bhuird South Top and Cnap a' Chleirich are its subsidiary Tops.
The short-lived ski area here was backed by the Swiss Panchaud brothers, who had bought the estate, and was called Mar Lodge. It had two T-bars, the longer about 2,050 ft (620 m), and both went on to serve at Glenshee as the Cairnwell T-Bar and the Trainer Tow.
In 2006 a pilot from the Deeside Gliding Club crashed on the hillside and spent 24 hours trapped in his glider before the RAF found him. A cairn marks the summit.
Tops on Beinn a' Bhuird North Top
2 lower summits in the Munro tables, not counted as separate Munros. Keen baggers tick these too.
| Top | Height | From the summit |
|---|---|---|
| Beinn a' Bhuird South TopNO 091 986 | 3,868 ft (1,179 m) | 1.2 mi (2.0 km) |
| Cnap a' ChleirichNJ 107 010 | 3,852 ft (1,174 m) | 1.0 mi (1.6 km) |
Through the year
Hours of daylight on Beinn a' Bhuird North Top in the middle of each month. The shorter the day, the earlier you need to start.
Stag stalking season, 1 July to 20 October. On many estates, walkers are asked to keep to set routes on stalking days: check the Scottish Outdoor Access Code site's Heading for the Scottish Hills service before you go.
Nearest Munros
| Munro | Height | Straight-line distance |
|---|---|---|
| Leabaidh an Daimh Bhuidhe (Ben Avon) | 3,845 ft (1,172 m) | 2.6 mi (4.1 km) |
| Beinn a' Chaorainn | 3,553 ft (1,083 m) | 3.0 mi (4.8 km) |
| Beinn Bhreac | 3,054 ft (931 m) | 3.0 mi (4.9 km) |
Common questions about Beinn a' Bhuird North Top
- How high is Beinn a' Bhuird North Top?
- Beinn a' Bhuird North Top is 3,927 ft (1,197 m), number 11 of the 282 Munros by height, in the Cairngorms and Monadhliath.
- How long does it take to climb Beinn a' Bhuird North Top?
- About 4 h 15 min up and 2 h 50 min back down by our route from Car park near Cragan, before stops: 8.6 mi (14 km) each way with 2,943 ft (897 m) of climbing. That is one of the longer Munro days. Most people take longer than these estimates.
- Where do you park for Beinn a' Bhuird North Top?
- Our route starts at Car park near Cragan.
- Can you climb Beinn a' Bhuird North Top without a car?
- The nearest railway station is Aviemore, 19 mi (31 km) from the start, and the nearest bus stop on the map is Auchendryne Square, 2.0 mi (3.2 km) from the start. Highland trains and buses are few, so check times on Traveline Scotland before you go.
- Is Beinn a' Bhuird North Top a hard Munro?
- By time and climbing, it is one of the longer Munro days, with 2,943 ft (897 m) of ascent over 8.6 mi (14 km). Like every Munro it reaches over 3,000 ft, where the weather can be far worse than at the car park, so take a map and compass and check the mountain forecast.
- What does Beinn a' Bhuird North Top mean?
- In Gaelic it is Beinn a' Bhùird. It is usually translated as "table hill".
- When is the best time to climb Beinn a' Bhuird North Top?
- Daylight runs from about 18 hours in mid June to 7 hours in mid December, so summer gives the most time. From 1 July to 20 October it is the stag stalking season, when some estates ask walkers to keep to set routes. In winter, snow and ice turn most Munros into mountaineering terrain.
A guide only. Mountain conditions change fast: carry a map and compass and know how to use them, and read the mountain forecast for the Cairngorms and Monadhliath before you go.
Questions
Where can I get a proper mountain forecast?
Read the Mountain Weather Information Service forecast for the Cairngorms and Monadhliath, written by forecasters for walkers and climbers. In winter, also read the Scottish Avalanche Information Service report for the area.
Where does the summit weather come from?
From MET Norway's forecast model, fetched for every Munro once an hour at the summit's own height. It is computer output for one point, not a forecast written for mountains, so treat it as a guide. The past hours are what the forecast said at the time. Wind chill, the freezing level and sunrise and sunset are worked out by this site from those figures; the freezing level assumes temperature drops steadily with height, so it can be well out when cold air sits in the glens.
How was this route drawn?
It follows footpaths and tracks mapped on OpenStreetMap, from a public car park to the summit, with heights from Copernicus elevation data. A computer picked the start as the car park with the quickest mapped way up, counting the climbing as well as the distance. Nobody has checked it on the hill yet, so it may not be the usual way up, and the path may be faint or missing on the ground. A line on a map is not a description of the ground.
- Path geometry: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), Overpass API extract fetched 2026-10-24T19:59:57.025Z. Start chosen automatically: the public car park on a public road with the shortest mapped-path route to the summit (busy roads and T4 paths weighted against).
- Elevation: Copernicus DEM GLO-30 (© DLR e.V. 2010-2014 and © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH 2014-2018, provided under COPERNICUS by the European Union and ESA), sampled every 50 m, 3-sample median, 5 m hysteresis on ascent.
- Summit position: Database of British and Irish Hills v18 (CC BY 4.0).
Built 2026-10-25.
How is the time up worked out?
With Naismith's rule, the standard hill-walking estimate: an hour for every 3.1 miles (5 km), plus an hour for every 1,969 ft (600 m) of climbing, with no stops. For this route that gives about 4 h 15 min, one way. It ignores rough ground, weather, stops and the walk back down, so most people take longer.
Where do the car parks and bus stops come from?
From OpenStreetMap. Distances are straight lines, not the way you would walk or drive. A bus stop on the map says nothing about how often a bus calls: many Highland buses run a few times a day, some only on school days or by booking, so check Traveline Scotland first. The map cannot tell whether a car park is on a public road, so a remote one may only be reachable on foot or by train.
Where do the Gaelic names and stories come from?
From the hill's article on English Wikipedia and its Wikidata entry, put into a few words of our own. Meanings and pronunciations are only given where the article states them; many Gaelic hill names are old and their meaning is uncertain. Read the full article.
Where do the height and grid reference come from?
From the Database of British and Irish Hills, the surveyed list most baggers use. Beinn a' Bhuird North Top is hill 529 there.
Sources: Database of British and Irish Hills (CC BY 4.0), OpenStreetMap (ODbL), MET Norway (CC BY 4.0), Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Wikidata, Copernicus elevation data, Sentinel-2 cloudless imagery by EOX. All credits and licences.