Dog Friendly Walks & Beaches in Aberdeenshire

A vast, 14-mile sandy beach and dune system north of Aberdeen with year-round unrestricted dog access, excellent country park facilities and one of the largest dune landscapes in the UK.

The iconic Aberdeenshire summit walk up Mither Tap from the Bennachie Visitor Centre, rewarding dogs and owners with a big Iron Age hill fort and enormous views.

A wide sandy bay in Aberdeenshire backed by dunes with the ruins of Slains Castle on the cliffs above, year-round access and very few restrictions.

A relaxed forest circuit through one of Scotland's finest remnant Caledonian pinewoods on the Glen Tanar Estate, with lots of space for dogs to run.

A historic circuit through the Royal Deeside forests of the Balmoral Estate, visiting the Victorian memorial cairns above Balmoral Castle.

A dramatic cliff cove at the village that inspired Joan Eardley's famous paintings, with year-round dog access, a steep path to the beach and an intensely atmospheric character.

Dogs can run free almost all the way up livestock-free Craigendarroch, to a summit view of Lochnagar for their humans.

Dogs get a burn to splash in and a mill pond to sniff around on Crathes Castle's woodland trail, while humans get the sixteenth-century house and red squirrels.

A long glen walk through ancient pinewoods to a remote Victorian shooting lodge with outstanding off-lead freedom; the remote character demands self-sufficiency.

A short, dramatic dog friendly clifftop walk from Stonehaven harbour out to the ruins of Dunnottar Castle, with huge North Sea views and seabird colonies below.

Grassy parkland between two lakes gives dogs plenty of sniffing room at Haddo, while their humans head for a beech tree and a monumental urn overlooking the house.

A gentle circuit of Loch Kinord in the Muir of Dinnet National Nature Reserve, pairing birch woodland, a spectacular glacial pothole and early Christian carved stones.

A wide estuary beach at the mouth of the Ythan with a large grey seal colony and year-round dog access on the beach itself.

An exceptional National Nature Reserve beach backed by dramatic red granite cliffs with year-round dog access, subject to keeping dogs under close control to protect the outstanding coastal wildlife.

A quieter sandy beach south of Balmedie on the Aberdeenshire coast with year-round dog access and good off-lead space as part of the wider dune system north of Aberdeen.

A steep pinewood climb lets dogs off the lead once through the woodland gate, for a quick summit view down the Dee valley to Balmoral and Lochnagar.

A serious hill day circuit of Lochnagar, the classic Eastern Cairngorms Munro, from the Spittal of Glenmuick; strictly a dogs-on-lead route for fit walkers.

A dramatic coastal walk from Cruden Bay beach past the Gothic ruins of Slains Castle to the blow hole and sea arches of the Bullers of Buchan.

A sandy beach at the charming harbour town of Stonehaven with year-round dog access, views of Dunnottar Castle to the south and excellent fish suppers in the town.

A circular walk through dunes, estuary and sandy beach at Forvie National Nature Reserve, with strong dog restrictions during the bird breeding season.

A short clifftop walk from Northfield Farm to mainland Scotland's only gannetry, teeming with seabirds from spring through summer.