Moray is a rural council area on the southern shore of the Moray Firth in north-eastern Scotland, tucked between the Cairngorm Mountains and the sea. It is sheltered enough from the Atlantic weather to enjoy one of the driest and sunniest microclimates in Scotland — the coast here gets less rain than most of southern England — and the combination of fertile farmland, long sandy beaches, quiet fishing villages, and the Speyside whisky country makes it one of the more rewarding and least-visited corners of the Highlands.
The region has two main draws. The first is whisky. More than half of Scotland's single malt distilleries sit in the valley of the River Spey, which flows through the southern half of Moray, and the Malt Whisky Trail is a signposted driving route that takes in nine of the best: Glenfiddich, The Glenlivet, Cardhu, Aberlour, Strathisla, Dallas Dhu, Benromach, Glen Grant, and the working Speyside Cooperage that still makes the oak casks all of them mature in. Dufftown, the self-proclaimed "whisky capital of the world," has seven distilleries within a mile of its market square and an old saying: if Rome was built on seven hills, Dufftown was built on seven stills. The Speyside Whisky Festival every May is one of the best ways to experience all of this at once. In Elgin itself, Gordon & MacPhail on South Street is the most remarkable whisky shop in the world.
The second draw is the coast. Long sandy beaches at Findhorn, Lossiemouth, and Roseisle give way to dramatic red sandstone cliffs and a string of painted fishing villages: Findochty, whose brightly coloured cottages look more Mediterranean than Scottish; Portknockie, with the striking sea arch of the Bow Fiddle Rock just offshore; and Cullen, whose fishing community gave its name to Cullen skink, a creamy smoked-haddock soup you will find on menus across the region. The Moray Firth itself is home to one of only two resident populations of bottlenose dolphins in Britain — boat trips from Buckie and Lossiemouth, and patient watching from the shore, are often rewarded.
The main town of Moray is Elgin, the medieval cathedral city whose 13th-century Elgin Cathedral (the "Lantern of the North") is one of the most beautiful ruins in Scotland. The Elgin Museum holds one of the world's finest collections of Permo-Triassic fossils. Nearby Pluscarden Abbey, founded in 1230, is still a working Benedictine monastery — one of the few surviving in Britain — and visitors are welcome at services. Outside Forres, the 23-foot-high Pictish Sueno's Stone is one of the finest standing carved monuments in northern Europe. And inland, the Cairngorms National Park edge is an easy drive away, via the high Tomintoul village and the Lecht ski area.
Moray is an excellent base for a slow-travel Scottish week — distilleries, dolphins, walking on the coast path, and some of the best seafood in the country.