DEPARTURES

A CASHMERE-LINED AUTUMN AT THEFIFE ARMS

Where roaring fires, wild rivers, and whisky rituals make for the coziest private jet landing of the season.

REBECCA ETORIA

When summer yields to something quieter and more golden, and the Scottish Highlands slip into their most poetic mood, there is no finer place to take it all in than The Fife Arms. Tucked in the heart of Braemar, a storybook village on the edge of Cairngorms National Park, this 19th-century coaching inn—meticulously reimagined by the art-forward minds at Artfarm—ushers in autumn with a new three-night experience designed for connoisseurs of both nature and nuance.

Introducing “Falling for the Highlands”—an indulgent escape where crisp air, curated whisky flights, and velvet hills collide.

As if plucked from the pages of a heritage novel and rewoven in modern tartan, The Fife Arms is a masterwork in atmosphere. Each of its 46 rooms and suites is a richly layered vignette—wallpapered in tweed, art-lined with everything from Lucian Freud to Picasso, and filled with the kind of objets and antiques that demand their own biography. But come autumn, it’s what’s just outside your sash window that steals the scene: hills awash in amber, stags silhouetted in morning mist, and a Highland hush that resets your entire nervous system.

Guests who book the “Falling for the Highlands” package are treated to a tapestry of curated experiences, each grounded in the rhythms and rituals of the land. Days begin with hearty breakfasts and end with three-course feasts at The Clunie Dining Room, where game and seasonal harvest take center stage. Between meals, the Highlands await: clay-pigeon shooting, fly fishing, and brisk hikes through pine-scented trails. But it’s the new, exclusive additions that truly elevate the experience.

A twilight swim in the River Dee, guided and timed to the fading light, offers a surreal communion with nature—followed by steaming mugs, thermal robes, and the kind of chill-chasing glow that only wild water can deliver. The Sensory Highlands Walk invites guests to slow down and reawaken their senses, with poetry readings in the glens and storytelling among the pines. This is not a hike—it’s a reverie.

Back indoors, the fire crackles and Bertie’s Bar beckons with its library of over 365 whiskies. Guests may choose between an elegant afternoon tea or a guided tasting experience beneath the bar’s celestial ceiling. And if your idea of après-adventure is less dram and more deep tissue, the package includes a 55-minute spa treatment tailored to soothe limbs warmed by whisky and wind.

But perhaps the ultimate luxury? Returning to your room to find a pair of cashmere bed socks by British designer Rosie Sugden, waiting bedside. It’s a small detail, but one that captures the essence of The Fife Arms: deeply rooted, exquisitely considered, and unapologetically cozy.

Timed to coincide with the region’s crowning seasonal event, the Braemar Highland Games, this package positions guests at the very heart of tradition—with all the privacy, elegance, and high-touch hospitality a private jet guest would expect. Transfers from nearby airfields are seamless, while the pace on the ground is entirely up to you: full immersion in the revelry or slow, fireside retreat.

Rates for the “Falling for the Highlands” package begin at £3,855, based on double occupancy. But the true value lies in the stillness, the scenery, and the sensation of being precisely where you’re meant to be when autumn quietly steals the show.

For more information or to book, visit thefifearms.com