Also on the map ofCairngorms‹ Scottish HighlandsCairngorms National Park
Ben Macdui
- Easiest route
- 8.0 km+716 m · about 3 h · T2
- Prominence
- 950 m3,117 ft
- Isolation
- at least 200 km
- Tonight
- -6°CFog · Wind 13 km/h W
Ben Macdui is a 1,309 m (4,295 ft) mountain in the Cairngorms, Scotland, United Kingdom.
All facts
- Elevation
- 1,309 m · 4,295 ft
- Nearest higher peak
- Ben Nevis (1,345 m)
- Range
- Cairngorms
- Region
- Scotland, United Kingdom
- Protected area
- Cairngorms National Park
- Coordinates
- 57.0701° N, 3.6694° W
How to get to the top of Ben Macdui
3 mapped walking routes from where a car can get you, with distance and climb from the terrain model.
Easiest route: from Coire Cas Car Park (parking)
- Distance
- 8.0 kmone way
- Climb
- +716 m−38 m (2,349 ft up)
- Time up
- about 3 h
- Difficulty
- T2Mountain trail, sure footing needed
Other routes 2
Routes © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the ODbL. Climb from the terrain model. Trails change and maps miss things: check conditions locally.
Ben Macdui 3D map
Drag to orbit · click, then scroll to zoom (or Ctrl/⌘ + scroll) · One finger scrolls the page · two fingers orbit and zoom · 7.8 × 7.8 km
Ben Macdui terrain and contours
50 m contours from the Copernicus GLO-30 terrain model. The route drawn is the easiest mapped one. Click two points on the map to draw your own cross-section.Tap two points on the map to draw your own cross-section.
West → east through the summit
Ben Macdui weather
Tonight · Fog · -6°C (21°F) · Wind 13 km/h W
Ben Macdui forecast for the summit, about 1,309 m. Summit vs base: the Base line is for about 629 m.
- Tonight-6°–13 km/h WBase -2°
- Today-5°0°27.8 mm46 km/h SEBase -1 / 4°
- Sun-2°0°6.7 mm46 km/h WBase 1 / 4°
- Mon-1°0°9.4 mm30 km/h SBase 3 / 3°
- Tue-2°5°6.2 mm44 km/h SWBase 2 / 9°
- Wed0°2°0.8 mm19 km/h SWBase 3 / 6°
- Thu1°4°–12 km/h SBase 5 / 8°
- Fri2°3°7.7 mm18 km/h SEBase 6 / 7°
- Sat-2°3°17.5 mm22 km/h SEBase 2 / 7°
- Sun-3°-2°23.0 mm14 km/h NWBase 1 / 2°
Forecast data: MET Norway, CC BY 4.0; daily low and high, precipitation total and strongest wind from the hourly data, model run Oct 23, 23:18 UTC.
Camping & parking near Ben Macdui
Campsites, parking, trailheads and mountain huts mapped in OpenStreetMap around Ben Macdui, nearest first, by straight-line distance. Check access, fees and permits locally.
Nearest hut
Corrour Bothy
Nearest parking
Coire Cas Car Park
All mapped places 5
| Place | Distance |
|---|---|
| Corrour BothyHut | 3.2 km SSW |
| Hutchinson Memorial HutHut | 3.5 km ENE |
| Fords of Avon Refuge HutHut | 6.8 km NE |
| Coire Cas Car ParkParking | 7.2 km N |
| Parking | 7.3 km N |
How steep is the route to Ben Macdui?
The easiest mapped route, 8.0 km from 629 m to 1,309 m. Steepest stretch: 15°.
- 0–15°7.9 km
- 15–30°0.1 km
Grades are averaged between profile points about 80 m apart, so short steeper steps don’t show.
Land cover
ESA WorldCover 10 m classification of the same area.
Snow & ice means glaciers and year-round snow (a yearly average), not today’s snow cover.
Nearby summits
Named peaks within 3.9 km, measured from the Ben Macdui summit.
Summit list 8
- 1Derry Cairngorm1,155 m 2.9 km ESE
- 2Sron na Lairige1,184 m 3.0 km WNW
- 3Cairn Toul1,291 m 3.1 km SW
- 4Stob Coire an t-Saighdeir1,213 m 3.6 km SW
- 5Sgòr an Lochain Uaine1,258 m 3.7 km WSW
- 6Cairn Lochan1,216 m 3.7 km N
- 7Beinn Mheadhoin SW Top1,163 m 3.7 km NE
- 8Braeriach1,296 m 3.7 km WNW
Wildlife seen nearby
Sightings of the most-seen species on iNaturalist (research grade) within 3.9 km; 140 species recorded in all.
Sightings per species 6
- Moss Campion41
- Snow Bunting37
- Northern firmoss27
- European Common Frog20
- Rock Ptarmigan19
- Least Willow16
Where Ben Macdui sits
- Range
- Scottish Highlands14Cairngorms5
- Region
- Scotland153United Kingdom371Europe2,143
- Protected area
- Cairngorms National Park5
Ranked in 1
Nearby places
Loch EtchachanLake↑2.3 km NE
Lairig GhruPass↑2.7 km NNW
BraeriachPeak · 1,296 m↑3.7 km WNW
Loch AvonLake↑4.4 km NE
Coire an t-Sneachda↑4.8 km N
More in the Cairngorms 1
Ben Macdui downloads: topographic map, heightmap, STL 3D model and DEM
Free files made in your browser from this page's terrain data. No sign-up; credit the sources below.
Print & wall
3D printing & 3D apps
Free to use with credit: see the data sources
How accurate is this?
within 10 m This 3D map reads 1,308 m at the summit; the official height is 1,309 m.
A 30 m terrain model averages each cell, so a few metres either way is normal.
| Source | Summit | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| Official height (Wikidata) | 1,309 m | — |
| Copernicus GLO-30 (used on this page) | 1,308 m | -1 m |
| Copernicus GLO-90 | 1,306 m | -3 m |
Data sources
- Terrain
- Produced using Copernicus WorldDEM-30 © DLR e.V. 2010-2014 and © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH 2014-2018 provided under COPERNICUS by the European Union and ESA; all rights reserved. The European Union, ESA, DLR and Airbus incur no liability for any use of this data and do not endorse this service.
- Imagery
- Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2026 (scene 2026-07-15)
- Land cover
- © ESA WorldCover project 2021 / Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2021) processed by ESA WorldCover consortium
- Facts
- Wikidata (CC0)
- Routes, Camping & parking
- © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL)
- Summits
- © OpenStreetMap contributors, via Overture Maps Foundation (ODbL)
- Wildlife
- iNaturalist community observations, counts only
- Accuracy comparison, Panorama
- Includes Copernicus WorldDEM-90 © DLR e.V. 2010-2014 and © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH 2014-2018 provided under COPERNICUS by the European Union and ESA; all rights reserved. The European Union, ESA, DLR and Airbus incur no liability for any use of this data and do not endorse this service.
- Forecast
- Weather forecast from MET Norway (CC BY 4.0)
- Sources
- Wikidata · OpenStreetMap · GeoNames · Wikipedia