Pitlochry

Wild salmon fling themselves up a concrete staircase through the centre of Pitlochry, leaping between pools while tourists lean over the glass to count them. The town sits where the Highlands begin in earnest, the River Tummel dropping through it in a series of rapids and weirs that give this small Perthshire town an outsized relationship with running water.

Pitlochry's fish ladder at the Pitlochry Dam lets Atlantic salmon pass a hydroelectric barrage on their way upstream to spawn — a glass-sided observation chamber lets you watch them leap. The Festival Theatre runs a different production every night across a summer season, its repertory company one of the last in Scotland. The Edradour Distillery, Scotland's smallest traditional distillery, produces just twelve casks a week by hand. Blair Athol Distillery sits at the southern edge of town, and the surrounding woodland walks follow the River Garry through autumn colour that rivals New England.