Aviemore is a tourist resort in the Highlands of Scotland. The town is popular for skiing and other winter sports, and for hill-walking in the Cairngorm Mountains. Situated within the Cairngorms National Park, Aviemore is one of the largest towns in the park, with a population of 2,397 as of the last census in 2001. It is the first skiing resort to be established in Scotland and is also notable for being near the freely grazing reindeer herd at Glen More, the only one in the United Kingdom.

Boat of Garten is a small village and post town in Badenoch and Strathspey. The settlement took its name from the nearby ferry over the River Spey. The village as we see it today began with the arrival of the Highland Railway, when the first bridge was built. The village is known as "The Boat" to locals. The village features a fine Golf Course originally designed by James Braid. It is also renowned for the nearby RSPB reserve at Loch Garten. The railway through the village was built by the Inverness and Perth Junction Railway. Latterly it was joined by the Strathspey Railway to Dufftown. Following closure, it is now preserved as part of the Strathspey Steam Railway.

Carrbridge is a village in Badenoch and Strathspey. It is about 10 km north of Aviemore, and is part of the Cairngorms National Park. In the 2001 census the village had a population of 708 people with the majority employed in tourism. The village was an early centre for skiing in Scotland, and the A9 road passes close by, though before the 1980s bypass was constructed it ran straight through the village. Carrbridge itself is served by Carrbridge railway station on the Highland Main Line.

Dalwhinnie is a tiny village, it is a little north of Drumochter, and functions mainly as a service stop. Because the pass is often closed in winter, this is seasonal. Dalwhinnie is also the site of a railway station on the Highland Main Line from Perth to Inverness. The light, heathery Single Malt Scotch that bears the town's name is also made here (the highest-elevation working distillery in Scotland).

Dulnain Bridge is a village in Strathspey, next to the meeting of the River Dulnain and the River Spey, three miles south-west of Grantown-on-Spey, in the Scottish Highlands. The bridge was swept away in a flood in 1829, but was re-built. The population is estimated at less than one thousand, and the town is popular with tourists, as it is surrounded by mountains. The traditional counties of Inverness-shire and Morayshire are separated by the bridge, which has existed for centuries.

Grantown-on-Spey is a town in the Highland Council Area in Scotland. It was founded in 1765 as a planned settlement on a low plateau at Freuchie beside the river Spey at the northern edge of the Cairngorm mountains, about 20 miles South East of Inverness (35 miles by road). The town used to be served by a railway which was closed in the 1960s. The Strathspey Railway is a heritage railway which proposes to extend its line to Grantown-on-Spey. The nearest main line stations are Aviemore, Carrbridge and Elgin.

Kingussie is a small town and is head of Badenoch and Strathspey, adjacent to the A9 road, although the old route of the A9 served as the town's main street. Kingussie is the capital of the district of Badenoch and is 3 miles from Newtonmore, which is its greatest rival in the game of Shinty.

Newtonmore is a village with a population of about 1000. The village is only a few miles from the exact geographical centre of Scotland. Located at the top end of the Spey Valley in the area called Badenoch, in the Cairngorms National Park.