A9 road (Great Britain) in the context of Old military roads of Scotland

Birnam is a village in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It is located 12 miles (19 km) north of Perth on the A9 road, the main tourist route through Perthshire, in an area of Scotland marketed as Big Tree Country. The village originated from the Victorian era with the coming of the railway in 1856, although the place and name is well known because William Shakespeare mentioned Birnam Wood in Macbeth:

Prior to the construction of the railway, the only substantial building on the site of the present village was the church of Little Dunkeld parish, which still stands in its ancient position within a graveyard within the village. Dunkeld, to whose monastery Kenneth MacAlpin, the first King of Scotland, moved the bones of St. Columba around the middle of the ninth century, and which is notable for its cathedral, lies on the opposite bank of the river.

Caithness (/keɪθˈnɛs/; Scottish Gaelic: Gallaibh [ˈkal̪ˠɪv]; Old Norse: Katanes) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland.

There are two towns, being Wick, which was the county town, and Thurso. The county includes the northernmost point of mainland Britain at Dunnet Head, and also the most north-easterly point at Duncansby Head near John o' Groats. The Flow Country is the largest blanket bog in Europe, and covers a large inland area in the west of the county. Caithness has a land boundary with the historic county of Sutherland to the west and is otherwise bounded by sea. The land boundary follows a watershed and is crossed by two roads (the A9 and the A836) and by one railway (the Far North Line). Across the Pentland Firth, ferries link Caithness with Orkney, and Caithness also has an airport at Wick. The Pentland Firth island of Stroma is within Caithness.

Dunkeld (/dʌŋˈkɛl/, Scots: Dunkell, from Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Chailleann, "fort of the Caledonians") is a town in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. The location of a historic cathedral, it lies on the north bank of the River Tay, opposite Birnam. Dunkeld lies close to the geological Highland Boundary Fault, and is frequently described as the "Gateway to the Highlands" due to its position on the main road and rail lines north. Dunkeld has a railway station, Dunkeld & Birnam, on the Highland Main Line, and is about 25 kilometres (15 miles) north of Perth on what is now the A9 road. The main road formerly ran through the town, however following the modernisation of this road it now passes to the west of Dunkeld.

Dunkeld is the location of Dunkeld Cathedral, and is considered to be a remarkably well-preserved example of a Scottish burgh of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Around twenty of the houses within Dunkeld have been restored by the National Trust for Scotland. The Hermitage, on the western side of the A9, is a countryside property that is also a National Trust for Scotland site.

Kingussie (/kɪŋˈjuːsi/ king-YOO-see; Scottish Gaelic: Ceann a' Ghiùthsaich pronounced [ˈkʲʰaun̪ˠə ˈʝuːs̪ɪç]) is a small town in the Badenoch and Strathspey ward of the Highland council area of Scotland. Historically in Inverness-shire, it lies beside the A9 road, although the old route of the A9 serves as the town's main street which has been bypassed since 1979. Kingussie is 42 miles (68 kilometres) south of Inverness, 12 mi (19 km) south of Aviemore, and 3 mi (5 km) north of Newtonmore.

Killiecrankie (/ˌkɪliːˈkræŋkiː/ ; Scottish Gaelic: Coille Chreithnich, meaning "aspen wood") is a village in Perth and Kinross, Scotland on the River Garry. It lies at the Pass of Killiecrankie, by the A9 road which has been bypassed since 1986. The village is home to a power station forming part of the Tummel Hydro-Electric Power Scheme. Much of the riverbank is owned by the National Trust for Scotland. The nearby 10 arch railway viaduct, which runs for 109 yards (100 m) along the north-east bank of the River Garry, was built in 1863 from a design by Joseph Mitchell.