Braemar is the third-coldest low-lying place in the UK after the villages of Dalwhinnie and Leadhills with an annual mean temperature of 6.8 °C (44.2 °F).

[11] The modern village sits over the Clunie Water, a strategically important crossing on the Elsick Mounth, an ancient trackway used by Picts and Romans.

[16] The Scottish Gaelic name Bràigh Mhàrr ('Upland of Mar') was originally applied to the general area; using Braemar for the village dates to around 1870.

[17] Before the 11th century, there were separate hamlets on each bank of the Clunie, Auchendryne on the west and Castleton on the east, or Bail Chasteil.

[18] According to legend, Malcolm III came to the area in around 1059, and built a timber bridge connecting the east and west banks.

[19] In 1795, a Roman Catholic Mass house was built on the high-ground to the west of Auchendryne, giving the name to Chapel Brae, which was used as a school.

[16] Until the 20th century, Braemar was largely owned by one of the adjoining Mar Estates, with Auchendryne and Invercauld on one side, Castleton on the other.

[16] Auchindryne (to use the spelling by Wyness) from Ach' an Droighinn ('field of the thorn') belonged to a branch of the Farquharsons until it was forfeited in the aftermath of the Jacobite rising of 1745.

[citation needed] St Ninian's Chapel, Braemar, completed in 1898, is the Scottish Episcopal Church place of worship.

Johann von Lamont (1805–1879), the Scottish-German astronomer and astrophysicist who pioneered the study of the Earth's magnetic field was born in nearby Corriemulzie.

The small crofting township of Inverey (Inbhir Èidh) was 86.3% Gaelic-speaking, most non-speakers being originally from Lower Deeside.

Since Queen Victoria's time, the reigning monarch has been the patron of the Braemar Royal Highland Society, and is styled Chieftain at the games.