A guide to
Scotland’s castles.
Where in Scotland?
Choose a part of Scotland for its castles.
Dunnottar on its cliff, Craigievar in pink, and Balmoral up the Dee.
The castle on its rock, and Craigmillar, where Mary, Queen of Scots, stayed.
Stirling Castle, where Mary, Queen of Scots, was crowned, above Bannockburn.
Kilchurn on Loch Awe, Inveraray, and Duart on Mull.
Caerlaverock’s moated triangle, and Threave on its island in the Dee.
Tantallon on the cliff, and Linlithgow Palace, where Mary, Queen of Scots, was born.
Floors at Kelso, Thirlestane, and the four great abbeys between them.
Culzean on its cliff above the Firth of Clyde.
Urquhart on Loch Ness, and Cawdor and Brodie towards Nairn.
The castles, in two minutes.
There are more than two thousand castles in Scotland, from royal fortresses on rock to tower houses in a farmer’s field. Some are roofed and furnished, some are ruins open to the sky, and some of the best are hotels.
They come in clusters. Aberdeenshire has the fairy-tale tower houses, Craigievar, Crathes and Fyvie; the Borders has the great abbeys and peel towers; Argyll has the sea castles; and Edinburgh and Stirling have the two that shaped the country.
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Where to start.
The castles everyone asks about, each with what to know before going.
Edinburgh Castle.
A royal castle on its rock at the top of the Royal Mile, in its time a palace, garrison and prison, and home of the oldest Crown jewels in Britain.
Edinburgh
Stirling Castle.
The great royal castle on its crag above Stirling, where Mary, Queen of Scots was crowned, with the Great Hall and the Royal Palace.
Stirlingshire
Eilean Donan Castle.
The castle on an island where three sea lochs meet, bombarded in 1719, rebuilt between 1912 and 1932 and reached by an arched stone bridge.
Lochalsh
Dunnottar Castle.
The clifftop ruin of the Earls Marischal on a 160-foot rock south of Stonehaven, where the Honours of Scotland were kept safe from Cromwell's army.
Aberdeenshire
Urquhart Castle.
The ruins of a castle that was once among Scotland's largest, on a headland over Loch Ness, with the Grant Tower to climb and a café on site.
Inverness
Culzean Castle.
Robert Adam's clifftop castle on the Ayrshire coast, in a country park of woods, beaches, follies, gardens and a Swan Pond.
Ayrshire
Three things to know.
Check the season.
Many castles open from April to October only, and some close a day or two a week. Ruins in open country can usually be walked round all year.
A pass pays for itself.
Historic Environment Scotland and the National Trust for Scotland each sell passes. Three or four castles in a week and the pass has paid.
Ruins are rough underfoot.
Spiral stairs, low doors and unfenced drops are part of it. Wear proper shoes and keep hold of children.
Scottish BordersFatlips Castle
Scottish BordersHume Castle
Argyll and ButeInveraray Castle
Scottish BordersHermitage Castle
LothianDirleton Castle & Gardens
AberdeenshireCafé 1702 at Crathes Castle
LothianRosslyn Castle
Scottish BordersJedburgh Castle Jail & MuseumWhere to go.
Places of ours, each with what to know before you go.
See more on Explore
Keiss Castle and Castle Sinclair Girnigoe
Findlater Castle, Sandend and lunch in Portsoy
A walk round Ardwell Bay to Doon Castle broch
A shore walk to Castle Moil at Kyleakin
Flotterstone, Glencorse Reservoir and Castlelaw walk
A walk on the old military road at Corgarff Castle
A walk from Milton of Crathes to Crathes Castle
Findlater Castle, Sunnyside Beach and lunch in CullenDays worked out.
Each with its stops in order, the drive between and somewhere to eat.
See every day out
To readThe Ghostly Drummer of Cortachy Castle
To readBraemar Castle
To readThe Rebuilding of Eilean Donan Castle
To readFrom Painted Ceilings to Walled Gardens: A Day at Crathes Castle
To readEdinburgh Castle’s Darkest Day - The Burning of Janet Douglas
To readHow Dunnottar Castle Hid the Honours of Scotland
To readCaerlaverock Castle: Scotland’s Only Triangular Fortress
To readBrodick Castle: A Fortress of Power on the Isle of ArranFrom the magazine and the Journal.
The people and the stories.
The Library
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