Outlander's Highlands – Culloden, Clava and a 1700s Township
Two days by car, from Inverness and back.
The route
Claire's story begins in Inverness, and the Highland half of Outlander lies all around the town.
These two days from one bed in Inverness go looking for it, and they say plainly what is what. Most of the places here are where the story is set, or are said to have inspired it, rather than where the series was filmed. They are the battlefield at Culloden, the Bronze Age cairns and standing stones at Clava, and the Fraser country west of the town at Kirkhill and Beauly, where the Lovat Frasers are buried. The second day runs south on the A9 to Newtonmore and the Highland Folk Museum, whose township of the early 1700s was a filming location for part of one episode of the first series. Inverness itself was played on screen by Falkland in Fife.
Before you go
Book three nights near Inverness
Book three nights near Inverness for a trip between April and late October, the months the Highland Folk Museum at Newtonmore, day two's one Outlander place, is open: the night before day one, the night between the days, and the night after day two, which ends back in the town in the early evening.
DoresGarden CottageSleeps 6
DoresIvy CottageSleeps 4
6 miles awaySouth BothySleeps 2
DoresGatehouse CottageSleeps 4
DoresFactors CottageSleeps 6
DoresTigh na Coille CottageSleeps 8
BalblairNewhall MainsA place to stay
NairnBoath CabinSleeps 4
StruyTringa at Eagle BraeSleeps 2
StruySylvia at Eagle BraeSleeps 2
StruyStrix at Eagle BraeSleeps 2
StruyParus at Eagle BraeSleeps 2
StruyCinclus at Eagle BraeSleeps 4
StruyCerthia at Eagle BraeSleeps 4
StruyArdea at Eagle BraeSleeps 4
StruyLoxia at Eagle BraeSleeps 6
StruyButeo at Eagle BraeSleeps 6
StruyAquila at Eagle BraeSleeps 6
StruyEagle BraeA place to stay
BrodieCulbin EdgeSleeps 4
CarrbridgeStrathspey LodgeSleeps 8
Day one
Culloden
A day in the Highland heart of the story, east of Inverness and then west. It starts on the moor at Culloden, where the Jacobite Rising ended, and the cairns and standing stones at Clava a few minutes away. In the afternoon the road runs west into Fraser country, to the Lovats' mausoleum at Kirkhill and the ruined priory at Beauly.
1 hr 44 min at the wheelAbout 43 miles
Culloden Visitor Centre
An attraction
It's 18 minutes' drive east from Inverness to Culloden Battlefield, where the last Jacobite Rising ended on 16 April 1746. The battle runs through both of Outlander's timelines, but the National Trust for Scotland says the series built its battlefield in a field in Cumbernauld, so this is the real ground, not a set. Start in the visitor centre, then walk out on the moor to the clan stones. Fans come for the Clan Fraser stone: keep to the path, as these are graves. Lunch is in the centre's café.
4 min by car
Clava Cairns
An attraction
It's 4 minutes' drive on to Clava Cairns, a cemetery of cairns and standing stones about 4,000 years old, in a small wood above the River Nairn. Clava is said to have inspired the stones at Craigh na Dun, as is Callanish on Lewis, but the series did not film here: its circle was made of props and filmed near Kinloch Rannoch. Local fans point out a stone much like the one on screen, and a split stone like the first book's. Keep to the paths.
40 min by car
Wardlaw Mausoleum
An attraction
It's 40 minutes' drive round Inverness and west to Kirkhill, on the way to Beauly, and the graveyard on Wardlaw Road where the Lovat Frasers' mausoleum stands. Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, the Old Fox and Jamie's grandfather in the books, added its tower in 1722. Beheaded in 1747, he is said to have been brought home in secret, yet the bones in the coffin with his nameplate proved to be a young woman's. The inside is shown only by arrangement, so this is a short look from the graveyard.
12 min by car
Beauly Priory
An attraction
It's 12 minutes' drive on to Beauly, where the priory stands in its walled graveyard at the north end of the square, set back from the street. French Valliscaulian monks founded it about 1230. Mackenzie chiefs lie in its north transept, and Frasers of Lovat are buried here too, Hugh, 3rd Lord Lovat, among them. Local fans say that in the books Claire meets the seer Maisri here. To go into the church, check Historic Environment Scotland's Beauly Priory page, at historicenvironment.scot, first. Inverness is 30 minutes' drive home.
If it rains
Culloden is the day's shelter: its exhibition, battle theatre and café are indoors, while the moor is open and exposed to whatever the weather brings. On a wet day give the visitor centre longer and walk a shorter loop of the field on its hard-surfaced path. Clava, Wardlaw and Beauly are all short stops in the open, so see them between showers, with a coffee on Beauly's square to finish.
On the way
- Inverness Museum and Art Gallery
The road from Clava to Kirkhill passes close to Inverness, where the town museum below the castle has a display on the Jacobites and Bonnie Prince Charlie, the story behind Culloden. Admission is free. It is shut on Sundays and Mondays, and from November to March it opens from 11am or noon to 4pm. It has no car park of its own: park in the town and walk up Castle Wynd.
Where to eat
InvernessCoyote BurgerAmerican-style burgers
InvernessThe Mustard SeedA restaurant
InvernessBlack Isle BarA restaurant
InvernessThe Rendezvous CaféA café
InvernessCoffee AffairA café
InvernessXOKO BakehouseA café
InvernessPERK Coffee & DoughnutsA café
BeaulyCafe BiagiottiA café
InvernessHarry GowA café
BeaulyCorner on the SquareA café
InvernessRocpoolA restaurant
InvernessMcBain's by the RiverA restaurantDay two
Newtonmore
A day down the A9 into Badenoch, to the Highland Folk Museum at Newtonmore, where part of one episode of Outlander's first series was filmed. Its township of the early 1700s stands among the museum's old buildings, and the museum fills most of the day. On the way home, Ruthven Barracks stands on its mound outside Kingussie, where what was left of the Jacobite army gathered after Culloden.
2 hr 47 min at the wheelAbout 92 miles
1 hr 20 min by car
Highland Folk Museum
It's 80 minutes' drive south on the A9 to the Highland Folk Museum at Newtonmore, open from April to late October and shut in winter. Entry is free, with a small charge to park. Among its more than 35 old buildings is Baile Gean, a township of the early 1700s, where part of 'Rent', the fifth episode of Outlander's first series, was filmed. The museum says staff who were there can point out where. Allow three hours; the café does soup, sandwiches and cake, with limited seating indoors.
8 min by car
Ruthven Barracks
It's 8 minutes' drive through Kingussie to Ruthven Barracks, roofless on its green mound just south of the town. This is Jacobite history rather than Outlander. The government built the barracks after the 1715 rising, and after Culloden the remains of the Jacobite army gathered here to wait for word from the Prince. His message told every man to seek his own safety, and they destroyed the barracks as they left. The path up the mound is short, steep and grassy. Inverness is 80 minutes' drive home.
If it rains
The museum is mostly outdoors, a mile of site walked between its buildings, but nearly all of those buildings are there to be gone into, and fires are lit in some of the township houses. Bring waterproofs, give the inside of each house longer, and have soup and cake in the café, which has limited seating indoors. In heavy rain or high wind, look at Ruthven Barracks from the car park at the foot of its mound rather than climbing up.
