After having had so much fun with our Ireland Castle Hopping Adventure we decided we would try something similar in Scotland to celebrate another wedding anniversary.
We started with a few days in Edinburgh before following a similar formula of renting a car and heading out into the countryside to explore a small sampling of castles. This time, between Edinburgh and Inverness.
First off, how to choose?
If you take Google maps, expand it and search for castles, you will see that there are castles in every direction within a stone’s throw of each other.
We basically mapped-out our trip to see Loch Ness as we went from Edinburgh to Inverness and chose what we thought looked like important and interesting castles along the way.
Originally, we had many more planned in our itinerary but as we assessed the driving, we thought (rightfully!) that some were just a little too far to make it practical. After all we didn’t want to be driving for hours and hours every day with no time to actually visit the castles!
Ultimately one can easily spend a full week, or more exploring castles in Scotland and barely scratch the surface with all the history there is to be found in the area. We had to limit ourselves to a small sampling that could be practically visited in the time we had.
We had also found three wonderful castle hotels to stay at. Some had Michelin starred chefs and offered five and seven course dinners. It all sounded pretty amazing for an anniversary celebration!
Day 1: Scotland road trip
Leaving Edinburgh, we started our adventure by visiting a few of the closer castles, mostly castle ruins but ruins with a lot of history.
Craigmillar Castle
The Craigmillar Castle is close to Edinburgh and could easily be considered for a day trip when staying in town. We had rented a car, and it was just a short 20-minute drive. There was a small car park outside and the visit was basically a self-guided tour.
Check out the view of Arthur’s Seat from another angle as you make your way up the path towards the castle. What remains is a beautiful castle ruin. Easily explored in an hour even if one reads all the signs and peers into every room. Those wanting to spend more time could perhaps take longer walks for views from the fields surrounding the castle or opt for a picnic.
Craigmillar Castle has some interesting history. It is where Mary, Queen of Scots came for refuge from her abusive and power-hungry husband Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. Her supporters hatched a plan to do away with said husband thus reshaped history.
Next, we drove about 40 minutes to the coast of the North Sea to get some nice views and visit an even more beautiful seaside castle.
Tantallon Castle
This clifftop castle was headquarters to the Red Douglas clan and dates back to the 1600s. Some of the original defensive posts actually go back as far as the 1300s.
The castle was attacked in 1528 and underwent a 20-day siege but came through without any damage. After the religious wars where parliament killed King George I. Scottish covenants sided with his son George II pitting them against an angry British army led by Cromwell who later came to attack the castle and turning it into ruins.
Interestingly enough the manager of the site, a fellow names Phil, had been an actor in the popular TV series Outlander. Some scenes were filmed at the Tantallon Castle. He showed us pictures of himself as one of the characters alongside the show’s stars.
Phil also noticed the Scottish long-haired Highland cow on my husband’s newly acquired t-shirt and asked if we’d seen any. Saying we hadn’t, he was kind enough to point us towards a local farm where we might see them.
We did head out that way and saw them in the distance but they were all far from the access road. We’d see them again later during our trip as we headed into the Scottish Highlands.
Preston Mill
Next to the farm with the cows, we saw a historic mill and stopped for a tour. It too was part of a scene from an early Outlander episode in season 1.
It was quite interesting to see the whole mill still in operation. It wasn’t actually milling oats, but the Scottish Highland Society was caring for it.
They had all parts of it working and were proud to give us a demonstration. The tour lasted about an hour, and we were glad to see it work and hear more about it from the knowledgeable guides.
Dirleton Castle and Gardens
We doubled back to see a third and final castle ruin for the day, also just outside Edinburgh. The small ruins of Dirleton. This castle opens from 9:30am-12pm and then closes opening again between 1:30pm-4:30pm so we had to adjust our timing accordingly.
The castle itself was under extensive renovations with the main entrance over the moat closed off. You could still visit about 60% of the site and it can easily be done in an hour. Plan for 90 minutes in case more of it opens and if you want to further explore the gardens.
The garden area here really was quite nice, (the other castle ruins didn’t have much of a garden to speak of).
Also, do check out the old pigeon coop near the entrance. It looks like a huge wasp’s nest and inside you can see all the individual coops.
Dirleton Castle belonged to the De Vaux family in the 1100s. The original wooden castle was replaced in the 1200s with the stone structure. It was later occupied by the English army from 1298 before being recaptured by the Scots. Later, Cromwell’s English troops attacked and took the castle again in 1650 after which it was abandoned and fell into ruin.
Staying at the Dalhousie Castle Hotel (our first of three castle hotels)
A charming old historic castle, the Dalhousie Castle turned hotel is located just outside Edinburgh. Its origins date as far back as the 13th century when it served as a fortress for the Ramseys. It has hosted royals including Mary, Queen of Scots.
Owned by the Ramsay family for 850 years, it has been in the possession of a single family longer than any other castle in Scotland. It also has a Canadian connection. One Ramsay was a signatory when Quebec went to General Wolfe in 1759. More recently a Ramsey was Lt Governor of Nova Scotia and helped found Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada.
The Dalhousie Castle was converted to a hotel in 1972.
Aside from the unique experience of staying in a castle room, there is also a seven-course dinner menu in the dungeon (well actually an old stable we had heard but that doesn’t sound as good for a restaurant). The talented and creative chefs were excellent, and dinner was simply delicious.
The website listed some scenic walks, and we did arrive early to try these out, but they proved to be a disappointment.
We had requested Room 19, mostly because the photos on the website showed the stone castle walls and we wanted to be sure of getting a castle room.
In retrospect, the room was located at the ground level (and even below ground) of the tower and was a bit dark and dingy. It was also a bit of a funky layout. The bed was on an upper level from the bathroom and there was really no convenient spot to put one’s luggage.
There were the remnants of an old well in the bedroom under glass and the stone ceiling was missing a block just over the bed. The copper tub wasn’t functional and was only decorative. Being there for only one night we were not keen to fully unpack so we left our luggage on the couch and slept with one eye open.
The shower was enormous and had good pressure but there was no shelf to put the shampoo or soap. Somehow the room, despite being large and having some cool castle features, didn’t seem to work well for us. If coming to stay here we would recommend a higher floor room and a more traditional layout instead of the tower suite we had requested.
Dinner was amazing, even if the young waitstaff were not quite up to snuff to do the castle dinner service justice. Ultimately, we didn’t need all the cutlery meticulously positioned and measured to the millimeters, but forgetting a spoon and leaving us a dirty fork took away from the seven-course castle dinner experience.
We also had a hard time understanding (perhaps the Scottish accent of the soft-spoken waitress). This made the dinner menu more of a surprise. We heard mussel, but it was cheese. We heard potato but it was fish. We heard crab bread, but it was brown bread and crab soup. We heard chicken butter, twice, but knew it couldn’t be that and never found out what it was, but it tasted good!
The castle, while a fun stay, seemed as if it was missing some of the small touches that make such stays really special. No castle monogrammed slippers or bathrobes or even wax stamped dinner invitations that would have been fitting (and these also make nice souvenirs for guests). They did leave us a tasty wedding anniversary plate with gourmet chocolates as well as quality bath products however, and the staff were all friendly.
Day 2: Heading out towards Inverlochy and the Scottish Highlands
We kicked off the next day with a savory breakfast in the Dalhousie Castle Orangery. Essentially a nice solarium facing the back with views of the loch. We enjoyed some delectable pastries and a great selection of à-la-carte orders. We laughed when there was no spoon in the fruit or yoghurt bowls but hey, it all got sorted out and everything tasted great.
We then headed out to see two of the more popular castles Stirling and Doune.
Stirling Castle
Almost an hour away, we pulled into the town of Stirling as we approached Stirling Castle. A long line of cars slowly crept along, each paying the £5 parking fee. Despite the paid parking, we felt lucky to find a spot as we’d read that one could be turned around to look for parking in town when the lot filled up requiring a lengthy walk up the hill. With a packed day and lots of driving we didn’t have a lot of time to waste.
We scanned our pre-booked tickets to gain entrance. Again, no one seemed to mind that we were early for our timed-entry slot which suited us just fine allowing for a bit of extra wiggle room in our packed schedule.
The castle itself was beautifully preserved and nicely restored. Entering the main gate we found a small colorful garden. The whole castle is built on a high hill. One can get some great panoramic views from the ramparts.
Stirling Castle has been home to Scotland’s Kings and Queens for over 1,000 years. One of the most significant buildings within the castle is the Royal Palace. King James V built it as his royal residence almost 500 years ago.
James V was fourth to the throne after Henry VIII. He was the son of Henry’s sister Margaret Tutor. He married Madeleine of Valois, the daughter of King François I of France, but she died shortly after arriving in Scotland (they believe from tuberculosis).
He then married Mary of Guise, another French noble woman, building a new palace at Stirling Castle in her honor between 1538 and 1542. Just six days after Mary, the future Queen of Scot’s is born, King James V passed away leaving her the throne when she was only 6 days old!
The palace’s exterior is decorated with remarkable sculptures such as parrots, apes, devils, lions and various grotesques. Many of these are sporting strange ghoulish expressions, they can be found along the Prince’s Walk.
You can also enter the apartments which are sparsely decorated with children’s games and props. You can even dress the kids up in costumes and play guessing games to keep them engaged.
However, the castle’s kitchen exhibit was quite extensive with life-size statues preparing diverse dishes.
Plan at least 2 hours to see everything quickly. Maybe 3 if you want to take your time. Be sure to plan a bit of extra time for traffic and parking. It’s a very popular spot.
Next, we headed out to Doune Castle.
Doune Castle
Arriving through the narrow streets of Doune we pulled up and were told that there was no parking available in the small lot next to the castle and that we should head into town. Lucky for us however, we saw a flash of taillights and a car started backing out. We pointed and said: “How about there?”, “It’s all yours” the attendant said.
This castle is famous (and popular) for having been in many movie scenes. The Monty Python and the Holy Grail movie was filmed here when it came out in 1974. Doune Castle is also a famous part of the popular series Outlander and also features prominently in the prequel Outlander: Blood of my Blood.
It’s always fun to recognize places we have seen on television or to visit places associated with a favorite TV show or movie. They had built a whole village just outside the gates of Doune Castle for filming purposes.
We’d recommend taking the audio guide. It is actually narrated by characters from Monty Python and Outlander, and they describe some of the scenes from the movie and the show and as well as their own memories from the filming.
Aside from the film sets, the castle was also a spot of significance. Mary, Queen of Scots was recorded as visiting “Don Moneth” or Doune Castle in September 1563.
Somehow this small and intimate castle with its entertaining audio guide was one of our favorites. It was small and not overly crowded, and we had fun climbing the narrow circular stairs up into the turrets peering into the empty stone rooms imagining the scenes from the movie and TV shows.
Drive to the Inverlochy Castle Hotel in the Scottish Highlands
Our preprogrammed off-line mode route suggested a 2-hour drive to our next location, the Inverlochy Castle Hotel, but suddenly Google got live signal and rerouted us due to a road closure making it a 3-hour drive instead!
We were grateful not to have added an extra hour driving up to the closed road and having to double back. All the same, the new route was pretty harrowing going over what looked like farm roads separated by cow gates and even one section that was named something that included the words “cycling path” and another “fire road”. I guess we should count our blessing that there even was an alternate route.
This added a bit of stress as we navigated oncoming trucks and busses over the narrow country roads on the detour instead of the nice two-lane highway in the original plan. Driving on the left in a manual car with frustrated truck drivers speeding in the opposite direction ended well however (at least with no scratches or incidents).
Staying at the Inverlochy Castle Hotel (our second of three castle hotels)
We arrived just an hour before the formal dinner reservation, giving us little time to look around the beautiful castle hotel before getting changed for dinner. We had been given a corner room in the tower and had some succulent chocolate-covered strawberries waiting for us to mark our wedding anniversary.
Of all the hotels on this trip, Inverlochy Castle was hands down our favorite. Everything was top-notch, making it a fantastic castle hotel experience. It was built in 1863 and has hosted such notables as Jefferson Davis and Queen Victoria among other famous guests. The guest list now including us ha-ha!
When it was built it was considered state-of-the-art with hot water and electric lights. Initially a private residence, it was later rented out to the wealthy who would come to the countryside to fish and hunt. In 1969, it was transformed into a country house hotel, and it has since won many prestigious and well-deserved awards. Inverlochy Castle is one of only four Scottish hotels in the Relais & Châteaux group.
Everything about the castle was great. From the Royal Albert china coffee cups in the room to the embroidered monogrammed silky sheets. To the cushy slippers sporting a castle crest (which I brought home of course!). It was a real pleasure to stay here and something we will remember fondly.
Dinner was also spectacular. A five-course formal event in the tasteful historic dining room kicked off with canapés in the foyer at 7pm sharp. My husband was reminded that a dinner jacket was the expected attire for men when we checked in! We came prepared and were looking forward to it.
Everything was exquisite and perfectly timed with white gloves service fit for a king. A fixed course tasting menu was offered in the formal dining room furnished with époque furniture with intricate wooden carvings and place settings that belonged in a castle!
Well, it was in a castle after all so quite fitting! Each dish was both delicious and beautifully presented. The evening finished with petits fours back in the foyer. We enjoyed the evening immensely and hung out for a while in front of the crackling fireplace before retiring for the night.
Breakfast was equally amazing, and we enjoyed it but watched what was starting to look like stormy weather developing in the distance.
Day 3: Driving along the Loch Ness to Inverness
After an early breakfast we headed out with big plans of seeing castles overlooking the Loch Ness and visiting museums and getting lots of river views being on the lookout for Nessie, the Loch Ness monster.
Our plans went into the wind however as another monster (tropical storm Floris) reared its ugly head throwing gust of wind at almost hurricane force strength of up to 84 mph.
The Loch Ness looked like it had 4-5 ft waves on it and traffic came to a compete stop half a dozen times as we waited for emergency crews to cut up and saw through broken trees that had fallen onto the road.
One time as we waited, stuck in traffic, I could not help but notice that we were under some pretty big branches ourselves as the wind kept howling. Fortunately, we were moving again dodging branches on the roadway before anything fell on our rental car (or us!).
The day was miserable and even stepping out for photos of the churned-up lake was a challenge with the wind whipping up the rain so much you could hardly see.
The beautiful Urquhart Castle we had booked tickets to in advance had a big sign saying “closed” on it and about half a parking lot full of disappointed tourists. Everyone was doing their best to snap pictures through the fence despite the weather!
Inverness, Scotland
We finally said this isn’t working and headed into Inverness to try and salvage the day with some exploration of the city. While the weather was not conductive for any real wandering around, we did get to visit the Inverness Cathedral which was very nice.
Dr Robert Eden as Bishop in 1853, proposed that a cathedral should be built in Inverness for the Scottish Highlands.
In 1971, the Cathedral of Inverness was included in the statutory list of buildings of special architectural or historical significance.
We decided to call it a day and to head up for an early dinner to our third castle hotel stay, the Tullock Castle Hotel.
Arriving at the Tullock Castle Hotel
Just a little out of Inverness, the Tullock Castle is up on a hill with some nice views. We realized that our troubles were not over however as we approached and saw that all the streetlights were out.
Pulling into the castle, the dark hotel reception had a candle burning and the host, Paul, informed us that there was no power. The chef was also at the reception and said that our fancy dinner may have to consist of cold sandwiches by candlelight in the bar. This was shaping up to be quite an authentic medieval castle experience.
He also added a little fuel to the fire of worries when he said that with high winds, they sometimes close the bridge leading to the airport which may make our morning drive 2 hours instead of 30 minutes. Oh, and a cell tower was also knocked down so there was no cell service!
Well, long story short the sandwiches were actually quite good, and we even tasted haggis-flavored potato chips. The power came back on at about 9:30pm resulting in lots of cheers from the guests. The storm also passed, the bridge was open, and we made our flight back to London.
The Tullock Castle was perhaps not up to par with the prior night Châteaux and Relais property but all the same, like all of these castle hotels, it had lots of character and lots of history. A small museum with artifacts from the Davidson Clan was set up for guests to visit.
The castle itself dated back to the 1500s and was converted to a hotel in 1988. Our room, the Davidson Suite, was in the main entranceway and we could hear guests coming and going as well as the creaking stairs and floors.
We would recommend a higher floor to anyone coming to stay. We were just glad that we could wake up to fully charged phones, hot water in the shower, and a working coffee machine with the lights on.
Flying back to London from Inverness
Our trip actually got cut short when British Airways cancelled our afternoon flight and put us on a morning flight instead. The silver lining in this was that we would arrive early enough to catch a show and have a nice dinner in London. More on that in our post: A Couple of Action-Packed Days in London, England
Conclusion
We did enjoy our visit to Scotland, and it made for some unique experiences. While the Scottish weather made things exciting (and nerve racking) in the end, we were glad to finally experience Edinburgh and some of the Scottish Highlands on our Scottish road trip adventure.
Tips:
- Get the Explorer Pass
- Splurge on the castle hotels, especially the Inverlochy Castle Hotel
- Spend more time than we did