Castles in Scotland
19 real castles, fortresses and walled cities in Scotland — each mapped, dated and ready to explore.
Edinburgh Castle
Scotland's clifftop royal fortress, grown on a volcanic crag since the 1100s
St Andrews Castle
Coastal bishops' castle with a notorious bottle dungeon and siege mine
Eilean Donan
Scotland's most photographed castle, on a tidal island where three lochs meet
Urquhart Castle
Ruined lochside stronghold on the banks of Loch Ness
Blair Castle
White-walled Highland castle, home of the only legal private army in Europe
Bothwell Castle
Scotland's largest 13th-century stone castle, in red sandstone above the Clyde
Caerlaverock Castle
Britain's only triangular castle, a famous siege target in 1300
Dunvegan Castle
Skye's Clan MacLeod seat, the oldest continuously inhabited castle in Scotland
Dunnottar Castle
Dramatic clifftop fortress that hid the Honours of Scotland from Cromwell
Dunrobin Castle
Fairytale French-château castle of the Dukes of Sutherland, by the sea
Tantallon Castle
Mighty red curtain-wall fortress on a cliff facing the Bass Rock
Glamis Castle
Turreted fairytale castle, childhood home of the Queen Mother and the setting of Macbeth
Craigmillar Castle
Well-preserved tower castle near Edinburgh tied to Mary, Queen of Scots
Cawdor Castle
Turreted Highland castle linked by legend to Shakespeare's Macbeth
Doune Castle
Well-preserved medieval castle famous from Monty Python, Outlander and Game of Thrones
Castle Stalker
Four-storey tower house on a tiny tidal islet, seen in Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Kilchurn Castle
Picturesque ruined tower castle on the misty waters of Loch Awe
Stirling Castle
Great hilltop royal fortress of the Stewart kings, above the River Forth
Inveraray Castle
Gothic Revival fairytale seat of the Dukes of Argyll, featured in Downton Abbey