We’ll be touring the Highlands in August and if we pick 2 castles to visit which ones would you recommend?
Posted by
Mid-Atlantic area
8309 posts
Are you referring to a defensive fortification or a manor house type building? Both are referred to as castles in the UK.
Posted by
OP
9 posts
Good question. We like to visit historic castles to get an intimate look into medieval & royal lives.
Posted by
Camano Island, WA, usa
1704 posts
Online look at Visit Scotland Website. Click Things to Do. Under Discover your Scotland, enter word Castle. This brings up a map which pins many visit worrthy Castles. A list runs along left side of Map. Start clicking pins to see what looks interesting to you. I liked Inveraray and Stirling because they are furnished. There are many Relic Castle that are in Scenic Sights. Lithlingow is very charming with a lovely fountain in the courtyard.
Posted by
Chicagoland
1712 posts
The best castles for interior visits are in Aberdeenshire, which technically is not considered the Highlands. The castle trail has too many to list here. If you're headed in that direction I have some recommendations.
Where in the Highlands (or Scotland) will you be? Traveling between Glasgow and Oban or Glencoe you could visit Inveraray Castle, home of the Duke of Argyll.
For recent royal connections, Glamis Castle gives a fantastic tour, although it's not in the Highlands.
Posted by
OP
9 posts
We fly into Edinburgh & then drive to Oban with stops along the way. We’ll mostly be touring the east coast, part of the north coast, Inverness area, then make our way back to Edinburgh. Thanks for all the suggestions.
Posted by
Glasgow, Scotland
1781 posts
In terms of where you are:
The ones that are still occupied
Inverary Castle as mentioned.
Eileann Donan (which can be a bit of a tourist trap)
Dunvegan on Skye
Duart Castle on Mull
Dunrobin Castle north of Inverness
Cawdor Castle east of Inverness not far past Culloden.
Blair Atholl Castle in Perthshire just off the A9
Posted by
Lake District, England
11139 posts
Another one, which is interesting, is Carbisdale Castle. The history is quite interesting, and it is now a Country Club/wedding venue.
It is a stately house (not a defensive one) kind of Castle, lived in by the King of Norway in WW2. The Battle of Carbisdale in the Wars of the 3 Kingdoms was fought on the adjacent hill in 1650.
However it seems that it is possible to get tours of the Castle- not mentioned on their website but the tours have cropped up now a few times with a (big bus) Scottish tour company I use occasionally. So a bus group tour may be the only way to get in, but if big bus groups can get in, presumably a specialist private hire small bus group could as well.