Stirling and the Central Highlands
We’ve compiled the best of the best in Stirling and the Central Highlands - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
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1. Battle of Bannockburn Visitor Centre
You can almost hear the trotting of horses' hooves and the zip of arrows in this 21st-century re-creation of the battle that changed the course of Scotland's history in 1314. Robert the Bruce's defeat of the armies of the English king, despite a 2-to-1 disadvantage, is the stuff of legend. Using 3-D technology, the visitor center allows you to see a battle raging across screens that ring the central hall. Participants on both sides speak directly to you, courtesy of holograms. Later you can play a role in a Bannockburn battle game (reservations essential; age seven and older only). Bruce pursued the Scottish crown, ruthlessly sweeping aside enemies; but his victory here was masterful, as he drew the English horses into marshy land (now the area around the new center), where they sank in the mud. A circular monument commemorates the battlefield. Book ahead; tickets are for timed entry.
Glasgow Rd., Stirling, Stirling, FK7 0LJ, Scotland01786-812664Sight Details
Rate Includes: £7.50 -
2. Falkirk Wheel
TamfourhillThe only rotating boat lift in the world, the Falkirk Wheel links two major waterways, the Forth and Clyde Canal and the Union Canal, between Edinburgh and Glasgow. Opened in 2001, this extraordinary engineering achievement lifts and lowers boats using four giant wheels shaped like Celtic axes; it can transport eight or more boats at a time from one canal to the other in about 45 minutes. The Falkirk Wheel replaced 11 locks. You can take a 50-minute trip as the wheel turns, and you're transported up or down to the other canal. The site offers children's play areas, as well as children's canoes and bicycle rentals. An on-site office has information on canal boat cruises. There are also several canal path walkways and cycleways. The excellent Heritage Centre provides plenty of information and has a good café and gift shop. There are a number of activities available around the site too, including archery and paddle boats. Booking your ride on the wheel ahead of time is essential in summer.
Lime Road, Falkirk, Falkirk, FK1 4RS, Scotland8700-500208Sight Details
Rate Includes: £13.50 -
3. Stirling Castle
Its magnificent strategic position on a steep-sided crag made Stirling Castle the grandest prize in the Scots Wars of Independence during the late 13th and early 14th centuries. Robert the Bruce's victory at Bannockburn won both the castle and freedom from English subjugation for almost four centuries. Take time to visit the Castle Exhibition beyond the lower gate to get an overview of its evolution as a stronghold and palace. The daughter of King Robert I (Robert the Bruce), Marjory, married Walter Fitzallan, the high steward of Scotland. Their descendants included the Stewart dynasty of Scottish monarchs (Mary, Queen of Scots, was a Stewart, though she preferred the French spelling, Stuart). The Stewarts were responsible for many of the works that survive within the castle walls. They made Stirling Castle their court and power base, creating fine Renaissance-style buildings within the walls that were never completely destroyed, despite reconstruction for military purposes. Today, you enter the castle through its outer defenses, which consist of a great curtained wall and batteries from 1708. From this lower square the most conspicuous feature is the Palace, built by King James V (1512–42) between 1538 and 1542. The decorative figures festooning the ornate outer walls show the influence of French masons. An orientation center in the basement, designed especially for children, lets you try out the clothes and musical instruments of the time. Across a terrace are the Royal Apartments, which re-create the furnishings and tapestries found here during the reign of James V and his French queen, Mary of Guise. The queen's bedchamber contains copies of the beautiful tapestries in which the hunt for the white unicorn is clearly an allegory for the persecution of Christ. Overlooking the upper courtyard is the Great Hall, built on the orders of King James IV (1473–1513) in 1503 and used for extravagant banquets. Before the Union of Parliaments in 1707, when the Scottish aristocracy sold out to England, the building had also been used as one of the seats of the Scottish Parliament. Among the later works built for regiments stationed here, the Regimental Museum stands out; it's a 19th-century baronial revival on the site of an earlier building. Nearby, the Chapel Royal is unfurnished. The oldest building on the site is the Mint, or Coonzie Hoose, perhaps dating as far back as the 14th century. Below it is an arched passageway leading to the westernmost ramparts, the Nether Bailey, with a view of the carselands (valley plain) of the Forth Valley. To the castle's south lies the hump of the Touch and the Gargunnock Hills, which diverted potential direct routes from Glasgow and the south. For centuries all roads into the Highlands across the narrow waist of Scotland led through Stirling. If you look carefully northward, you can still see the Old Stirling Bridge, the site of William Wallace's most famous victory. When visiting, it's smart to book your tickets—and accompanying timeslot—online before you arrive.
View Tours and ActivitiesCastlehill, Stirling, Stirling, FK8 1EJ, Scotland01786-450000Sight Details
Rate Includes: £16.50 -
4. The Kelpies at the Helix
The Helix, a country park on the edges of Falkirk with cycle and walking paths, play areas, and a wetland, is home to sculptor Andy Scott's extraordinary The Kelpies, two horse heads forged in steel, 85 and 98 feet high respectively. The largest works of art in Scotland, they sit at the center of the park, their beautiful heads framed against the Ochil Hills behind. The sculptures pay homage to Falkirk's industrial past; the heads are modeled on Clydesdales, the huge draft horses that hauled barges along the canals before the advent of the railways. A special guided tour (book online for convenience) gives you an insight into the area's past and takes you inside the sculptures. There's also a visitor center with a café and gift shop.
View Tours and ActivitiesA9 and Falkirk Road, Falkirk, Falkirk, FK2 9EE, Scotland01324-590600Sight Details
Rate Includes: Park free; sculpture tour £7.50 -
5. Antonine Wall
West of Falkirk, Bonnybridge is home to the most extensive remains of the Antonine Wall, a 37-mile-long Roman earthwork fortification that marked the northernmost limit of the Roman Empire. Built around AD 140 as a defense against the warlike Picts of the north, it was abandoned some 20 years later. A UNESCO World Heritage site, the wall was the site of a famous battle in 1298, when William Wallace was defeated by the English. Notable sections of the wall can also be seen in other towns, including Tamfourhill, Callendar Park, Kinneil Estate, and Bridgeness. To get to the Bonnybridge section from Falkirk, take the A803 west. You can download a walking map of the wall from www.visitfalkirk.com.
Off A803, Bonnybridge, Falkirk, ScotlandSight Details
Rate Includes: Free -
Recommended Fodor’s Video
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6. Callendar House
Near the town center, this grand country house gives you a glimpse of a wealthy family's daily life in the early 1800s. In the kitchen, local guides explain cooking in the early 19th century and may even offer you a sample. Entry is through an impressive wooden hallway, and the first-floor morning and drawing rooms are the grandest in the region. There are exhibits on the Romans and the Antonine Wall, as well as on the history of Falkirk. The second floor is a gallery space and houses the town's archives. You can relax in the grand tearoom before you move on to the beautiful grounds of Callendar Park, which has activities year-round. The house is something of a secret, but it's well worth a visit.
off Callendar Road, Falkirk, Falkirk, FK1 1YR, Scotland013244-503770Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free, Closed Tues. -
7. Church of the Holy Rude
The nave of this handsome church survives from the 15th century, and a portion of the original medieval timber roof can also be seen. This is the only Scottish church still in use to have witnessed the coronation of a Scottish monarch—James VI (1566–1625) in 1567. The origin of the name Holy Rude (similar to Holyrood in Edinburgh) is Holy Cross. October through April, the building is often open only during service time on Sunday morning (10 am January through June, 11:30 am July through December).
Top of St. John's St., Stirling, Stirling, FK8 1ED, Scotland -
8. National Wallace Monument
This Victorian-era shrine to William Wallace (circa 1270–1305), the Scottish freedom fighter reborn as "Braveheart" in Mel Gibson's 1995 film of the same name, was built between 1856 and 1869. It sits on Abbey Craig, from which Wallace watched the English armies struggle across the old Stirling Bridge before attacking them and winning a major victory in 1297. A steep stone spiral staircase leads to the roof gallery, with views of the bridge and the whole Carse of Stirling. A less flamboyant version of Wallace's life is told in an exhibition and audiovisual presentation on the second floor. To reach the monument, follow the Bridge of Allan signs (A9) northward, crossing the River Forth by the New Bridge of 1832, next to the old one. The monument is signposted at the next traffic circle. From the car park a free shuttle will take you to the monument, or you can walk (15 minutes).
Hillfoots Rd., Stirling, Stirling, FK9 5LF, Scotland01786-472140Sight Details
Rate Includes: £10.75 -
9. Old Town Jail
Though an improvement on the original jail across the road at the Tolbooth, this newer county jail was still a pretty grim place as a visit to its cells and corridors will show. The ticket price includes an audio guide, and in the summer months costumed actors recount in gory detail what went on here. There's also now an Escape Room, where you work as a team to solve some shady activities in the jail. Be sure to book tickets and reserve a time slot in advance, especially in summer.
St. John St., Stirling, Stirling, FK8 1EA, Scotland01786-595024Sight Details
£8.50, Escape Room £10 Rate Includes: Closed Jan. and weekdays Nov. and Dec. -
10. Smith Art Gallery and Museum
This small but intriguing museum in a neoclassical building, founded in 1874, houses The Stirling Story, a comprehensive social history of the town. It holds the oldest (reputedly) football in the world, as well as the charming 16th-century portraits of the Five Stirling Sybils. Closer to the present are banners and memorabilia from the great miners' strike of 1984–85. The chiming clocks remind us, on the hour, of the present. The museum also holds regular temporary art and historical exhibitions and has a pleasant café.
Dumbarton Road, Stirling, Stirling, FK8 2RO, Scotland01786-471917Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free, Closed Mon.–Wed.
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