Outlander filming locations – scenic Forth valley half-day round tour

The particular Outlander filming locations we stop at are very much up to you, as it is your private tour

The 1/2 day tour can also be extended to a full 1 day Outlander tour to include more filming locations

At least half of the Outlander series filming locations are within 1 hour drive of Stirling & the Forth valley

West of Stirling with the great view of the peaks of the Trosschs & Loch Lomond nationalpark from the David Stirling monument:

• Doune castle (Castle Leoch, home of the MacKenzie Clan)

Doune castle – “Castle Leoch”

Doune castle – Stirlingshire

South of the River Forth:

• Historic kitchen in the Callendar house in Falkirk – (series 2,The authentic working kitchen was used as part of the home of the Duke of Sandringham, Bellhurst Manor.
  where the Duke of Sandringham was beheaded)
• Bo’ness & Kinneil railway station (where the war time train left from London)
• Linlithgow palace (featuring as the filming location for Wentworth prison in the series. The entrance and corridors of this ruined palace are used as Wentworth prison, where Jamie is imprisoned.)
• Blackness castle  (featuring as Fort William in the Outlander series)
• Midhope castle (Lallybroch, many however feel disappointed as the real building is in a bad state in need of repari)
• Hopetoun House (The home of the Duke of Sandringham)
• further east Preston Mill (where Jamie was hiding underwater, when the Redcoats came) Preston mill

North of the River Forth:

• Culross (Cranesmuir, the village, burning of the witch and ear punishment on the Mercat cross)
• Culross – Culross palace, garden, abbey, multiple Outlander filming location & a lot more / Fife

• Culross palace & gardens

(Jamie swears allegiance to Bonnie Prince Charles in the High Hall of the palace in season 2 plus the Principal stranger’s bedroom is where Claire & Jamie stay in season 1, when they visit the village plus in season 4 Laoghaire MacKenzie was filmed in the palace’s high hall plus Geillis and Claire walked through the Herb garden)

• Culross – around the Mercat cross (the tall white house was Geillis Duncan’s house, the mercat cross itself is where the boy was punished “the ear” and Geillis was sentenced for being a witch)
• Culross, Westkirk (Season 1, episode 3, where the boy had eaten a poisonous leaf)
• Culross (fictional Cranesmuir and Culross palace has the herb garden)

• Aberdour castle 

Aberdour castle (also Outlander filming location as the Benedictine monastery Abbey Ste Anne de Beaupre) / Fife

(Where Claire & Murtagh bring Jamie to recover after his ordeal at the prison. It is here, that Jamie recovers at the end of the traumatic season 1)

• Falkland (the Inverness guesthouse of the first episode of the first series) Falkland (fictional Inverness)

• Falkland, the Bruce fountain (where Jamie appears as a ghost)
• Falkland, the Covenanter’s hotel (the Inverness honeymoon B&B)
• Falkland’s Fayre Earth giftshop (Farrells general store in Outlander)
• Falkland palace

(as Claire turns away from the shop, the palace is visible & the Inverness apothecary at the end of season 2)

• Dysart harbour (Le Havre in France, where they burned the ships contaminated with small pox)
• Dysart – Welcome to Fife

(Portraying the French port of Le Havre in the 1740s, where Jamie and Claire land, when they escape to France, It is also where the St. Germain’s warehouse is based)

Dysart Harbour (also Outlander filming location ad Le Havre) / Fife

The Reaper tall ship (season 2)

The reaper is a historic two-masted sailing lugger, that appears as one of the vessels in Dysart harbour, seen in Outlander as the port of Le Havre. Restored to her original glory, she’s one of the last authentic survivors of this type of vessels. She’s berthed in Anstruther harbour and is cared for by the Scottish Fisheries museum and its volunteers.

(access to this ship should be arranged in advance)

• optional visit of Drummond castle gardens “Versailles of Outlander”

(open only during the summer)

Drummond castle gardens (which featured as Versailles).

You might also wish to consider upgrading this into a full one day tour and then have more time and be able to visit more Outlander filming locations.

plus

many more Outlander filming locations in the area, including:

• Abercairney estates, Perthshire (Aunt Jocasta’s lavish house at River Run, mostly season 4)
• Balgonie castle(season 1 – features Eldridge Manor, the home of the MacRannoch’s where Claire is brought after being rescued fom the wolves and where she hatches a plan to set Jamie free involving Marcus’ prized Highland cattle. This is a working living castle)
• Beecraigs Country Park in West Lothian

(Claire & Jamie are setting off from River Run in season 4, episode 3 and heading west towards the mountains & North Carolina’s rolling hills)

• Calderglen (season 4, episode 6, Jamie takes William into the woods on a hunting trip)
• Cumbernauld, Wardpark filming studios
• David Stirling SAS memorial & the Hill of Row Standing Stones / Stirlingshire (close to the Fraser’s Ridge – Outlander filming location) – Coast, sea Highlands & Islands – Unicorn Tours throughout Scotland
• Dean castle (series 2, set in a wooded glen in Kilmarnock, stands in for Beaufort castle near Beauly, Claire & Jamie visit Lord Lovat at the castle to persuade him to send his men to aid Charles Stuart)
• Deanston distillery (near Doune castle) 

(one of the distillery’s warehouse became the warehouse at the docks in Le Havre, where Claire discovers a sailor with small-pox) The building was a former cotton mill. Whisky tours are today being offered.

• Drumlanrig castle, Dumfriesshire

(Bellhurst Manor, the Duke of Sandringham’s home including one bedroom once slept in by Bonnie Prince Charlie on his way north to Culloden.)

• Dunkeld house hotel, River Tay, Perthshire (Jamie, Claire & Young Ian travel through the woods to rescue Roger from the Mohawk)
• Dunure castle, Ayrshire coast

(where Jamie swims out to “Silkies’ Island” in series 3 plus Dunure “is Ayr in season 4, episode 7, where Roger & Brianna are looking for a ship to America)

• Edinburgh – Bakehouse close (Jamie’s printing press, where Claire reunited with him)
• Edinburgh – Craigmillar castle

(used to film the scenes, when Jamie is imprisoned in Ardsmuir during season 3)

• Edinburgh national archives of Scotland (where Claire, Roger & Brianna are looking for evidence of Jamie’s whereabouts)
• Edinburgh, national museum of Scotland (not a filming location, but on the 3rd floor at the “Scotland transformed” exhibition it does explore the story of the Jacobites & Bonnie Prince Charles}
• Edinburgh – Surgeon’s hall museum (where Claire works as a nurse during WWII)
• Faskally woods, Highland Perthshire’s big tree country with golden autumn colours – Unicorn Tours

(Faskally woods became the site of the Mohawk village in season 4)

• Finnich glen & the Devil’s pulpit (the “water of truth”) (Best very early in the morning & only after prolonged dry spells, only if you are fit & have wellington boots, as it is very wet, muddy, dirty and steep)
• Glasgow – City chambers
• Glasgow – Cathedral (The crypt doubles as “L’hopital des Anges in Paris”, where Claire volunteers to work)
• Glasgow – Pollock country park (where Brianna & Roger attend a Scottish festival in North Carolina plus the Hunter siblings in season 7 plus series 1 & 2 doubles as the grounds surrounding the fictional Castle Leoch (series 1). The park also stands in for the French countryside that the characters are travelling through between Le Havre and Paris (series 2).
• Glasgow – Pollock house (various scenes in season 2)
• Glasgow – Queen’s Park (Boston Berkeley building)
• Glasgow’s Westend “Boston”
• Glasgow – St. Andrew’s in the square church – as “Wilmington theatre in season 4, episode 8”
• Glasgow University – “Harvard University”, where Frank Randall is working as a historian
• Glasgow University – The Cloisters below the Hunterian museum – Claire & Frank walk through the “fictional Robinson Cloisters at Harvard”
• Glencoe

(on top of the valley of Glencoe is where the initial scene at the start of the series and song “Sing me a song of a lass that is gone..” is shown)

• Glencorse Old Kirk, Mid-Lothian (where Jamie & Claire got married). This is one of the most romantic wedding venues for an outlander fan.
• Glen Etive (near Glencoe)

(flashback scenes at the start of season 6)

• Glenfinnan – National Trust of Scotland

(not a filming location, however the exhibition does give you a lot of info about Bonnie Prince Charles’ 1745/46 uprising)

• The hermitage, National Trust for Scotland, woodland & waterfall walk, Perthshire

(Scenes in the last 2 episodes of season 5)

• Kinclaven Blue Bell Wood, Stanley, Perthshire – woodland trust

(Season 4, episode 4 – Claire & Jamie name Fraser’s ridge and Jamie carves F.R. onto the ridge)

• Kinloch Rannoch, Highland Perthshire

(Up the hill from here the styrofoam boulders to mark Craigh na Dun where put here for the filiming)

• Loch Coruisk, Isle of Skye (Season 6, a woman sings “Billows and breeze” and Bear McCreary sings the Skye boat song in Gaelic)
• Loch Katrine, Loch Lomond & the Trossachs nationalpark

(Roger MacKenzie sets sail from here during season 2)

• The Mart, East Linton, East Lothian, a farmshop (Wilmington fight club, season 5, episode 2)
• Newhailes house & gardens, National Trust of Scotland, Musselburgh, East Lothian

(In season 4’s 1st episode Claire & Jamie are invited to dine with governor Tyrone)

• River Esk lodges, Bridge of Earn, Perthshire (Roger sings a folk song at the Scottish festival in North Carolina, which is called the “False Bride”)
• Stirling castle
• Stirling University – Airthrey castle, University lochs & woods, where a few scenes were shot
• Stirling University Pathfoot building – “Outlander’s University of Inverness”
• Tibbermore church, Perthshire

(the courtroom, where Claire & Geillis are tried for witchcraft,season 1, “known as Cranesmuir church and hosts the scene of the infamous witches trial”)

)

• Tyninghame beach, Dunbar, East Lothian

(Season 5, episode 10, Brianna is rescued)

While we are flexible to stop, where you wish to stop the bold ones will be free of charge to take a photo from the outside and also make for a feasible scenic 1/2 day morning round tour.

Up north and only possible on a full 1 day Outlander tour or ideally on a 2 day Outlander tour

• Culloden battlefield – National Trust of Scotland

• Clava Cairns

• Highland Folk museum – Cairngorms nationalpark
• Newtonmore Highland Folk museum
• Baile Gean Township at the Highland Folk Museum in Newtonmore, Cairngorms nationalpark (series 1, episode 5 – tax collection & the ladies “wauking song” scene)

Short day tour price (proportional percentage of the full 10 hour 1 day tour price) – private & small group tours of Scotland

Personalised & private small group tours all over Scotland (100+ itineraries: ½ – 7 day tour options & discounted multi-day tours to choose from) – with a set daily tour price for our tour guide driver & 8 passenger seater mini-bus (due to the fixed same overall cost for up to 8 passengers, the cheapest per person price for a private small group tour is if 8, 7, 6 or 5 are travelling together to share the set fixed daily cost, which is the same total cost, no matter if there are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8 passengers on a private mini-bus tour)

All of these private & personalised, small group tours of Scotland

are available on any available green calendar days for private tours

• Choose any private & personalised tailormade 1/2 day tour on any available green calendar day.
• Choose any private & personalised tailormade 1 day tour on any available green calendar day.
• Choose any private & personalised tailormade 2 day tour on any 2 consecutive available green calendar days. Any private 2 day tours will already show a 2.5% discount.
• Choose any private & personalised tailormade 3 day tour on any 3 consecutive available green calendar days. Any private 3 day tours will already show a 5% discount.
• Choose any private & personalised tailormade 4 day tour on any 4 consecutive available green calendar days. Any private 4 day tours will already include a 7.5% discount.
• Choose any private personalised & tailormade 5 day tour on any 5 consecutive available green calendar days. Any private 5 day tours will already include a 10% discount.
• Choose any private personalised & tailormade 6 day tour on any 6 consecutive available green calendar days. Any private 6 day tours is discounted by 12.5%.
• Choose any private personalised & tailormade 7 day tour on any 7 consecutive available green calendar days. Any private 7 day tour prices already show the 15% discount. 

Additionally from September to May there is a 12.5% student discount, which also applies to seniors over 65 and to children up to 17 travelling as part of a family group.

Entrance fees, such as for

• “Lallybroch” Midhope Castle
• Hopetoun House “home of the Duke of Sandringham”
• Doune castle – “Castle Leoch”
• etc.

The beauty of the Outlander filming locations around the River Forth 1/2 or full day tour is that most of the Outlander filming locations are just minutes drive from each other and we can spend the bulk of the day outdoors exploring the many great historic Outlander filming locations

Optional extension/upgrade to a longer 1 day Outlander tour

1D#80 – Outlander filming locations – 1 day tour

• If you wish to visit any of the sights in more detail from inside and pay the entrance fee and spend more time there, I recommend to upgrade this short day tour to a full 1 day tour

Optional extension/upgrade to a longer extended 2 day Outlander tour (with an overnight stay up north) or two 1 day tours are possible

also involving longer drives up north, which can include the Culloden battlefield, Clava Cairns and the Newtonmore Highland Folk museum:

• Culloden battlefield – National Trust of Scotland

• Clava Cairns

• Highland Folk museum – Cairngorms nationalpark
• Newtonmore Highland Folk museum
• Baile Gean Township at the Highland Folk Museum in Newtonmore, Cairngorms nationalpark (series 1, episode 5 – tax collection & the ladies “wauking song” scene)

Clava Cairns / Craigh na Dun

Private & personalised tailormade tours to suit your group’s preferences

This is your very own private tour for you and your friends and family members of up to 8 people travelling on this tour together.

Before any private tour, we always check for your must-see stops, interests, hobbies, activities, preferences, priorities and any special requests you might have and we ask you about your preferred pace of travel so to tailor make and personalise the tour to suit your needs.

The route, the stops and the itinerary we give on our website for any private tour are for information and guidance only, as in the end it is you, who decides, what you wish to do, where you wish to stop and what you wish to do and see.

Any private tour itinerary can be shortened, extended or amended, if you wish to do so.

Flexibility on private tours

We also like to keep things flexible as our experience is that there are places, once you arrive and see them, you just fall in love with and wish to spend more time and longer.

whereas some other times we arrive at a place and they are different from what you had expected and you are ok to have a shorter stop and to move on quicker.

Flexibility is also good as on a beautiful gorgeous blue sunny day when all colours in nature and the landscapes are sparkling and you have clear and amazing far distant visibility and the scenery and places are at their best, you probably prefer to spend more time outdoors, while on a stormy, wet, dark, grey and cold day, you are likely to prefer more indoor venues during your stops.

Travelling at your own pace on private tours

Some guests are on a whirlwind tour with little time and wish to pack as much into a short time as possible and are ok with just short photo stops,

whereas other tour guests prefer to travel at a more leisurely pace to be able to explore and discover and soak it all in and leaving the tour with a memorable and lasting experience.

All of this is possible within the constraints of your chosen route, the distances involved

and during the winter season the shorter daylight hours we have.

Lunch breaks on private tours

Some guests put a lot of emphasis on a good quality lunch in a good atmospheric restaurant and we can prebook lunch venues,

whereas other guests are ok to just stop at a supermarket for a sandwich to eat on the go

or just need a short lunch stop for some light snack to eat.

Your tour options on any private tour are unlimited and endless

Same place, same route – but one one private tour, the private tour guests would want to visit the castle, while on another tour at the same place, they want a whisky tour instead and yet again same place on the next tour the private tour guests, want to just go for a walk on the beach there, while another time at the same place, they just want to go shopping, visit the museum or stop at the golf course – so same place, but on each private tour at this very same place, we visit different places and the itinerary, stops and experience is different. 

If it says on the tour itinerary, the tour starts in A and ends in Z and on our journey from A to Z we are travelling and can be stopping at B, C, D, E, F…… X & Y,

it might be the same route on every such private tour, but with every private tour group and individuals, it could still be an entirely & very different tour after all,

as there are so many different special interests & tour themes

so that the main focus of some private tour groups could be

• architecture & charming towns & villages
• castles, history
• child-friendly stops
• churches, abbeys & religious sites
• dining & and having a great lunch eating out
• events based, such as visiting the Highland games while on the tour with us
• family history & genealogy
• gardens, flowers & parks
• golf, football or other sports’ venues
• literature, film or movie fictional based tour, i.e. visiting filming locations of Outlander, Harry Potter, Shetland crime series, Downtown Abbey. etc.
• nature & wildlife, seabirds, puffins or whale
• watching
• the scenery, the coast & beaches
• snow and wintry landscapes
• tourist steam train in conjunction with our tour
• walking
• waterfalls
• whisky distilleries, gin and breweries
• etc.

Pick ups & drop offs anywhere on private tours

As mentioned in the pick up section, on a private tour we can pick up from anywhere and drop off anywhere and offer staggered free pick ups and drop offs, which are dependent on the distance from our Alloa home base near Stirling. Our home base is 30 miles from Edinburgh, Glasgow & Perth in the heart of the Scottish Central belt:

•  for short & half day tours the free pick up/drop off zone is within 15 miles of our Alloa home base (which includes Stirling, Falkirk, Dunfermline & Gleneagles)
•  for 1 day tours the free pick up/drop off zone is within 35 miles of our Alloa home base (which additionally includes Edinburgh, Glasgow & Perth)
•  for 2, 3 & 4 day tours the free pick up/drop off zone is within 50 miles of our Alloa home base (which additionally includes Dundee, St. Andrews & the entire Scottish Central belt)
• for 5, 6 & 7 day tours the free pick up/drop off zone is within 75 miles of our Alloa home base

Additionally as stated we sometimes offer free pick ups for places on the route to our destination, even though they might exceed the free mileage zone, so for example for a West Coast tour and we need to head westbound anyway for the tour, we could be pick up at locations west free of charge, depending on the exact route and distances involved.

(During a few weeks every year we are also Shetland, Orkney, Hebridean Isles or regionally based

and the free pick ups will then be based from that local area, such as on the Shetland, Orkney or on some of the Hebridean Isles for example.)

Accommodation on multi-day tours is your choice

Some of our guests are budget travellers, whereas others are luxurious travellers, while others chose a mid-range 3* hotel.

We are happy to give you tips, links and info about your accommodation options for the towns and villages we are staying overnight, but in the end it is up to you, where you would like to stay, at which hotel or guesthouse and for which price.

However much or however little you wish to spend for your overnight accommodation is your choice.

On a private tour we will pick you up from any accommodation in the morning and in the evening drop you off at any accommodation of your choice for your overnight tour accommodation and and chosen location.

If you are looking for more time, including free time, we recommend, you are booking a full 1 day Outlander tour with us.

To enquire about this tour or book, please email contact@unicorntours.co.uk

This tour is for a private small group of up to 8 people.

We will personalise & tailor make this flexible tour itinerary to suit your preferences, interests & requirements.

This tour is available on any green calendar day

except during our Scottish Islands based tour days

for a few weeks each year.

Once you wish to book, we send you an invoice with a payment link and also allowing for a UK & international bank transfer.

Once you have paid, we send you your tour confirmation and will mark this day as “red” unavailable/booked out in our tours availability calendar

We can pick up from anywhere, but for a short & half day tour the free pick up zone is within 15 miles of our Alloa home base (which includes Stirling, Falkirk, Dunfermline & Gleneagles)

Pick ups & drop offs anywhere on private tours

As mentioned in the pick up section, on a private tour we can pick up from anywhere and drop off anywhere and offer staggered free pick ups and drop offs, which are dependent on the distance from our Alloa home base near Stirling. Our home base is 30 miles from Edinburgh, Glasgow & Perth in the heart of the Scottish Central belt:

•  for short & half day tours the free pick up/drop off zone is within 15 miles of our Alloa home base (which includes Stirling, Falkirk, Dunfermline & Gleneagles)
•  for 1 day tours the free pick up/drop off zone is within 35 miles of our Alloa home base (which additionally includes Edinburgh, Glasgow & Perth)
•  for 2, 3 & 4 day tours the free pick up/drop off zone is within 50 miles of our Alloa home base (which additionally includes Dundee, St. Andrews & the entire Scottish Central belt)
• for 5, 6 & 7 day tours the free pick up/drop off zone is within 75 miles of our Alloa home base

Additionally as stated we sometimes offer free pick ups for places on the route to our destination, even though they might exceed the free mileage zone, so for example for a West Coast tour and we need to head westbound anyway for the tour, we could be pick up at locations west free of charge, depending on the exact route and distances involved.

(During a few weeks every year we are also Shetland, Orkney, Hebridean Isles or regionally based

and the free pick ups will then be based from that local area, such as on the Shetland, Orkney or on some of the Hebridean Isles for example.)

Pick up & drop off from anywhere in the Stirling, Forth Valley & adjacent heart of the Central belt areas

For private short day tours, we pick up from anywhere near our home base Stirling & Forth Valley area