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| Address: | Drumnadrochit, Loch Ness, IV63 6XJ, 01456 450551 |
| Operated by: | Historic Scotland |
| Opening Hours: | Summer: 1 April to 30 September, Monday to Sunday 9.30am to 6.00pm October, Monday to Sunday 9.30am to 5.00pm Winter: 1 November to 31 March, Monday to Sunday 9.30am to 4.30pm Last tickets sold at 5.15pm (3.45pm in winter). Closed 25th and 26th December, but usually open on the 1st January. |
| Admission: | Adult £ 7.40, Senior £ 5.90, Child £ 4.50 |
| Parking: | Yes, ample car parking |
| Languages: | English |
| Accessibility: | Good accessibility: the visitor centre is fully accessible via lift from the carpark, and the paths to and in the castle are quite good. But we recommend assistance (which the visitor centre can provide). |
| Toilets: | Yes |
| Shop: | Yes |
| Cafe/Restaurant: | Yes |
Urquhart Castle benefits from a fantastic position on the edge of Loch Ness, and its one of the most frequent spots for Nessie sightings! The castle has had a turbulent history, having changed hands many times and suffered a few wars, so it is now in a state of ruins. But on a nice day, the setting is fabulous as Loch Ness and the hills offer a beautiful backdrop.
Historic Scotland opened the visitor centre in 2002 to benefit from the huge trade in visitors. Hence the rather inflated entrance fee for a few crumbling walls. You have to go through the visitor centre to get to the ruins, so you have to pay the admission fee.
A large area of the Urquhart Castle Visitor Centre is dedicated to a cafe and gift shop. There is a small area with a display about the castle which includes a large scale model of how the castle would have appeared at its peak.
The Visitor Centre also offers a good filmshow about the history of the castle which lasts about 8 minutes. The filmshow explains how the castle evolved from the time of the 6th century through to its demolition in 1691 when its defenders decided to abandon it. The filmshow has a great finale, but we won't spoil the surprise by telling you.
At the end of the day, Urquhart Castle is just a ruin with not many intact parts to view. We recommend that you save some money and don’t actually visit the castle. We suggest that you just stop in the car park, enjoy the view and then take some pictures from the road above the car park rather than paying the admission to look at some ruins.
Save money on visiting this attraction by buying an Explorer Pass
This is a video that we filmed on New Year's Day 2008 to show you just how little there is to the Castle:
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