Scotland Outlander Tour

So I am extremely obsessed with Outlander which is why I HAD to do a Scotland Outlander Tour while on vacation. I read books 1-5ish ( I stopped 200 pages into the 5th book) and I loved, loved, LOVED them. When Starz started making the books into a TV show I was ecstatic. I told my sister she had to watch and she finally did and became just as obsessed as me.

When my sister and I decided to visit Scotland with our best friend, Erin, we had one condition for Erin; she must watch at least the first season. We spent months BEGGING her to watch it. Finally, she did. And guess what? She became more obsessed than my sister and me. She managed to watch seasons 1-4 twice before our trip. SEE, ERIN, WE TOLD YOU.

So, if you are reading this, I assume you are a fan of the show and you are DYING to go on an Outlander Tour while in Scotland! GOOD! Sit back and relax while I persuade you on why you should book a Scotland Outlander Tour!! I wrote a Travel Diary about our entire Scotland Trip in more detail about what we did in each location. Check it out!

Disclaimer: This post has a whole bunch of spoilers. Like if you haven’t seen season 1 and don’t want any spoilers I don’t recommend reading it. I feel like this is obvious but I am covering my ass just in case.

Departure Locations

Scotland is small. FYI. So you can book a tour from Glasgow or Edinburgh. We departed from Edinburgh because it worked better with our schedule but they hit the same places! Some might hit them in a different order but, relatively the same. If you are up in Inverness… That’s a different story.

So, there isn’t much difference between picking a tour from Glasgow or Edinburgh, it just depends on where you are or where you have the most time. You do you, boo boo.

Our Outlander Tour Company

We used HaggisTours.com and it was so wonderful. We did the One Day Outlander tour. They have tours ranging from 1 day to 10 days. We only needed one day. Below I have broken down exactly what we did on the tour and all the spots where we stopped to look for Jamie.

Tour Stops

Stop 1: Linlithgow Palace

Our first stop was at Linlithgow Palace which was used as Wentworth Prison in the TV series. We had under an hour to explore here. There wasn’t enough time to explore inside, only to walk around the grounds and grab a coffee in the small town. We didn’t need to go inside, there were better stops along the way that needed more time accolated to them.

Stop 2: Doune Castle

Doune Castle, also known as Castle Leoch to us Outlander folk, was my favorite stop. The best part about this castle is there is a guided audio tour around narrated by our lovely Sam Heugan aka Jamie. Another cool thing about this castle is that they used it for other films and shows such as Game of Thrones, Monty Python and the Holy grail and for the Netflix Movie, The Outlaw King. A one-stop-shop for seeing all your favs!

Stop 3: Culross

This stop was used for both the Village of Cranesmuir, where Claire was accused of witchcraft and the gardens at Castle Leoch. This town is also where we ate lunch. Explore the gardens behind the Culross Palace and the pillory in the village center but also look for Geillis’s house and Laoghaire’s house, when Bree stays with her (up the wee causeway). They used the Culross Palace for other Outlander scenes but we didn’t have time to go in! Which is why I advise you to eat quickly.

Stop 4: Falkland

Falkland was used to film 1940’s Inverness. See? No need to even visit the real Inverness. I kid, I kid. You can see the location they used to film the bed and breakfast Claire and Frank stayed in for their second honeymoon. The monument in the center of the town is where you see Jamie’s ghost in the first episode… or is it? This stop is fairly quick too. Just enough time to snap some photos and use the bathroom for the last time.

Stop 5: Midhope Castle

Ahhh, Lallybroch. The best for last. Midhope Castle is used for our beloved Lallybroch. Although you can not go inside you can sit on the steps like Jenny and Claire waiting for Jamie to return!

End of tour!

Tips For Your Tour

• This may surprise you but it is Scotland and it might rain so always pack a coat with a hood and an umbrella. We were #blessed and it didn’t rain but my weather app told me there was 100% chance of rain all day. Soooo you never know.
• Bring water and snacks. Because you never know when you get a little rumbly in your tumbly.
• Leave a little time at Doune Castle to go into the gift shop and dress up and take photos. It’s fun!
• If you are a die-hard fan and don’t want to waste time eating lunch in Culross, pack your own. Lunch isn’t included in the tour. But, I personally loved where we ate, it just ate up a lot of our time. Pun intended.
• Listen! The tour guides will be talking to you in between stops all about Outlander, Scottish history and other fun facts. I brought headphones and a book for the ride but never even took them out of my backpack.
• You don’t need to have watched Outlander to go on this tour! Does it help to watch Outlander before going on an Outlander themed tour? Well, duh. But there were a couple of people (mostly husbands) who never watched the show and still enjoyed the tour. At the end of the day, you are still seeing Scotland’s history and exploring other parts of the country.
• Lastly, we bought this Outlander Filming Sights Book for our whole Scottish holiday and boy oh boy did it come in handy. Our tour guide was amazing but this book had even more details on each filming location. It covered the locations we visited on the tour BUT ALSO everywhere else in Scotland. We made sure to check out the film sites in all the cities we went to like in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Also, a cool souvenir!

Enjoy Your Scotland Outlander Tour!

I can not recommend this tour enough if you find yourself in Scotland. It was one of my favorite things we did on our trip. Alrighty, people if you are visiting Scotland and need some more advice on what to do, I got you! Check out my posts on Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dublin, Galway, and the Dingle Peninsula! I have tons of other recommendation lists for cities all over Europe: Amsterdam, Rome, Athens or for a full list check my Destinations! In the meantime feel free to read my Travel Diary on Ireland or Trial Diary on Scotland.