Arbroath Abbey

PricingHalf price in your first year of English Heritage membership, then freeEH memberHalf, then freeNon-member£8.50

EH members: half price, then freeInfo

Half price, then free, for English Heritage members

This place is cared for by Historic Environment Scotland. First-year English Heritage members get 50% off the ticket price; members who have renewed get in free. Bring your valid membership card, and any pre-booked tickets, to ensure entry.

Pre-booking is recommended at Edinburgh Castle, Skara Brae, Stirling Castle, Blackness Castle, Urquhart Castle, Doune Castle and Maeshowe. Bookings are limited to six people per membership.
Bring the card itself: joint and family memberships admit the named holders only.
Historic Scotland does not offer reciprocal admission to National Trust properties, and a National Trust card is not accepted here.

More information

Entry

Non-member prices

Adult (aged 16 to 64)£8.50

Child (aged 7 to 15)£4.00

Concession (aged 65 and over)£6.80

Pricing details

Historic Scotland publishes a single price for this site, the same online and at the gate, reduced while buildings in the abbey complex are closed for conservation. One undated price table is published; recheck in spring 2027. Children under 7 free but need a ticket; up to two carers free per transaction; Young Scot and National Entitlement Card holders pay £1. Explorer Pass accepted. No family ticket, joint ticket or audio guide. English Heritage members: half price in your first membership year and free after your first renewal, on showing a valid card; bookings capped at six people per membership. Historic Scotland members free.

Single published price; under-7s free with a ticket. English Heritage members: half price in your first membership year and free after your first renewal, on showing a valid card; bookings capped at six people per membership. Historic Scotland members free.

Single published price, online and at the gate. English Heritage members: half price in your first membership year and free after your first renewal, on showing a valid card; bookings capped at six people per membership. Historic Scotland members free.

ParkingParking not known

The Trust's page does not say how parking is charged.

Parking details

Historic Scotland says there is a small, tarmac-surfaced parking area on a slight incline, that parking is very limited, with six spaces of which one is a marked accessible bay, and that the approach to the site is about 20 m on a paved path. No charge or free statement is published, so the status is recorded as unknown. Angus Council's North Port car park (18 spaces) is about 80 m north; the council says all its off-street parking charges were permanently removed from 1 April 2025, with a four-hour limit in short-stay car parks, though its page does not name North Port.

Pin: Historic Scotland's pin at the visitor centre on Abbey Street, where its parking spaces are. By rail: Arbroath station is about 0.5 miles away; Historic Scotland names only its journey planners for buses; bicycle rack on site.

About

Arbroath Abbey was founded in 1178 by William the Lion, with Tironensian monks from Kelso, as a memorial to his childhood friend Thomas Becket, the murdered Archbishop of Canterbury, and William was buried before its high altar in 1214. In April 1320 the Declaration of Arbroath, the letter from Scotland's nobles to Pope John XXII probably drafted by Abbot Bernard, chancellor to Robert the Bruce, was sent from here with its famous plea for freedom, which no honest man gives up but with life itself. The towering red sandstone west front with its twin towers is the most complete part, with the presbytery, the south transept and its Round O window, once a guide for mariners, and one of Britain's most complete abbot's houses. In 1951 the Stone of Destiny turned up beside the high altar. The visitor centre tells the Declaration's story in audio-visual displays, with upstairs windows over the ruins; some abbey buildings are closed for conservation.

Check today’s timesPick a day for times and prices

Until 24 Dec: Daily 10:00–16:00, last entry 15:15
25 Dec–7 Jan: Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Sun 10:00–16:00, last entry 15:15
8 Jan–31 Mar: Daily 10:00–16:00, last entry 15:15

Later dates are in the calendar.

Today, Saturday 24 October

Arbroath Abbey10:00 – 16:00last entry 15:15

Prices, non-members

Adult£8.50
Concession£6.80
Child£4.00

Book tickets

Opening times may change at short notice.

1 April to 30 September daily 10am to 4.30pm; 1 October to 31 March daily 10am to 4pm; lunch closure 12.30pm to 1.30pm; last entry 45 minutes before closing; closed 25 and 26 December and 1 and 2 January. Historic Scotland recommends booking an entry slot in advance. Its webstore said on 18 October 2026: 'Ticket prices have been reduced to reflect that buildings within the Abbey complex are currently closed whilst we complete conservation work. The Visitor Centre, with exhibition and grounds of the Abbey are open to visitors.'

The visitor centre has step-free access to the ground-floor shop, ticket office and exhibition, with level floors and some low lighting; the first floor, with large viewing windows, is up a flight of stone stairs and not suitable for wheelchair users; most of the abbey is level, on grass and gravel. Toilets and an accessible toilet; ear defenders to borrow; shop with self-service tea and coffee; audio-visual displays, two films subtitled; no cafe or audio guide. Dogs on leads outdoors, not in roofed areas.

Dogs: Dogs are allowed on a lead at all times but not in roofed areas, so not the visitor centre or shop; never left unattended. The abbey ruins and grounds, on a lead, with a ticket.

Photo: Arbroath Abbey's red sandstone west front rising beside the modern visitor centre on Abbey Street. Tom Parnell, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arbroath_Abbey_-_view_of_west_front_with_visitor_centre.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.