Balvaird Castle

PricingFreeFree for all visitors

Free entry for everyone

Entry

Free for everyone

Pricing details

Free entry for everyone to the courtyard ruins, walled garden and grounds; the castle interior is open only on special tours booked in advance with Historic Scotland, and none are scheduled at present. No membership card is needed.

ParkingParking not known

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

Parking details

Historic Scotland names no parking and no charge or free statement exists, so the status is recorded as unknown. Visitors leave their cars at a small car park beside the A912 at the bottom of the farm track; in 2026 they found it closed off out of season, with room for three or four cars by the gate, then a short but fairly steep walk of about five minutes up the track to the castle.

Driving pin: the car park at the foot of the track on the A912, 362 m west of Historic Scotland's own pin. The castle is about six miles south-east of Bridge of Earn and six miles west of Auchtermuchty; satnav users report it hard to find. Historic Scotland gives journey planners only.

About

Balvaird Castle stands on a hilltop among farmland on the border of Fife and Perthshire, south-east of Bridge of Earn, with wide views. It is a tower house of the late 1400s, unusual in keeping the setting around it: inner and outer courtyards, traces of service buildings, a formal walled garden and a large walled pleasance. It was probably built by Sir Andrew Murray and Margaret Barclay, heiress of Arngask, as their home after their marriage about 1495, and their arms are carved above the entrance. The planning is ingenious, with the stair tower set between main block and wing to fit an extra room on every floor. The Murrays moved to Scone Palace after 1658, and the castle ended as farm workers' lodgings. The interior is closed for conservation and opened only on booked tours, but the courtyard ruins and garden walls can be explored. Park at the foot of the track on the A912 and walk five minutes up a fairly steep track.

Check today’s timesSee all times

Balvaird CastleGrounds open at all times; the castle interior is closed for conservation and opened only on booked special tours, none scheduled

Opening times may change at short notice.

Historic Scotland: 'The interior of Balvaird Castle is accessible by special tour only, which must be booked in advance (see the What's on tab for details). For the rest of the year, the interior of the castle is closed for conservation, but you can wander the courtyard ruins, walled garden areas, and service buildings.' On 20 October 2026 the What's on tab said there were no upcoming tours; visitors joined staff-led tours in summer 2026 while repair work continued.

An unstaffed hilltop site of grass and ruined walls with an information board, reached by a steep track; no toilets or other facilities. The farmland setting straddles the Fife and Perthshire border.

Photo: Balvaird Castle's four-storey tower house and courtyard gateway at dusk, seen across the grass of the pleasance with low ruined walls in front. Billbowery, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Balvaird_Castle_2018.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.