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.
More information
In-person price; £7.50 booked online, and booking is needed to guarantee entry. 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 card holders pay £1 online; 25 per cent off with code GOOD25 for car-free visitors booking online. Explorer Pass accepted. 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.
In-person price; £3.50 booked online; 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.
In-person price; £6 booked online. 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.
The Trust's page does not say how parking is charged.
Historic Scotland says a small car park is available to ticket holders only, monitored by staff, with visitors limited to a 90-minute stay in summer and 75 minutes in winter; spaces for larger vehicles are extremely limited and must be arranged with the castle in advance; the surface is rough gravel with one accessible space and drop-off at the entrance. No charge or free statement is published, so the status is recorded as unknown, although a June 2026 visitor says parking was included with admission. Blackness village has limited parking and HES encourages other means of travel; the 12-space Nosirrom Terrace car park is about 400 m away, with a walk along the road or over the shore from St Ninian's Way.
Driving pin: the castle car park at the end of the approach road, 102 m from HES's pin inside the castle. By bus: the F49 from Linlithgow to Bo'ness stops in Blackness Square, 0.3 miles away, Monday to Friday only. By rail: Linlithgow, with direct trains from Glasgow and Edinburgh. By bike: National Cycle Route 76, with space for 12 bicycles; 25 per cent off online with code GOOD25 when arriving car-free.
Blackness Castle is the ship that never sailed: from the sea it looks like a great stone ship run aground on its promontory in the Firth of Forth, with a pointed stem tower in the water, a tall central tower for a main mast and a solid stern tower on land. Built in the 15th century as a lordly residence for the Crichtons at the port of Linlithgow, it became a royal castle, and from 1537 James V turned it into a state prison and artillery fortress with great gunholes; Cromwell's guns forced its surrender in 1650 and the scars remain. Its prisoners included Cardinal Beaton and Covenanters, and it ended as an ammunition depot. Climb the towers and curtain wall for sweeping views of the Forth and its three bridges, walk out on the 19th-century pier, and spot the settings filmed for Outlander. Visitors warn of low doors and many spiral stairs; book a timeslot, as the small car park is for ticket holders only.
Later dates are in the calendar.
Prices, non-members
| Ticket | On the day | Online |
|---|---|---|
| Adult | £8.50 | £7.50 |
| Concession | £6.80 | £6.00 |
| Child | £4.00 | £3.50 |
1 April to 30 September daily 9.30am to 5pm; 1 October to 31 March daily 10am to 4pm; last entry 45 minutes before closing; closed 25 and 26 December and 1 and 2 January. All visits must be booked in advance to guarantee entry: choose a timeslot, and parking on site expires with it; Historic Scotland names Blackness among the busy sites where partner members should pre-book, with bookings capped at six people per membership. No works notice on 18 October 2026.
The visitor centre is up three concrete steps with handrails; the castle is about 30 m along a level gravel road then 10 m down a fairly steep uneven path and a step onto natural rock; the ground inside is uneven rock or cobbles, slippery when wet, with low doorways; the south tower by a rough rock stair and a 51-step stone spiral, the Great Hall by historic stone stairs with handrails on some sections, the wall walk by stairs and a short spiral without handrails, the mid tower by wide spiral stairs without handrails; the pier is planked timber with an anti-slip surface. Toilets at the castle, the nearest adapted toilets 3.4 miles away at Tesco in Bo'ness; picnic tables and benches on the lawn; shop and self-service tea and coffee, no cafe. Dogs welcome everywhere except the shop.
Dogs: Dogs are welcome in all areas of the castle and grounds except the shop; no lead rule is stated on the site's page (HES's general guidance asks for a lead). The castle lawn, pier and grounds inside the ticketed site; HES's dog blog features a dog visiting Blackness and going on to the beach.
Photo: Blackness Castle and its pier on the Firth of Forth, with the Forth bridges in the distance. VictorPaulK, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blackness_Castle_on_the_river_Forth.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.
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A section of the 134-mile route from Helensburgh to Dunbar that HES says 'includes gems like Linlithgow Palace and Peel, Kinneil House and Blackness Castle', passing the castle along the shore; the castle car park is for ticket holders only and time-limited. Free.
