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. National Trust for Scotland members also enter free on showing their card (the castle is NTS-owned and HES-run); National Trust cards from England, Wales and Northern Ireland are not mentioned. One undated price table is published for the April to September season; recheck on reopening in 2027. Children under 7 free but need a ticket; up to two carers free per transaction; Young Scot card holders pay £1 online. Explorer Pass accepted in summer. 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.
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 the closest parking to the castle is the Brewlands car park, with fourteen spaces plus two accessible spaces, around 500 m from the castle, reached by a steep single-track road with passing places (about 1 in 10) and suitable only for cars; motorhomes and other larger vehicles should park in the public Quarry car park and walk, and there is no public vehicle access, parking or drop-off beyond Brewlands. No charge or free statement is published, so the status is recorded as unknown; the National Trust for Scotland says parking at the Quarry car park is free for its members.
Driving pin: Google's Castle Car Park listing at Brewlands, 16 m from the position the National Trust for Scotland publishes for this car park and 178 m in a straight line from the castle (about a 10 minute walk up a steep path and over a footbridge). The Quarry car park, Dollar Glen's main car park, is 436 m from the castle. Historic Scotland names only its journey planners for public transport; the glen paths can also be reached on foot from Dollar via the Mill Green.
Castle Campbell stands on a narrow ridge above Dollar under a crescent of the Ochil Hills, with ravines on either side carrying the Burn of Care and the Burn of Sorrow. Built in the early 1400s as Castle Glume, it passed by marriage around 1465 to Colin Campbell, 1st Earl of Argyll, who wanted a Lowland seat near the royal court and renamed it in 1489; the Campbells stayed for nearly 200 years. Its 20 m tower is one of Scotland's best-preserved tower houses, with two Green Man carvings in the vaulted ceiling at the top. Across the courtyard are a great hall range and an unusual loggia, and terraced gardens look down the glen, where John Knox is said to have preached in 1556. Mary Queen of Scots came in 1563. The castle belongs to the National Trust for Scotland, which runs Dollar Glen around it, and is cared for by Historic Scotland. Visitors love the views from the tower roof after the steep walk up.
1 April to 30 September daily 10am to 4.30pm; lunch closure 12.30pm to 1.30pm; last entry 30 minutes before closing; closed 1 October to 31 March. Historic Scotland recommends booking in advance. The National Trust for Scotland's Dollar Glen around the castle is free and open all year. No works notice on 18 October 2026.
From Brewlands the path passes a latched gate, climbs at about 1 in 8 and crosses a narrow wooden footbridge with steps at each end, not suitable for wheelchairs or wide buggies, then a briefly rocky stretch and undulating tarmac. The very small shop is up two wooden steps; the courtyard has very uneven cobbles; the tower's cellar display is up 15 timber steps; the grass terrace with superb views is reached by cobbled steps without a handrail. Toilets on site; the nearest adapted toilet is a mile away at the Post Office in Dollar; shop with drinks and snacks, picnic spots in the gardens, no cafe or audio guide. Dogs on leads outdoors, not in roofed areas.
Dogs: Dogs are welcome in the outdoor areas; HES's general guidance keeps them on a lead and out of visitor centres and roofed areas. The courtyard and terraced gardens are outdoor areas, on a lead, in the April to September season. The National Trust for Scotland's Dollar Glen around the castle welcomes dogs, under close control near grazing livestock.
Photo: Castle Campbell's tower house and courtyard ranges among the woods of Dollar Glen, seen from the air. Godot13, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scotland-2016-Aerial-Dollar-Castle_Campbell.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.
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Dog friendly
A southern loop of about 1.3 miles through woodland and the gorge with raised walkways past waterfalls, and a northern loop of about 0.4 miles along the Burn of Sorrow, both passing the castle, from the Quarry or Brewlands car parks; free, all year; strenuous and uneven, unsuitable for wheelchairs or buggies.
