CastleAberdeenshireNational Trust for Scotland4.6
Free entry for National Trust members
This place is cared for by the National Trust for Scotland, a separate charity. Under the INTO reciprocal visiting arrangement, National Trust members from England, Wales and Northern Ireland get free standard entry. Show your current membership card at admissions.
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Castle by guided tour. The grounds are free to walk. Standard prices without the optional 10% donation. Free for National Trust for Scotland members and, under the INTO reciprocal arrangement, National Trust members.
£5 for non-members
Car park at the castle, £5 per car for non-members; free for National Trust for Scotland members and, under the INTO arrangement, National Trust members. Use the signposted main drive off the A980: sat navs may route you up the south drive, which is not suitable.
Craigievar Castle is the pink tower house on an Aberdeenshire hillside said to have inspired Walt Disney's Cinderella castle. It was finished in 1626 by William Forbes, the merchant known as Danzig Willie, and its harled walls, corbelled turrets and cluster of chimneys have barely changed since. The Forbes and Forbes-Sempill families lived here until 1963, so Jacobean plaster ceilings and pine panelling sit with a quirky mix of later furniture, armour and portraits, reached by two spiral stairs, one of them secret. The National Trust for Scotland opens the castle by guided tour only, in groups of ten on a first-come basis, and the grounds have a woodland trail and a kiosk. Dogs are allowed in the grounds, on a short lead near the castle and livestock fields. Reviewers praise the guides and suggest pairing it with Crathes and Drum nearby. Tips from regulars: arrive early and put your name down for a tour before wandering the grounds; ignore sat navs that send you up the south drive and use the signposted entrance off the A980; and the spiral stairs are steep and narrow.
Castle open Friday to Monday until 28 September, then Saturday and Sunday 11:00 to 15:00 until 25 October. Guided tours only, up to 10 people, first come first served, roughly every 45 minutes; no advance booking.
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Dogs, with restrictions
Waymarked loop through the woodland and meadows below the castle; 3/4 mile (1.2km), 30 to 45 minutes, easy to moderate with hills and unsurfaced, steep, slippery sections.
