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. 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 parking at the castle is very limited and spaces cannot be guaranteed, recommending its sustainable travel routes; the level tarmac car park has one accessible bay and the castle is a gently inclined 100 m tarmac path from the visitor centre. No charge or free statement is published, so the status is recorded as unknown. Coaches and minibuses should email ticketing@hes.scot before booking. Visitors note residential streets about ten minutes' walk away.
Driving pin: the castle car park on Craigmillar Castle Road, 151 m from HES's pin on the castle. There is no pavement on Craigmillar Castle Road, so walk in by the paths through Craigmillar Castle Park. By bus: regular services from central Edinburgh to the Craigmillar Castle Road stops on Peffermill Road and Old Dalkeith Road, about 15 minutes' walk through the park. By bike: 10 minutes from the Innocent Railway Tunnel on National Cycle Network route 1, with cycle parking outside the visitor centre; 25 per cent off online with code GOOD25 when arriving car-free.
Craigmillar Castle is Edinburgh's other castle, a mile outside the old city walls and a retreat from the capital for the Prestons who built it. Its tower house of the late 1300s, among the first of its type in Scotland, rises 17 metres to the battlements with walls almost 3 metres thick and a maze of rooms, including a fine first-floor great hall and a prison; a courtyard wall of the 1400s with gunholes shaped like inverted keyholes enclosed a private chapel and later ranges, rebuilt after 1660 for the Gilmours, who handed the castle to the state in 1946. Mary Queen of Scots found a safe haven here in 1566, and her host Sir Simon Preston became her jailer for her first night as a prisoner the next year. Visitors explore almost every room, climb lots of stairs to roof views of Edinburgh Castle, the sea and the hills, and walk in through the peaceful council park; allow an hour.
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 30 minutes before closing (45 minutes from November to January); closed 25 to 28 December and 1 to 4 January. Historic Scotland recommends booking in advance to guarantee entry. Notice: some restrictions on the rooftop walkway during essential conservation work; the tower, great hall, prison, courtyard and grounds are otherwise open.
The visitor centre is at ground level with a level threshold; the castle is up a gently inclined 100 m tarmac path with a bench halfway, then a steep grassed approach to the inner courtyard, slippery when wet, and a stone threshold; five levels inside, a one-way route up a narrow historic stone staircase and down a wide spiral with uneven steps and a single rope handrail, the third and fourth floors by a narrow spiral with a rope handrail, and low light on the stairs. Shop with self-service tea and coffee and water refill; toilets in the visitor centre according to the council; no cafe. Dog admission is not published by HES; the surrounding council park asks for dogs under proper control.
Dogs: Craigmillar Castle Park, the City of Edinburgh Council's free natural heritage park around the castle, asks visitors to keep dogs under proper control and bag and bin their waste.
Photo: Craigmillar Castle's tower house and curtain wall seen across the fields of Craigmillar Castle Park. Ad Meskens, CC BY-SA 3.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edinburgh_Craigmillar_Castle_02.JPG. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.
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Through Craigmillar Castle Park, a natural heritage park of mature and young woodland, grassland and old quarries, on paths mostly wide and flat with some gentle hills; playpark; Bridgend Farmhouse cafe Thursday to Sunday; toilets in the castle visitor centre. Free.
Tarmac, whindust and grass paths through the park from Old Dalkeith Road and Craigmillar Castle Road, including the surviving part of Lady Susan's Walk as a woodland path towards the castle; open access, free; rangers 0131 447 7145.
