Elcho Castle

PricingHalf price in your first year of English Heritage membership, then freeEH memberHalf, then freeNon-member£8.50

EH members: half price, then freeInfo

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.

Pre-booking is recommended at Edinburgh Castle, Skara Brae, Stirling Castle, Blackness Castle, Urquhart Castle, Doune Castle and Maeshowe. Bookings are limited to six people per membership.
Bring the card itself: joint and family memberships admit the named holders only.
Historic Scotland does not offer reciprocal admission to National Trust properties, and a National Trust card is not accepted here.

More information

Entry

Non-member prices

Adult£8.50

Child (aged 7 to 15)£5.00

Concession£6.80

Pricing details

Price at the kiosk; tickets can currently only be bought on site, so English Heritage members show their card there. One undated price table is published for the April to September season; recheck on reopening in 2027. Up to two carers free per transaction. 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.

Price at the kiosk. 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.

ParkingParking not known

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

Parking details

Historic Scotland says the loose gravel car park is level, is for castle visitors only, and that space is limited and not guaranteed; please do not park in residential car parks or at the nearby farm. No charge or free statement is published, so the status is recorded as unknown. The site is reached through working farmland, so follow the Scottish Outdoor Access Code around livestock.

Driving pin: the car park OpenStreetMap tags as Historic Scotland's, 46 m from HES's pin. The castle is near the hamlet of Rhynd, about 4 miles east of Perth. Historic Scotland names no bus service, only its journey planners.

About

Elcho Castle stands beside the River Tay four miles east of Perth and is one of Scotland's best-preserved 16th-century tower houses. A member of the Wemyss family built it around 1560, at the time of the Reformation, as a country house for a laird who lived mainly at Wemyss Castle in Fife. It marks the move from castle to mansion: an imposing exterior bristling with gun holes and small round and square towers, and an interior designed for comfort and privacy, with precious fragments of decorated plasterwork. Little has changed since it was built apart from a new roof and glazing in the 1830s. The family became Lords Wemyss of Elcho in 1628 and Earls of Wemyss in 1633, and the 11th Earl placed the castle in state care in 1929. Visitors can explore every room, from the dark cellars, where torches are provided, up spiral stairs to a small rooftop walkway, and in season pick apples in the orchard. Bats and barn owls live here too.

ClosedPick a day for times and prices

Until 1 Apr: Closed
From 2 Apr: Mon, Tue, Fri, Sat, Sun 10:00–16:30, last entry 16:00

Today, Saturday 24 October

Elcho CastleClosed

Opening times may change at short notice.

1 April to 30 September Friday to Tuesday 10am to 4.30pm, closed Wednesdays and Thursdays; closed for lunch 1pm to 1.30pm; last entry 30 minutes before closing or lunch; closed 1 October to 31 March. Tickets can currently only be bought on site. No works notice on 18 October 2026.

The castle is 20 m from the car park through a swing gate that opens fully for wheelchairs and along a reinforced grass path; the visitor centre is step-free but very small. The castle entrance has a stone threshold; the ground-floor cellars and kitchen are fairly level with a step down into the kitchen and low light, and torches are provided. The great hall and private chamber are up a spiral stair of 18 steps with no handrail, and the upper levels up narrow stone spirals with no handrail. Grassed grounds with trees and an apple orchard; toilets, a small shop and a picnic area on site, with no accessible toilet listed. No dogs except assistance dogs.

Photo: Elcho Castle's tower house with its round stair turret and corner towers, seen from the south-east across the lawn. HARTLEPOOLMARINA2014, CC BY-SA 3.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ELCHO_CASTLE_FROM_THE_SOUTH_EAST.JPG. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.