Huntingtower 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 (aged 16 to 64)£8.50

Child (aged 7 to 15)£4.00

Concession (aged 65 and over)£6.80

Pricing details

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. 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.

ParkingParking not known

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

Parking details

Historic Scotland says the castle is on Castle Brae, off the A85 (Crieff Road), that parking is limited in a small level tarmac car park 12 m from the visitor centre, with a turning point in front of it, and that there is no parking for larger cars, campervans or similar vehicles; it names a public car park nearby at Tesco where you can park for a charge. No tariff or free statement is published for its own car park, so the status is recorded as unknown; visitors describe it as very tight.

Driving pin: the car park mapped on OpenStreetMap beside the castle, 38 m from HES's pin. By bus: the number 15 between Perth, Crieff and Stirling, about 20 minutes from Perth city centre to the Castle Brae/A85 stop. By rail: regular trains to Perth. By bike: National Cycle Network Route 77 runs within half a mile, 5.5 miles from Perth station, racks for four bikes; 25 per cent off online with code GOOD25 when arriving car-free.

About

Huntingtower Castle, on the western edge of Perth, was a lordly residence for 300 years and, unusually, consists of two fine tower houses built about 3 m apart, perhaps one for each son of William, 1st Lord Ruthven, later joined by a range. Known until 1600 as the Place of Ruthven, it welcomed Mary Queen of Scots and Lord Darnley in 1565. In the Ruthven Raid of 1582 the 1st Earl of Gowrie held the young James VI here against his will for ten months, and after the Gowrie Conspiracy of 1600 the family was forfeited and the castle renamed Huntingtower and given to the Murrays of Tullibardine. Inside, look for one of the oldest painted ceilings surviving in Scotland, from about 1540, fragments of wall frescoes, and a secret cupboard within a cupboard; the tale of the Maiden's Leap spans the gap between the towers. Visitors enjoy the climb to the battlements, the friendly steward, and benches for a picnic beside the very small car park.

Check today’s timesPick a day for times and prices

Until 25 Dec: Mon, Tue, Wed, Sat, Sun 10:00–15:00, last entry 14:30
26 Dec–4 Jan: Closed
5 Jan–31 Mar: Mon, Tue, Wed, Sat, Sun 10:00–15:00, last entry 14:30

Later dates are in the calendar.

Today, Saturday 24 October

Huntingtower Castle10:00 – 15:00last entry 14:30

Prices, non-members

Ticket	On the day	Online
Adult	£8.50	£7.50
Concession	£6.80	£6.00
Child	£4.00	£3.50

Book tickets

Opening times may change at short notice.

1 April to 30 September 10am to 4.30pm daily except Tuesday; 1 October to 31 March 10am to 3pm Saturday to Wednesday, closed Thursday and Friday; lunch closure 12.30pm to 1pm; last entry 30 minutes before closing; closed 24 December to 4 January. Historic Scotland recommends booking an entry slot in advance; the grounds are inside the ticketed area. No works notice on 18 October 2026.

The visitor centre is step-free, 12 m from the car park, and the castle a further 12 m over gravel and a flat stone path, along a lane shared with vehicles. The West Tower's great hall is up 13 stone steps and its battlements up a 37-step spiral; the East Tower's Laigh Hall is reached by a ramp with a step at the entrance (step-free access can be arranged), then spirals of 26, 19 and 18 steps to the painted-ceiling hall, bedroom and battlements; a 12-step wooden walkway joins the towers, and the battlement walk is uneven. Toilets, an adapted toilet and baby changing; shop, picnic benches, no cafe or audio guide. Dogs on leads outdoors, not in roofed areas.

Dogs: Dogs are allowed on a lead at all times but not in roofed areas, so not inside the towers or the visitor centre; never left unattended. The castle grounds inside the ticketed area, on a lead.

Photo: Huntingtower Castle's two joined tower houses seen across a meadow under a blue sky. PaulT (Gunther Tschuch), CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Perth_and_Kinross_Huntingtower_Castle.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.