Machrie Moor Standing Stones

PricingFreeFree for all visitors

Free entry for everyone

Entry

Free for everyone

Pricing details

Free entry for everyone; no membership card is needed.

ParkingParking not known

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

Parking details

Historic Scotland names no parking: the stones are 3 miles north of Blackwaterfoot on the west side of Arran, off the coastal road. The car park on the A841 at Machrie is where reviewers start the walk; no official charge or free statement exists, so the status is recorded as unknown. Do not follow a satnav to the stones themselves.

Driving pin: the A841 car park, 1.7 km west-north-west of Historic Scotland's own pin on the moor; the farm track passes the separate Moss Farm Road stone circle on the way to the interpretation boards and the circles. Historic Scotland gives journey planners only; Arran's island buses run along the coastal road.

About

Machrie Moor is a Neolithic and Bronze Age landscape of ritual and daily life scattered across lonely moorland on the west side of Arran, three miles north of Blackwaterfoot: six stone circles, standing stones, burial cairns, hut circles and a field system, all dating from between 3500 and 1500 BC. The circles were raised about 2000 BC and vary from rings of low grey granite boulders to tall red sandstone pillars; the most photographed, Circle 2, keeps three slender stones up to 5.5 metres high of an original seven or eight. They line up on a notch at the head of Machrie Glen where the midsummer sun rises. Reviewers rank it among Arran's highlights, warn not to follow the satnav but to park at the A841 car park and walk the farm track of just over a mile each way.

Check today’s timesSee all times

Machrie Moor Standing StonesOpen at all times; an unstaffed open site, no hours published

Opening times may change at short notice.

Historic Scotland: 'Machrie Moor Standing Stones are free to visit and open year-round.' No hours, closures or notices on 20 October 2026. Visitors can join Historic Scotland's Monument Monitor project by photographing the site.

A compacted farm track of about 1.9 km each way across farmland, then grass paths between the circles; strong footwear is recommended. No toilets or other facilities.

Photo: The three tall red sandstone pillars of Circle 2 on Machrie Moor, with the Arran hills under a blue summer sky. Colin, CC BY-SA 3.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Machrie_Stone_Circle_2_2012.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.