The Inverness Castle Experience

Why go

The former courthouse gives Inverness a hilltop introduction to Highland stories. Inside, the North Tower holds the Cèilidh Rooms and a gallery; the South Tower offers a rooftop view across the city. Its position also makes the building easy to understand from the riverside below.

What to look for

• The 1836 red sandstone building stands above a much older castle site.
• The North Tower houses Cèilidh Rooms and a gallery.
• The South Tower terrace looks over Inverness and the River Ness.

The full story

The building overlooking the Ness is not the medieval stronghold suggested by its site. Architect William Burn designed the red sandstone castle seen today in 1836, after several earlier fortifications had occupied the hill. The position gave rulers control over a strategic river crossing, and the site was drawn into conflicts involving Scottish kings and clans. In 1562, Mary, Queen of Scots was refused entry to the castle then standing here; supporters from the Fraser and Munro clans helped secure it for her. That long and often violent sequence belongs to the hill, rather than to the present walls. The nineteenth-century building later served as a sheriff court. Its conversion into the Inverness Castle Experience makes those rooms part of a public visit for the first time, while the terrace turns the castle’s commanding position into a view of the city below.

Useful to know

• Decide whether to explore the indoor experience or make a shorter stop in the gardens and along the riverside.
• Check the official visitor information before going up to the South Tower terrace.

Your next visit

Estimated · Declared scenario and planning estimates; no live opening, weather, queue or booking service.