Aberdeenshire castles worth visiting

If you happen to be a regular reader of Rachel’s Ruminations, you’ll know I love castles. Scotland has plenty of them, and given that my son did his Bachelor’s in Aberdeen, I had a great excuse to visit, both to see him and to visit castles. This article covers all 14 Aberdeenshire castles worth visiting.

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Last updated November 15, 2024.

My first trip to Scotland was with my friend, Kate. We spent most of our week further north, in the Scottish Highlands, exploring Kate’s family heritage, which you can read about here. But on the way north and on the way back down, we managed to see four castles in Aberdeenshire.

At that point, not having done much research, I thought we’d seen most of what there was to see, but I was wrong. When I looked it up later on Wikipedia, I was amazed at the length of the list of castles: 65 castles in this one small county!

On the next trip, my husband traveled with me. We spent the whole week in Aberdeenshire, taking day trips from our hotel in Aberdeen. We visited 12 castles – one only on the outside – in the space of a week. (And a couple of distilleries while we were there!)

On both of these trips we traveled by car. If you want to see more than a few, it’s really the only way to go. For advice on renting a car in Europe, read this post at The Open Suitcase. And compare rental car prices here.

Castles in Aberdeenshire

Before that second trip, I studied the Wikipedia list more closely. I realized that only a much smaller number can be visited. Twenty castles on the list are privately-owned and not open for tours. Another 30 or so are ruins.

Private homes

I have to point out that, while these appeared on a list of “castles,” some of them are really more manor houses or country estates than castles. Some of them are “castellated houses,” meaning that the castle-like crenellations were added later more for status than for defense. Not really to my taste…

Some of these houses have been divided into apartments, so they’re really only castle-like on the exterior. Others are being used as hotels or bed and breakfasts. Many, even ones that are primarily private estates, can be rented as event venues, for if you’re planning a fairy-tale wedding.

Ruins

About 30 of the Aberdeenshire castles on the list are ruins. They vary from nothing but the foundations to quite ornate and intact, except that they’re missing a roof. Most of them are medieval, and some stand dramatically on hills or cliffs, making them worth a visit just for the scenery. The majority of these ruins are not set up for tourism.

Castles in Aberdeenshire to visit

The list below includes the 14 castles that seem worth visiting to me, 13 of which I’ve visited or at least seen on the outside. Mostly these are castles that have been preserved and can be toured. Many are furnished inside because, until they were handed over to a preservation group (in many cases, the National Trust for Scotland), a family still lived in them.

Also among these 14 castles are three that are ruins, but are nevertheless interesting. All are marked on the map below:

I’m listing these Aberdeenshire castles in alphabetical order, and I’ve included photos of the ones I’ve visited. I’ll certainly visit the one remaining castle I haven’t seen yet on a future trip to Scotland.

Balmoral

I’m not even sure I should include Balmoral on this list since visitors, unless they get a personal invitation from the Queen herself, only get to enter one single room. I signed us up for one of the last tours of the season because I thought “queen!” and “castle!” and so it must be interesting. The fact is, though, that the tour – normally an audio tour, apparently, but ours was guided – is mostly outdoors and points out, but doesn’t enter, a few outbuildings. The only part of the castle we entered was the rather unimpressive ballroom.

Balmoral was built by Queen Victoria in the 1850s, not a brilliant architectural period. It’s still used for holidays by the British royal family. Read my full review of Balmoral.

Balmoral Castle
Location: Halfway between Balleter and Braemar off the A93 in Aberdeenshire, about 1½ hour’s drive from Aberdeen, a bit longer from Inverness, and about three hours from Edinburgh.
Opening times: Check website for opening days and times, which vary depending on time of year.
Admission: £11.50 including audio tour.
Website.

Braemar Castle

Like many castles in Aberdeenshire, this is a tall “tower house,” built in 1628. Tower houses were fortified, with very thick stone walls. Over the centuries, rooms were added, and extra windows cut into the walls when fortification was no longer necessary. Home to the Clan Farquharson, Braemar Castle has 12 rooms that are fully furnished to show what life in the castle was like.

Note added November, 2024: Braemar castle was renovated just last year and looks far better now than in the photo above, taken six years ago.

Braemar Castle
Location: Just east of the village of Braemer on the A93, and 15 minutes west of Balmoral.
Opening times: Grounds open daily all year. Castle open daily in April-October.
Admission: £12.
Website.

Corgarff Castle

A 16th-century tower house, this place became a British military base in 1748 after the Jacobite uprisings. Later it was used by the army to fight whisky smuggling. Kate and I saw this one from a distance, and its picturesque placement on the side of a valley, with a star-shaped defensive wall, makes it look very dramatic.

I insisted to my husband that we go visit it, and it is indeed dramatically placed on a rise, surrounded by treeless fields and bigger hills.

Inside, however, Corgarff was a bit disappointing, in terms of my romantic view of how a castle “should” look. Managed by Historic Environment Scotland, it is furnished to illustrate army life rather than to show its earlier life as a castle home. A few of its rooms hold replica beds, tables, and so on, to show how the government troops would have experienced it.

Corgarff Castle
Location: On the A939, 8 miles west of Strathdon.
Opening times: Wednesday-Sunday 10:00-16:30 in April 1-September 30. Closed the rest of the year.
Admission: £7.50.
Website.

Craigievar Castle

The first sight of Craigievar is certainly a “wow” moment: it’s pink! This castle is a very clear example of a 17th-century tower house: it’s taller than it is wide. The tour through the rooms is interesting and often surprising, but unfortunately they do not allow any interior photography. You can read about Craigievar Castle in more detail in my separate article.

Craigievar Castle
Location: Off the A980, six miles south of Alford, 26 miles west of Aberdeen.
Opening times: Only accessible via guided tours, which run about every half-hour, first-come, first served with no reservations possible. Open daily 10:30-16:00 in June through August. In April, May and September, open Friday-Monday 10:30-16:00. In October, only open Saturday and Sunday 11:00-15:00. Closed November-March. The grounds are open daily all year dawn to dusk.
Admission: £16.50. Admission to the grounds is free.
Website.

Crathes Castle

Kate and I visited this one as well and, despite the fact that it’s somewhat less pretty on the outside than Craigievar, we enjoyed exploring the castle, with its turrets and ornate painted ceilings. Built initially in the 16th century, it’s another tower house with later additions, in this case both vertical and horizontal additions. The photo at the top of this article shows the vertical part.

The garden is wonderful too, with some freeform topiary like I’ve never seen before.

You can read all about Crathes Castle in my separate article about it here.

Crathes Castle
Location: On the A93 about 15 miles west of Aberdeen and 3 miles east of Banchory.
Opening times: Open daily 10:00-17:00 from April-October. In November-March, open Thursday-Sunday 10-16:00. Closed for two weeks around Christmas and New Year’s, so check the website.
Admission: £16.
Website.

Delgatie Castle

This tower house dates from 1570-79, but the original it expanded from was built in the 11th century. It boasts 16th-century painted ceilings and an especially wide spiral staircase that goes all eight stories.

Delgatie Castle needs some serious investment to keep it from falling apart entirely. My husband and I enjoyed wandering the rooms and reading the words of the last owner, Captain Hay, in a transcribed version of what he used to say as he himself led visitors around. He was clearly an eccentric and devoted to the building, pointing out his own contributions to the decor, such as it is.

While their website no longer mentions anything about tours, you can at least visit their tea room, “The Laird’s Kitchen.” They also have two self-catering apartments within the castle.

Delgatie Castle
Location: Off the A947, northeast of Turriff.
Opening times: Tea room open daily 10:00-16:00. Call +44 (0)188 856 3479 to ask about touring the castle or accommodations.
Website.

Drum Castle

The original tower house at Drum Castle dates to the 13th century, but the rest of it is made up of 17th-century and Victorian additions. What that means is it looks more castle-like than many of these, and not very tower-like. It is particularly noted for its “garden of historic roses,” showing how roses have been grown through the ages, and its ancient oak forest.

The inside of the castle was elegantly refurbished in the Victorian period, but this also changed the shape of some of the rooms. The most interesting part of the guided tour involves the period when the castle was used to house English troops during the Jacobite rebellions. In the library – lined with books and a huge painting of a former owner who must have been quite a narcissist – the guide relates a story of how another former owner, a Jacobite, spent years hiding in chambers behind the bookshelves.

Drum Castle
Location: Three miles west of Peterculter, ten miles west of Aberdeen, eight miles east of Banchory.
Opening times: Open all year except the first 10 days of January, but days and hours vary: check their website. Only accessible via guided tours, which run all day. The walled garden is open daily 10:30-16:00 from April 1-October 31. The grounds are open daily year-round dawn to dusk.
Admission: £16. Walled garden only: £5. The grounds are free.
Website.

Dunnottar Castle

Dunnottar is a ruin, but definitely worth visiting, even if you don’t pay the admission fee and only view it from the mainland. Looking formidable on a promontory, surrounded by the sea and cliffs, you can see why the site would be easy to defend. I thought our visit would be short, just a half hour for a quick look at the scenery. On the contrary, the ruins are extensive, both on the ground and under it, and we ended up spending a couple of hours exploring it. I’ve written about Dunnottar as a separate article.

Dunnottar Castle
Location: South of Aberdeen along the coast, just south of Stonehaven on the A92.
Opening times: Open all year, but closed in bad weather since the wind and rain can make it dangerous. Open daily 9-18:00 in April-September. The rest of the year, it opens daily at 10:00, but the closing time varies from 15:00 to 17:00. Check their website if you want to visit in the afternoon outside of summer season.
Admission: £11.50, only payable by credit card.
Website.

Castle Fraser

This “Z-plan” castle, built in the 16th and 17th century, is a very large tower house, with additions over the centuries. Like Crathes and Craigievar, it still holds the original furnishings from the family that owned it: in this case, the Frasers, who lived there for centuries. Perhaps just because of its sheer size, this one seems the most “castle-like” of all the tower houses on this list.

Castle Fraser
Location: 4 miles north of Dunecht and 16 miles west of Aberdeen.
Opening times: Open daily 10:30-16:30 in July and August. The rest of the year, their hours vary, so check their website.
Admission: £16. Includes an audio guide, except in January and February, when the castle can only be seen via guided tour, booked through their website.
Website.

Planning a trip to Aberdeenshire? Click on this link to book your hotels.

Fyvie Castle

First built in the 13th century, each family that lived there added new towers. Fyvie has a very grand appearance: a Scottish Baronial style with a massive archway over the front entrance. You can tour the furnished rooms and stroll the grounds, including a garden of Scottish fruits, according to Wikipedia.

The inside of Fyvie is definitely worth seeing. The various owners – but especially those who owned it in the 19th century – decorated it elegantly from floor to ceiling. The furnishings, the paintings, the detailed ceilings and the many family objects filling the rooms are fascinating to see. Our tour guide had a wonderful dry wit that added an extra touch to his explanations.

Fyvie Castle
Location: Off the A947, eight miles southeast of Turriff and 25 miles northwest of Aberdeen.
Opening times: Open Wednesday-Sunday 10:30-16:00 from March 22 to October 26. Open daily 10:30-16:00 October 13-26. Closed October 27-March 21.
Admission: £16.50.
Website.

Kildrummy

Kildrummy is a ruined 13th-century castle. It might be worth a visit just because of its size: this place was once massive, with particularly strong fortified walls. We were too late to visit on the day we went by, so we just stopped long enough for me to take a picture through a break in the hedge. It doesn’t look like there’s much to see other than the walls.

Kildrummy Castle
Location: On the A97 south of Mossat and north of Glenkindie.
Opening times: Open Monday-Friday 10:00-16:30 in April-September, but closed for lunch between noon at 13:00. Closed the rest of the year.
Admission: £7.50.
Website.

Kinnaird

Here’s an unusual one. Kinnaird Castle, dating from the 16th century, isn’t really a castle anymore. It was converted back in 1787 into a lighthouse. Located on Kinnaird Head, a point of land in the North Sea at the town of Fraserburgh, it is now home to the Museum of Scottish Lighthouses.

Almost nothing is left of the original castle, other than the exterior that you see in the picture above. The lighthouse was added, at first, to the roof of the castle, but it was too heavy, and eventually the castle was almost completely gutted to house an entire lighthouse building inside, with a spiral staircase from the ground to the light on top.

A museum next door gives all the information you could ever want to know about lighthouses, while the guided tour of the lighthouse itself shows how the mechanisms worked. In other words, it’s all about lighthouses, not castles.

Museum of Scottish Lighthouses
Location: about an hour north of Aberdeen. Take the A92 to the A952 to Fraserburgh.
Opening times: Open daily 10-17:00. 45-minute lighthouse tours at 10:00, 11:00, 13:00, 14:00, 15:00 and 16:00. Admission: £11.
Website.

Leith Hall

Dating from the 17th century, Leith Hall has a more “stately home” appearance to it than the others. In other words, it has fewer turrets and crenellations than most. The Leith-Hay family lived here for ten generations, until the end of WWII, at which point they donated the house and all its contents to the National Trust for Scotland, complete with the original furnishings and artwork. (This is the only one of the castles I have not seen even in passing … yet.)

Leith Hall
Location: Off the B9002, a mile west of Kennethmont.
Opening times: Leith Hall can only be viewed on a guided tour. Open in June-September Thursday-Monday 10:30-16:00; April, May and October open Friday-Sunday 10:30-16:00. Closed in November-March.
Admission: £15.50.
Website.

Tolquhon Castle

This is the third and last ruin on my list. Built in a Scots Renaissance style in the 16th century, it was an addition to an earlier tower house. The walls are relatively intact, with some pretty detailing; it’s just missing a roof.

My husband and I enjoyed poking around what was left of the rooms of Tolquhon. I was glad we stopped to see it, but if you’re making choices, I’d suggest Dunnottar over this one. Dunnottar is a more extensive ruin and the site is far more dramatic.

Tolquhon Castle
Location: A half hour north of Aberdeen, off the B999, between Tarves and the A920 junction.
Opening times: Open April-September Thursday-Monday 10:00-16:30. Closed for lunch between noon and 13:00. Closed October-March.
Admission: £7.50.
Website.

Aberdeenshire Castles

So these are the 14 Aberdeenshire Castles worth visiting, 13 of which I’ve seen, 12 of which I’ve toured. I’d love to hear from you if you end up using this list for travel in Aberdeenshire!

If you’re planning a trip to Aberdeenshire, click on this link to book your hotels.

A few tips

It’ll be hard to see most of these castles without a car. Rent a car so you have the freedom to see whichever you want. Driving on the left really isn’t particularly difficult; it just takes a bit more attention than you might normally give to your driving. Every time to get into your rental car, remind yourself to keep left. Once you’re in traffic, it’s no problem just following the flow.

If you really don’t want to rent a car, try one of these tours:

This private tour includes Crathes and Donnottar Castles, plus a distillery visit.
This overnight small-group tour goes to Balmoral, Donnottar and Crathes, plus other sights in Northern Scotland.
This three-night, four-day castle tour from Edinburgh includes Fraser, Crathes and Fyvie Castles, plus a couple of others outside of Aberdeenshire. It also includes a visit to Culloden battlefield site and a distillery tasting.

Some of these castles are operated by the National Trust for Scotland: Craigievar, Crathes, Drum, Fyvie, Fraser, and Leith Hall. The Trust also operates many other top historical sites in Scotland. Before you start your trip, it might be worth buying a year’s membership, which lets you into any National Trust for Scotland site for free. For an adult, a year costs £69.60, while two adults costs £123. If at least one of you is over 60 years old, the price is £99.60 for the year.

If you can only visit a few of the castles, go for Craigievar, Crathes, Braemar and Donnottar. They were my favorites.

The castles are not wheelchair accessible for the most part. You might be able to get around the grounds at most of them to see the castle on the outside, but inside there are lots of stairs.

Have you visited any of these castles? If so, let me know what you thought of it below.