Outlander locations in Scotland by motorhome: a route

Outlander has done more for Scottish road-trip planning than any tourist board campaign, and the best Outlander locations now make a road trip in their own right. Fans arrive each year hoping to walk a stone circle they first saw on screen, stand at the gate of a castle they recognise from the title sequence, or drive a single-track road that doubled for somewhere fictional and ended up famous in its own right. A four-berth motorhome from the Glasgow depot is a sensible way to stitch those locations into one trip, because most of them sit two or three hours apart and the good ones have parking that suits a campsite stop more than a day return.

This is a planner for travellers building a route around the show. It uses real, named locations, sticks to roads a four-berth handles without trouble, and ignores the fan-fiction. Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish made their own televised tour of Scotland for Men in Kilts, which is worth a watch before you go; what follows is the version you can actually drive.

Where are the main Outlander filming locations?

The show films across a wide arc of Scotland, but the locations a visitor can reach without a film crew cluster in five regions. From Glasgow, a sensible loop runs east into Stirlingshire, north through Perthshire to the Cairngorms, west to the Great Glen, then south through Argyll back to the depot. Seven to ten days is the right length. Less and you spend too much of it driving; more and the castles begin to blur.

• Doune Castle, Stirlingshire. Stands in for Castle Leoch in series one. Run by Historic Environment Scotland; the audio guide is voiced by one of the cast and is genuinely good.
• Blackness Castle, West Lothian. Black Jack Randall’s Fort William. A North Sea fortress that looks much as it did on screen.



• Midhope Castle, near Hopetoun. The exterior of Lallybroch. Tower house only, no interior access, but the approach lane is the shot fans want.



• Falkland, Fife. The 1940s Inverness streetscape. A working village, easy to walk in an afternoon.



• Culross, Fife. Cranesmuir. Cobbled square, ochre palace, and a mercat cross that needs no dressing.
• Glencoe and Rannoch Moor. The opening title sequence. The A82 layby north of the Three Sisters is where most of the photographs come from.

How long do you need for an Outlander trip?

Seven days covers the core central-belt and Highland locations at a steady pace. Ten days lets you add the west coast and a Skye detour, and gives you a buffer for the weather day every Scottish trip eventually needs. Below seven and you are choosing between Doune and Falkland; above ten and you are repeating yourself.

A seven-day route from the Glasgow depot

This is a route a four-berth Atlas handles without trouble. It assumes a mid-morning collection on day one and a late-morning return on day eight. For a shorter, fully mapped version, see our five-day Outlander filming locations trip idea.

1. Day 1. Glasgow to Doune via Blackness. Pick up the motorhome, drive east to Blackness Castle for the afternoon, then north to a campsite near Doune for the evening.
2. Day 2. Doune Castle and Stirling. Tour Doune in the morning. Stirling Castle and the Wallace Monument fill the afternoon if you have time. Overnight at Witches Craig or a similar site below the Ochils.
3. Day 3. Falkland and Culross. Cross the Forth into Fife. Falkland in the morning, Culross after lunch. Both villages are walkable and worth the slow visit. Overnight near Loch Leven.
4. Day 4. Perthshire to Aviemore. Drive north on the A9 to the Cairngorms. Stop at Dunkeld for the cathedral and a coffee. Overnight at a Glenmore or Aviemore campsite.
5. Day 5. The Great Glen. West along the A86 and A82 past Loch Laggan. Drumnadrochit and Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness for the afternoon. Overnight near Fort Augustus.
6. Day 6. Glenfinnan and the west coast. South-west via the Road to the Isles. The Glenfinnan viaduct is here for the Harry Potter crowd, but the loch view earns the stop on its own. Overnight at Glenfinnan or Arisaig.
7. Day 7. Glencoe and home. South over Rannoch Moor and through Glencoe for the title-sequence layby. Continue to Loch Lomond and back to the depot the following morning.

What about Skye and the Outer Isles?

If you have ten days, drive west from Fort Augustus to Eilean Donan Castle and cross the bridge to Skye. The Quiraing, the Old Man of Storr, and Neist Point all film well and walk well. The Outer Hebrides need a full week of their own and a CalMac ferry; better to plan a separate trip than rush them.

Practical notes for the route

• Castle parking. Doune, Blackness, and Urquhart all have car parks that take a 7-metre motorhome. Midhope is tighter; park at Hopetoun and walk the access road.
• Single-track sections. The A87 west of Invergarry is single-track in places. Allow more time than the sat-nav predicts and use the passing places generously.
• Fuel. Fill up at Aviemore, Fort Augustus, and Fort William. Stations are sparse on the western legs.
• Membership. Atlas hires include Camping & Caravanning Club membership, which gives a meaningful discount at most of the campsites this route uses.

When is the best time to drive an Outlander route?

April to early June, or September to mid-October. Both windows give you long enough days, fewer cars on the single-track sections, and the castles open without the high-summer queues. Atlas is open for hire from mid-March to the first week of November; outside that window the depot is closed and the route is best parked until the next season.

Worth knowing before you go

Most of the locations on this route are run by Historic Environment Scotland or the National Trust for Scotland. An Historic Environment Scotland Explorer Pass pays for itself in three or four visits. CalMac handles every west-coast ferry crossing if you extend to Skye via Mallaig or push on to the Outer Hebrides. The Met Office mountain forecast for the West Highlands is the one to check the night before a Glencoe driving day.

Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish drove a similar shape of route for their own series. The version above is the one you can collect from Glasgow, drive yourself, and sleep in along the way.