Place of interest Archive

Braemar Castle – from Watchtower to Luxury Castle

In the middle of the Cairngorm mountains stands Braemar Castle. Small as it is, one of the most important uprisings in the Highlands set out from here. It certainly isn’t large. And yet it looks defensible with its star-shaped wall, its gun loops and its battlemented turrets. Braemar Castle sits in a valley of the […]

Bealach na Bà

The mountain pass of Bealach na Bà connects the Applecross peninsula with Lochcarron. It’s one of Scotland’s most beautiful, yet also most demanding, routes. The tarmac is already crumbling badly at the edges, cracks run across the road surface here and there, and in places there are even round, dark holes. And this is what […]

Inverlochy Castle – the old guardian of the Great Glen

Four walls, four towers, a ruin – Inverlochy Castle doesn’t look like much. But that’s exactly what makes it so worth seeing. Sounds odd, but it’s true. Its location was surely no accident: sitting on the River Lochy, Inverlochy Castle guards the crossing point between Loch Linnhe, the sea loch cutting deep inland, and the […]

Blackness Castle – a castle shaped like a ship

Blackness Castle’s shape is reminiscent of a sailing ship. Here’s why. The castle, incidentally, became famous through the TV series “Outlander”. A ship that never sailed the sea – a place that’s supposedly located somewhere else entirely. Blackness Castle has to put up with plenty of comparisons. And yet its history and architecture alone would […]

Corryvreckan – a boat trip into the world’s third-largest whirlpool

Between the islands of Scarba and Jura off the west coast of Scotland, ocean currents collide violently. Together they form the third-largest whirlpool in the world. And our boat sails right into the middle of it. It’s a place sailors avoided and feared for centuries. The British Navy marked this strait as impassable for generations: […]

Eilean na Mòine in Loch Eilt – the island with Dumbledore’s grave

A small island in Loch Eilt with trees on it. Thanks to the film “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”, it achieved worldwide fame. Here’s what it really looks like. It’s a sad scene in the Harry Potter films: Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore is carried to his grave by the giant Hagrid. Fire envelops the […]

Plockton – a fishing village turned holiday idyll

There are several beautiful fishing villages on the west coast of the Highlands. And Plockton turns out to be a true gem among them. In good weather, Plockton’s idyllic charm is almost too much to take: white houses line a road running along the shore. Palm trees (!) occasionally interrupt the view over the small […]

Castle Tioram – idyllic ruin, bitter fight

Castle Tioram looks so peaceful, and yet a bitter battle has been raging over the castle for years. All the more reason to make sure you visit it on your next Scotland trip. Through a landscape unusually cultivated for the Highlands, the River Shiel meanders lazily down to a large bay fringed by woodland. In […]

Linlithgow Palace – the proud palace of the Stewarts

The rise and fall of the Stewart monarchy is mirrored in the history of Linlithgow Palace. A very special ruin. You could almost say Linlithgow Palace was the Stewarts’ motel. After all, the kings and their court liked to stop off here on the journey between Edinburgh and Stirling Castle, since it lies roughly halfway […]

Culross – a Royal Burgh from Old Scotland

The whole village is a sight in itself: the houses and lanes of the Royal Burgh of Culross take visitors back centuries into the past. It was sheer hardship. For 150 years, the community of Culross experienced economic decline. And while the other towns here on the arm of the Firth of Forth could afford […]