One way to visit castles in Scotland is through a small group tour. We took the Outlander Tour through one of the tour companies. There were four of us traveling together on this trip. Two of us were Outlander fans and two of us had never seen the TV series or read the books. This tour was interesting for all of us. We met our tour group in the morning at the Edinburgh bus station. There we joined 12 other travelers and traveled in a small tour bus.

Our first stop on the tour was Midhope Castle. This castle is just a ruin. The exterior of the castle is used in the Outlander series as the home of the Fraser clan. If you watch the series, you will instantly recognize the distinctive drive leading to the entrance. The castle is set in a lovely rural setting. There is a small fee to walk up to the ruins, which seemed like it should have been included in the tour price. Unless you pay the fee and walk up to the castle there is really nothing to see. We walked around the castle and took some pictures, but this was just a short stop on the tour.

The second stop on the tour was Blackness Castle. This castle sits on the banks of the Firth of Forth. This castle has served as a military base and a prison over the years. It has been well preserved and there is a lot of history attached to these ruins. There are informative plaques located throughout the ruins telling the story of this castle. Our tour guide did not go with us on the tour, but we tagged along behind a different group to hear some of the details. There are a lot of stairs to climb when you are on this tour, but we were able to take our time and access most areas of the castle. We brought along our hiking poles which were helpful when walking over some of the stones. If you are an Outlander fan, this castle was used to film scenes that were taking place at Fort William when Black Jack was holding Claire against her will. You can see the window that Jamie broke through to rescue her. There was so much to see here. If I were to return, I would book a private tour in order to explore this castle more thoroughly. This was my favorite castle on the tour.

The next stop was the village of Linlithgow. Linlithgow Palace is the birthplace of Mary, Queen of Scots. Unfortunately, our tour did not include admission to this palace, and we could only see it from the outside as there was a private event the day we visited. Linlithgow Palace doubled as Wentworth Prison in the Outlander series.

The village of Linlithgow is charming, and this was the lunch stop for the tour. There were several restaurants and shops around the village square and we had a very nice lunch break here.

Doune Castle was the last castle on this tour. Doune Castle is a popular tourist site and has appeared in many films and TV series. It is an imposing site as you approach. Several rooms in this castle have been outfitted so that you can imagine what life was like here. Audio guides provide narration as you explore the castle and grounds. We were able to tour the courtyard, the kitchens, the great hall and the Baron’s Hall. These were all on the second floor and accessed by a set of stairs in the courtyard. We did not explore the rooms on the upper floors as that was just too many stairs for us. Our friend did visit the bedchamber on the upper floor and thought it interesting.

This was an all-day tour that returned to Edinburgh in the late afternoon. In addition to the castles, we enjoyed the drive through the Scottish countryside. The tour bus was comfortable, and the stops were frequent enough that we were able to get out and stretch our legs often. If you are unable to do stairs at all this would not be a good tour. We found it doable since we could explore at our own pace.