Where Mary Queen of Scots grew up, on a crag between the Lowlands and the Highlands, under an hour from Edinburgh. Here you’ll find which Stirling Castle tickets to buy, the weather during opening hours, opening times and tips for your visit.
Queues and crowds → · Stirling, Scotland, United Kingdom
Weather at 4:00 PM. The castle opens at 09:30.
There’s one ticket and it covers the whole castle: the Royal Palace, Great Hall, kitchens, chapel and regimental museum.
Our pick: a standard entry ticket. The castle’s own guided tours are free with your ticket, so you don’t need to pay extra for a guide. If your dates are fixed, the official ticket is the cheapest; if you want free cancellation, go for GetYourGuide. Choose the Tiqets tour if you’d like the Old Town too, in a small group.
Arriving by train, bus or bike? Book on the official website with the code GOOD25 for 25% off, and show your ticket or bike on arrival.
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before · 4.7 from over 340 reviews
Close to the official online price (£18.50), with free cancellation up to 24 hours before.
Cancel until 11:59 pm the day before
Indicative prices, checked onOctober 26, 2026: they may change: the final price is the one shown by the seller.
Good
Good: partly cloudy, 11 to 11 degrees, no rain.
Perfect day
Perfect day: partly cloudy, 10 to 13 degrees, no rain.
| Time | Sky | Temperature | Rain | Wind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10:00 | Partly cloudy | 10° | – | 7 km/h |
| 11:00 | Partly cloudy | 11° | – | 8 km/h |
| 12:00 | Fair | 12° | – | 13 km/h |
| 13:00 | Fair | 13° | – | 14 km/h |
| 14:00 | Fair | 13° | – | 14 km/h |
| 15:00 | Partly cloudy | 13° | – | 14 km/h |
| 16:00 | Partly cloudy | 11° | – | 12 km/h |
The best days are Saturday, October 31. The rating only looks at opening hours: rain at night doesn’t spoil the visit.
Today and tomorrow the forecast is accurate hour by hour; up to day seven it is reliable on the trend; the last days give a rough idea. Updated every hour.
Today, Friday, October 30: open 09:30–17:00.
| Period | Hours |
|---|---|
| April 1 – September 30 | 09:30–18:00 |
| October 1 – March 31 | 09:30–17:00 |
Closed on December 25 and December 26.
Open every day except 25 and 26 December. On 24 December it closes at 4 pm, and on 1 January it opens at 11 am. Last entry: one hour before closing.
Best time to visit: May, June and September. Highs are between 16 and 18°C, and May has the fewest rainy days.
| Month | Average high | Rainy days |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 7° | 16 |
| Feb | 8° | 14 |
| Mar | 10° | 13 |
| Apr | 12° | 11 |
| MayRecommended | 16° | 11 |
| JunRecommended | 18° | 12 |
| Jul | 20° | 13 |
| Aug | 20° | 13 |
| SepRecommended | 17° | 13 |
| Oct | 14° | 15 |
| Nov | 10° | 16 |
| Dec | 8° | 15 |
1991–2020 normals for the Met Office station at Stirling: average high and days with at least 1 mm of rain. Source: Met Office, table published on Wikipedia (article “Stirling”).
The main rooms are indoors: the Royal Palace, Great Hall, kitchens, chapel and regimental museum.
An hour-by-hour crowd estimate is coming later, always marked as an estimate and with its source.
Allow about two to three hours.
Secret Stirling: a 90-minute tour into areas usually closed to the public, at 11 am and 2 pm, to be booked in advance; not suitable for under-12s.
By train: Stirling has direct trains to Edinburgh and Glasgow. From the station it’s about half a mile to the castle, all uphill through the Old Town.
By car: the castle car park is closed to cars except coaches and accessible parking. Use Castleview Park and Ride, with its shuttle bus, or the council car parks in town.
Luggage: suitcases and rucksacks of 30 litres or more aren’t allowed, and there’s no storage, not even for pushchairs.
Good: partly cloudy, 11 to 11 degrees, no rain.
Saturday, October 31: Perfect day: partly cloudy, 10 to 13 degrees, no rain. Sunday, November 1: Good: fair, 5 to 10 degrees, no rain.
The official adult ticket is £18.50 online and £20.50 on the door; £15 for over-65s and £9 for ages 7–15. On GetYourGuide it’s from €22, with free cancellation up to 24 hours before.
From 1 April to 30 September, daily 9:30 am to 6 pm; from 1 October to 31 March, 9:30 am to 5 pm. Last entry is one hour before closing. Closed on 25 and 26 December.
Yes: the castle’s guided tours are included in the ticket price. Times vary from day to day, so ask staff when you arrive. The Secret Stirling tour costs extra and must be booked in advance.
Take a direct train to Stirling, then walk about half a mile uphill to the castle. Day trips from Edinburgh that include the castle are also available.
About two to three hours for the Royal Palace, Great Hall, kitchens and ramparts; longer if you want to explore the regimental museum or join a guided tour.
The castle car park is closed to cars except coaches and accessible parking. Use Castleview Park and Ride or the council car parks in town.
Reliable forecasts reach about 10 days: here you get the next 10, hour by hour for today and tomorrow and as a trend after that. To pick a month, check the climate month by month.
Forecasts come from MET Norway, the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, calculated for the castle’s coordinates and updated every hour during the day and every 3 hours at night. Crowd figures are labelled as estimates, with their source.
Stirling Castle admission ticket · from €22
Forecast by MET Norway, the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, calculated for the castle’s coordinates. Forecast: MET Norway (CC BY 4.0), updated every hour. Updated: October 26, 2026.