Culloden Battlefield Tours and Tickets

There are plenty of ways to experience Culloden Battlefield. Looking at ratings and reviews previously given by customers, these are the best tours available right now:

• Loch Ness Cruise, Outlander, and Urquhart Castle Tour from Inverness

• 3-Day Isle of Skye, Inverness Highlands, and Glenfinnan Viaduct Tour from Edinburgh

• Loch Ness and Culloden Battlefield Private Tour from Inverness

• 3-Day Guided Isle of Skye and Highlands with Stay from Edinburgh

• 5 Day Isle of Skye, Loch Ness, and Inverness from Edinburgh

There’s a small fee to visit Culloden Battlefield and the visitor center independently. Adults should expect to pay £12.50, concessions for £11, and children for £8. Family tickets are available for £33, and prices rise by £4 per person if you want a guided tour of the battlefield included. The car park costs £5 per car. However, if you take a tour to Culloden, these fees are typically included—prices start from US$76.

Yes, Culloden Battlefield is absolutely worth visiting if you're interested in Scottish history or are simply a fan of the Outlander series. It's easily one of the Scottish Highlands' most famous battlefields, and well worth exploring as part of a guided tour of the wider area. Tours here typically include round-trip transportation to and from major cities such as Inverness and Edinburgh, as well as stops at other key attractions, including Loch Ness and the Isle of Skye.

Per one customer who booked the Loch Ness and Culloden Battlefield Private Tour from Inverness, "The guide was simply fantastic. ... Culloden Battlefield was a big standout, and Inverness, the city, is well worth visiting."

Most visitors find roughly 2 hours to be a reasonable amount of time at Culloden Battlefield, though history buffs may want a bit longer. With that much time, you can wander the battlefield and stop by the Leanach Cottage and visitor center to appreciate the artifacts, exhibits, and more.

Allow for more time if you want to enjoy lunch or a small bite to eat. The battlefield has a cozy cafe where you’ll find homemade sandwiches, hearty soups, pasties, and scones served with clotted cream and jams. It also has an award-winning gift shop where you can easily spend another hour picking up Scottish souvenirs, many locally sourced, for friends and family back home.

Yes, you can walk around Culloden Battlefield for free. That being said, it’s a difficult-to-interpret spot unless you venture inside the onsite visitor center, which does require a fee. There, you’ll get a deep dive into the history, learn how and why the battle took place, and work your imagination in their 360-degree battle immersion theatre. The visitor center also sells combination tickets that include admission into the center as well as a guided tour of the battlefield.

Culloden Battlefield was not plan A for the Jacobites—they got a late start and didn’t get as far as they had planned. As it turns out, Culloden’s open landscape gave Cumberland and his army a clear vantage point to fire their artillery. Plus, the Jacobites were greatly outnumbered. Their army was about 5,000 whereas the Redcoats, which were strong, healthier, and better trained, had nearly 10,000 soldiers. As such, the battle was a quick one. It lasted around 40 minutes. The vast majority of the lives lost at Culloden were Jacobites, although historians estimate that approximately 50 Redcoats perished, too.

Experts in Scottish history say Culloden is the burial site for nearly all the soldiers, some 1,500, who lost their lives on the battlefield. Of course, many graves have been lost (or never truly existed), so that number is questionable. The Graves of the Clans, the Memorial Cairn, and the Well of the Dead were all erected in the 18th and 19th centuries, years to decades after the battle. Some people swear that the battlefield is haunted, and on the anniversary of the battle, the ghosts rise from their graves. Other people say, it’s just a myth, and a mist.

There are tons of things to do when you're done visiting Culloden Battlefield. According to travelers, these are some of the top attractions in the Scottish Highlands:

• Isle of Skye

• Glencoe

• Fort Augustus

• Loch Ness

• Eilean Donan Castle

View Viator's guide to all the best attractions in the Scottish Highlands.