Cawdor Castle Castle

Address: Cawdor Castle, Cawdor, Nairn IV12 5RH, Scotland, UK

Website: https://www.cawdorcastle.com

Hours: Apr-Oct daily 10am-5pm; Nov-Mar weekends and bank holidays 11am-4pm (seasonal variations possible)

Cawdor Castle is a historic Scottish castle and estate near the village of Cawdor in the Highland region of Scotland. The core of the building originated as a fortified tower house in the later medieval period.

Visitors can tour parts of the castle interior to see furnished rooms, portraits, and family collections, and can explore the castle’s formal gardens and wooded policies that surround the house. The estate includes garden features and walking paths that are open to the public seasonally.

The standing castle developed from a medieval tower house and was extended and altered in later centuries into the more domestic country-house form seen today. It has been associated with the family that owns the estate for many generations and has a long local history.

The castle stands near the village of Cawdor in northern Scotland, within reach of Inverness and the surrounding Highland countryside.

• Visitor access: There are guided tours of the interior showing period rooms, family portraits, and historic furnishings; check seasonal opening times before visiting.
• Macbeth link: The castle is popularly linked to Shakespeare’s Macbeth through the title Thane of Cawdor, though the play is a literary connection rather than direct historical fact.

What to See#

• Keep: Tower house and keep - The central medieval tower is the oldest structural element and formed the fortified heart of the castle.
• Gardens and estate: Gardens and policies - Extensive historic gardens and surrounding woodlands form part of the estate and are open to visitors in season.

Cawdor lies about 14 km southeast of Nairn. By car, take the A96 from Inverness toward Nairn and follow local signage to Cawdor. Limited public buses connect Nairn to nearby villages; taxi from Nairn station is common for visitors.

• Buy tickets in advance during summer - the castle garden tours and woodland walks have timed entries.
• Take the short trail to the castle's viewing mound for the best panorama of the nearby Nairnshire countryside.
• Pay attention to the 16th-century romantic addition often associated with Shakespeare's Macbeth - the castle's name and the play's myth became linked only in the 18th century.