Must-see attractions in Stirling

  • Top Choice
    Stirling Castle

    Hold Stirling and you control Scotland. This maxim has ensured that a fortress of some kind has existed here since prehistoric times. You cannot help…

  • Top Choice
    Old Town Jail

    This impressive Victorian prison building lay derelict from the 1960s until 2015, when it was reopened as a visitor attraction. Costumed guides lead tours…

  • National Wallace Monument

    Perched high on a crag above the floodplain of the River Forth, this Victorian monument is so Gothic it deserves circling bats and croaking ravens. In the…

  • Bannockburn Heritage Centre

    Robert the Bruce's defeat of the English army on 24 June 1314 at Bannockburn established Scotland as a separate nation. The Bannockburn Heritage Centre…

  • Argyll's Lodging

    This elegant building is Scotland's most impressive 17th-century town house, built for a wealthy local merchant and later acquired by the Earl of Argyll…

  • Smith Art Gallery & Museum

    Oswald the museum cat greets visitors to this treasure trove of local history, which tells the story of Stirling from prehistoric to modern times. The…

  • Stirling Old Bridge

    Dating from the 15th century, this graceful arched stone bridge is one of the oldest in Scotland, now reserved for pedestrians and cyclists only. An…

  • Church of the Holy Rude

    The Church of the Holy Rude has been the town’s parish church for 600 years; the infant James VI was crowned here in 1567, making it the only British…

  • Beheading Stone

    According to legend, this lump of stone was used as a chopping block for executions during the 15th century. It is displayed beneath a canopy of iron bars…

  • Cowane's Hospital

    Cowane’s Hospital was built as an almshouse in 1637 by the merchant John Cowane. It has been closed since 2015, but there are plans to restore the…

  • Mar's Wark

    Mar's Wark (wark is an old Scots word for 'building') is the ornate facade of a Renaissance town house commissioned in 1569 by the wealthy earl of Mar,…

  • Mercat Cross

    The Mercat Cross is topped with a unicorn (known as the 'Puggie'), and was once the focus of a bustling market.

  • Tolbooth

    The Tolbooth, built in 1705 as the town's administrative centre, is now an arts venue.