Money Saving Travel Tips: The Historic Scotland Explorer Pass

If you're visiting Scotland, you'll want to check out the Historic Scotland Explorer Pass. We actually discovered it quite by accident on a visit to Craigmillar Castle but wish we had known about it sooner. It's definitely worth the money, allowing you to visit multiple historic locations at a reduced rate.

How it Works

It's a bit confusing at first but really quite simple once you understand it. You can buy 3-day pass for £30 or a 7-day pass for £40. The 3-day pass is valid for 5 days from the date of your first visit (this was the date of purchase for us but doesn't have to be). You choose 3 days out of the 5 to visit Historic Scotland locations. On those 3 days, you can visit as many locations as you want for no extra cost. We were given a receipt with 3 spaces at the bottom to right dates on. Each day we went out, we filled in the date. The 7-day pass works the same. You have 14 days to use it but you can only visit Historic Scotland locations for 7 of those days. You can visit as many sites as you want but visit each site only once.

Obviously, the more sites you plan on visiting, the more you'll save. Want to cram in as many historic sites as possible in a week? Get the £40 7-day pass and explore to your heart's content. We loved the flexibility of the pass. We didn't have to use it 3 days in succession but could choose our dates. This was especially nice when we woke up one morning feeling sick and not wanting to go on our planned excursion.

Keep in mind that this pass isn't valid for every historic site in Scotland. It works for the sites operated by Historic Scotland. But there are 78 of those, so you shouldn't run out of options anytime soon!

What We Saved

We visited just 3 castles so our savings were a bit more modest than they could've been. But I'm still quite happy with the results. Here's everything broken down:

Admission Costs Without a Pass 

Craigmillar Castle: £5.50 x 2
Edinburgh Castle: £16.50 x 2
Stirling Castle: £14.50 x 2

Total cost without the Explorer Pass 

£73 for 2 people ($111.64)

Cost of the Explorer Pass 

£60 for a 3-day Family Pass ($91.75)

Total Savings

£13 ($19.89)

Of course, you can get even better mileage out of the pass if you are traveling with a larger family or visiting more locations than we did. We would have loved to explore more castles but were limited to anything accessible by train within an easy day trip of Edinburgh. If you're already renting a car, your options open up!

Our savings might not have been as impressive as they could have been. Still, we were always planning on visiting these castles. We didn't decide to simply because we had an Explorer Pass. It was always on the agenda. And why pay £73 when you can pay £60?

Where We Went

Craigmillar Castle

A friend of mine who just wrapped up a post-grad program at the University of Edinburgh (Congrats, Friend!) told us about this lovely walk through Holyrood Park and into Duddingston Village. Just passed Duddingston Village, she informed us, were the ruins of Craigmillar Castle. Craigmillar Castle was owned by the Preston family but was a favorite retreat from politics and Edinburgh life for Mary Queen of Scots. She stayed there in 1563 and 1566. On her second stay, the Craigmillar Bond was signed by her noblemen there, an agreement to dispose of Mary's unpopular husband, Lord Darnley.

Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh Castle has a long, storied history. It served as a royal residence and later as military barracks base with a garrison. I won't even attempt to distill its story into a succinct paragraph or two. It's something of an overwhelming experience to visit Edinburgh Castle. It's so full of history. Some highlights of the trip: the Stone of Scone, St. Margaret's Chapel (the oldest building in Edinburgh), royal apartments, prisons, museums, and more. Edinburgh Castle sits high above Edinburgh and is visible throughout the city.

Stirling Castle 

We took the train from Edinburgh to Stirling and then walked up through the city to Stirling Castle. Stirling Castle was a nice middle ground between Craigmillar and Edinburgh. It wasn't ruins like Craigmillar but also wasn't as much of a crowded, built-up, tourist attraction as Edinburgh Castle was. We were also able to jump in on a guided tour at no extra cost. I don't know about all the tour guides, but ours was fantastic! He was full of historical background as well as details about the restoration of the castle. The castle formerly served as a royal residence for Scottish monarch. Mary Queen of Scots was born here and her grandson, Prince Henry (son of James VI of Scotland or James I of England and Ireland) was christened here. James the VI and I, himself, grew up there. The views there are worth a mention, too--breathtaking.