Culzean Castle

A beautiful castle with stunning views! This castle and county park offer so much to explore, with plenty of hiking trails, a lovely café, and a gift shop. The scenery is breathtaking, especially with its proximity to the ocean. Definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area!

The review is based on my 2009 visit to Culzean Castle. Culzean Castle is an amazing place located on the Ayrshire cliffs, overlooking the Firth of Clyde. Inside are many beautifully decorated rooms to see, and outside, there are large, well-kept gardens to explore. When we visited in 2009, the gardens had sculptures of a mermaid, an octopus, and a pair of dolphins scattered around. You can also walk down to a small beach where the grounds are a bit wild, with overgrown plants and old buildings that have their own charm. The castle offers great views of Scotland’s west coast. The place has a rich history, and Americans might find the Kennedy connection interesting. We spent 3 hours there, but if the weather had been better, we could have stayed longer. The café was open but had limited seating, so we had to wait a bit for a table. It was worth it, though, as the smoked salmon and desserts were delicious and reasonably priced.

As English National Trust Members we got in for free but this place is worthy of stopping at. Normal parking was a bit hard for our motorhome so we parked in the coach area where the spaces are longer. The grounds are dog friendly so we chose one of the trails available to follow. The Lion trail sees a bit of everything, and there are lots of interesting buildings and plants along the way. Lots of photo opportunities too. The used book shop is worth a visit. A beautiful place to visit.

Beautiful place for a walk around quite a big park and gardens , a little restaurant with quite tasty food . Unfortunately, the castle was for visitors when we visited, so just walk around the grounds.

This place is sensational! The childrens play area is epic, even my 13 yr old had fun exploring and using the zip wire. The castle itself is stunning. So much history to soak up. All the staff we encountered were super friendly and very helpful. The secret beach area was the highlight for my children. Felt like our own private secluded beach. You could literally spend all day exploring what this place has to offer. Highly recommend.

Lovely grounds plenty to see walled garden very nice outstanding views from castle , cafe staff not so good need to concentrate on customer and finish serving before walking away and not finishing order we had to ask for our food. Shop just basic tourist stock overpriced £16 for a tea towel

Fantastic visit. Castles and garden gorgeous, food in cafe great. Very impressed with the ‘hidden Lego figures’ in each room that children had to look for and mark off on their work sheet - really encourages children from very young to teenagers to look around and appreciate what is in the castle. There was a group of very well behaved young children looking around when we were there and it was a pleasure seeing them taking interest in the castle - we even found ourselves looking for the Lego figures!

Made use of my membership whilst my partner was working and I had some time to kill. First Scottish National trust property visit. Boy it didn't disappoint. I could have quite easily have spent a full day there and then some. And I stil didn't see it all. Definitely a return visit in the future for the bits I missed this time around

Nothing short of perfect. A testament to the rich history that is Scotland. It is so magnificent both inside and out that words simply cannot describe the splendour of this castle. The castle overlooks the Atlantic Ocean and on a clear and sunny day like today you can see the Isle of Arran! Aye - a truly magestic place which we will ne'er forget!

Truly one remarkable location. I got tired of hearing myself say "wow" over every thing. But it was all I could say. We stayed in a wonderful room overlooking the water. My favorite part is the beach (path is slightly hidden) just to the north. Keep a sharp eye out for washed up jelly fish. But the rocks and shells create a virtual painting of nature. We had high tea, and it was such a living fantasy. Great memories.

They have been so accommodating. It does take some time for them to respond but that's likely due to our time difference. We are so blessed that we found such a beautiful castle to share our vacation.

Great castle with outstanding views and beautiful gardens. It was designed by the famous Scottish architect Robert Adams for the powerful Kennedy family (no relation to JFK)

Loved the Castle and grounds, even on a pretty wet day. The coastal view is amazing, and the various buildings have been beautifully restored. The docents at the palace are incredibly friendly and knowledgeable about the family's and palace's history, though if self-guided is more your desire, there are placards that give an overview of the most important aspects and pieces in each individual room. The visitor's center can likely be skipped since it provides just minimal information, though the cafe there is a nice midday stop, and has coffee, bottles beverages, pastries, sandwiches, potatoes, and a few other hot dishes of the day. The prices are also fairly reasonable, as we paid £15 for 2 sodas, a casserole, sandwich, and brownie. If hiking is more your desire, there are also lots of pathways available, and there were many individuals and families that had their dogs along too. Highly recommend this castle that is on the coast about an hour/1:10 from Glasgow.

During our last trip to Scotland, my wife dragged me countless castles, abbeys etc., but Culzean was the only one that really stuck with me. Beautiful grounds, great location, very friendly staff and so much to see. If you only see one castle in Scotland outside of Edinburgh and Stirling, make it Culzean.

We travelled to Culzean for my brothers wedding. The ceremony was a beautiful affair held on the grounds with the dinner and dancing held in the castle. It was a truly beautiful experience but the best part was staying overnight in the Eisenhower apartment. The only drawback was that it was unseasonably warm and there was no ability to get air through the rooms which caused for a very uncomfortable nights sleep. But that was certainly out of their control.