Tantallon Castle

This is an absolute hidden gem, of every activity we did whilst away this was absolutely my favourite! the views from the castle are amazing and you can access so many areas! we didn't plan to visit here but it was the absolute highlight of our trip

What a stunning location. To get the most out of your visit, you need to be fairly steady on your feet as there are lots of spiral steps to negotiate. We were lucky as the mist had just lifted when we arrived but was starting to roll back in by the end of our visit. Apparently regular occurrence on this stretch of coast.

I haven’t visited a castle ruin with access to such high walls before. There is lots to see and explore with great views and lots of history. The staff in the shop were very friendly, informative and helpful.

We spent a great morning exploring the castle area. Well worth a visit. I recommend bringing hiking shoes/boots and a good windproof jacket as the trail can be muddy and it's very windy around the castle.

Absolutely gorgeous location for this castle. Was not busy at all when we went. You can climb to the top ramparts and look over the cliffs and ocean. Very reasonably priced tickets, bathrooms on site and some picnic tables behind the ticket stand/gift shop where we are out prepacked lunch. Highly recommend

Lovley castle with fantastic views of Bass Rock. Great spiral stairs to upper battlements. Nice grassy area and benches overlooking the sea

Great castle ruins. Lots of stairs and towers to explore in a fantastic location. It was a freezing cold day when I visited - will revisit in the summer! The staff are also very friendly and knowledgeable about the local area too.

We had a good experience over there. The ticket price is 7.5 £. One can go with a perambulator. The view from the castle is really good. The title song of Bollywood film 'Kuch Kuch Hotal Hai' was filmed here.

Super cool castle ruins just three miles from North Berwick. Took the 120 bus and told the driver where I wanted to stop, but he still missed it and I did have to do a bit of walking back down the road. Most people arrived in rental cars, but I was trying to be adventurous. This is a castle ruin, and what remains are mostly outside walls and structures. You really have to imagine hard of what it would have been like in its heyday. But it sits along the water, so the views from the castle are stunning! The structure is still sound enough that you can climb to the second floor, where you get the best views. Plus it's just kind of cool to climb around in castle ruins. This was one of my favorite castles that I've visited in Scotland. Probably because it right on the water, and this castle is what I envision when I think of a Scottish castle.

I have never seen a more beautiful castle or view! Coming from America( where everything is fairly new), I feel very fortunate to have come to such a beautiful country to seek out my passion for history and getting to see this castle in person was overwhelming in the best way possible! We walked from North Berwick harbor which took us though a beautiful historic glen, asked some very nice hikers which way to turn and walked about two miles to this castle. Extremely worth it! Oh, also, the two men who were working at the site of the castle rocked! They made us feel welcomed and helped us get a taxi when heading back to the train station! Go seek out this adventure!

The Red Douglas Stronghold near North Berwick! In my lifetime I have seen many ruins of past strongholds, but this one is the most exciting so far. Nobody lives there anymore. The walls tell a story of besiege, feasts, battle and royal connection. The Red Douglas were involved in intrigue and paid their price, but the castle itself was such an amazing and powerful stronghold that neither Cromwell's army nor the Scottish King himself was able to conquer the fortress in its prime time. Unfortunately the weather had it's toll on the exterior and the castle wasted away, leaving behind mystic and powerful ruins to admire. You stand on top of a tower, look out onto the sea and at the same time admire the wonderful views of the coastline and listen to the songs of the seagulls. Hear my song and cry for freedom, imprisoned only by the walls surrounding my existence........but hear, freedom is to come and it's never too late to hope..... It's a Historic Scotland property and therefore free entry for members, otherwise £5.

Of the many attractions in and around North Berwick, Tantallon Castle has got to be one of the best. Sitting opposite the famous Bass rock and right by the sea cliff, Tantallon is a romantic ruin situated on a beautiful location. Tantallon is a great fortress castle. It was built in the middle of the 14th century by the Douglas Earls of Angus, and it saw particular action under the early Stuart reign. It is also famous for being lay siege to by Oliver Cromwell. Tantallon is easy enough to get to. With regular bus and trains from Edinburgh to North Berwick then a quick bus outside of town to the castle, or alternatively a wee walk. The castle is now a ruin but it is still well wort the visit. It's collapsed walls are still intact enough to show what a strong and daunting fortress it once was. It is sometimes called "Scotland's last great medieval castle". When I first visited the bus to North Berwick was late and then I ended up walking from the station to the castle. In the end by the time I got there it had just closed. However the staff still let me in to have a quick look around. Needless to say they are all very friendly! A final word of warning! Tantallon is the site of two famous ghost spot tings, one in the 70s and one a few years ago supposedly capturing a figure with a ruff collar. Google it if you don't believe me!

On a rocky outcrop this castle is a fantastic reminder of how it must have been to live in the days when there was nothing around and this was the only defense from mauraders. It is chilly and bleak and a vast ruin. You can still get the sense of how great it was by the thickness of the walls. This was the second dovecote of the day we saw lookiing around castles and I preferred this one There are rooms to look around and you can climb up some of the towers but there is not as much there as other nearby castle, this castle would be great to take a picnic to on a warm day and watch the sea crash agaisnt the rocks. The toilets are at the visitors centre which has a shop which sells catupult kits to make.

Tantallon is one of those places that just stays in your mind. I've lost count how many times I have visited and walked those ramparts. The location just blows your mind. If you don't believe me, just walk up to the top and just stop. Stop and just take everything in. In a few seconds, things will start to happen. The wind will be blowing through your hair and it's sound will start to overtake any chatter of tourists around you. Just below you, you will start to see dozens of birds swooping and spinning through the air as they visit their roosts in the walls of Tantallon. In the distance, the sky will be white around the Bass Rock, as thousands of birds gather to nest and feed. You'll see activity out on the sea in front of you. The greenness of the grass will astound you. The history captured in a collapsing remains of a medieval castle will become more apparent. Tantallon will take root in your soul. Last night we visited, again. This time it was part of the Lammermuir Music Festival, or 'Beautiful Music in Beautiful Places'. This was the showpiece, with giant spotlights flashing through a clear star-filled night, animation playing against the walls of Tantallon, music and poetry filling the air. It got to me, it really did. Anyone who visits Edinburgh, or the East Coast, should count this as one of the places to see - a little out of the way, granted, but what you get in return will reward the journey taken.

Tantallon castles is a superb example of what Scotland has to offer in the way of heritage. It is a stunning place to visit with scenery to die for.

Day 6 was populated almost entirely by Tantallon castle, one of the strangest fortifications in all of Scotland. Mark my words now, at some point in my writing--my fiction writing--I will have a castle like Tantallon featured. Not any shape you're accustomed with castles, Tantallon is comprised of single great wall acting as a defensive structure protecting the land behind it. It's what's called a promontory fort because, well, it guards a promontory--that is, an outcropping of land from a cliff wall. This is different from places like Stirling or Edinburgh which simply occupy a crag. What need is there to erect a wall fringing a cliff looking out over the sea? There aren't many of these in the world, making Tantallon a unique artifact. It can also be called a curtain wall castle. Where a curtain wall usually surrounds a castle, here the curtain wall IS the castle. Just make a huge wall a dozen feet thick and construct the rooms within it. The great hall was set aside, in the only wall not facing the countryside. Received guests wouldn't enter through the gate and waltz straight to the lord; they'd have to take a left and then climb some stairs, followed by right. The poor condition of Tantallon comes from the fact that it's been involved in various wars over the course of six hundred years. As for the specifics of the day, my girlfriend and her family (not awkward) took us out of Edinburgh to Tantallon castle on the only day the clouds decided to spit...but only spit. While at Tantallon, water didn't fall with enough volume to even warrant opening my umbrella. It was also November. Add both of those facts together and my girlfriend and I ended up being the only ones at the castle. And I do mean only, we couldn't even find an employee, only a note claiming the solitary custodian was working the grounds. We never found him or her, and we hung around for a while, exploring every room. Tantallon was rumored to be haunted...maybe the ghost was the employee? So wait, you're thinking, you and your girlfriend were alone in a castle...all by yourself? Could that have been any more romantic? Well, yes, we could and should have packed a lunch. If her parents weren't waiting in a car, we should have sat on a bench looking out to Bass Rock for an hour while sharing a glass of red wine. This is a picnic waiting to happen. Alas, after an hour, we left, but not before taking numerous photos of this desolate and abandoned fortress. And no...there was no ghost.