7 Best Sights in Stirling, Stirling and the Central Highlands

You can almost hear the trotting of horses' hooves and the zip of arrows in this 21st-century re-creation of the battle that changed the course of Scotland's history in 1314. Robert the Bruce's defeat of the armies of the English king, despite a 2-to-1 disadvantage, is the stuff of legend. Using 3D technology, the visitor center allows you to see a battle raging across screens that ring the central hall. Participants on both sides speak directly to you, courtesy of holograms. Later you can play a role in a Bannockburn battle game (reservations essential; age seven and older only). Bruce pursued the Scottish crown, ruthlessly sweeping aside enemies; but his victory here was masterful, as he drew the English horses into marshy land (now the area around the new center), where they sank in the mud. A circular monument commemorates the battlefield. Book ahead; tickets are for timed entry.

The only rotating boat lift in the world, the Falkirk Wheel links two major waterways, the Forth and Clyde Canal and the Union Canal, between Edinburgh and Glasgow. Opened in 2001, this extraordinary engineering achievement lifts and lowers boats using four giant wheels shaped like Celtic axes; it can transport eight or more boats at a time from one canal to the other in about 45 minutes. The Falkirk Wheel replaced 11 locks. You can take a 50-minute trip as the wheel turns, and you're transported up or down to the other canal. The site offers children's play areas, as well as children's canoes and bicycle rentals. An on-site office has information on canal boat cruises. There are also several canal path walkways and cycleways. The excellent Heritage Centre provides plenty of information and has a good café and gift shop. There are a number of activities available around the site too, including archery and paddleboats. Booking your ride on the wheel ahead of time is essential in summer.

This stunning structure, two horse´s heads forged in steel, 85 and 98 feet high respectively, are modeled on Clydesdales, the huge draft horses that hauled barges along the canals before the advent of the railways. The largest works of art in Scotland, their beautiful heads are framed against the Ochil Hills behind. You can book a special guided tour (book online for convenience) which takes you inside the sculptures and provides an insight into the area's past. The Kelpies are found in the Helix, a country park on the edges of Falkirk with cycle and walking paths, play areas, and a wetland. There's also a visitor center with a café and gift shop.

Its magnificent strategic position on a steep-sided crag overlooking the whole valley made Stirling Castle the grandest prize in the Scots Wars of Independence during the late 13th and early 14th centuries. Robert the Bruce's victory at Bannockburn won both the castle and freedom from English subjugation for almost four centuries. Take time to visit the Castle Exhibition beyond the lower gate to get an overview of its evolution as a stronghold and palace.

The daughter of King Robert I (Robert the Bruce), Marjory, married Walter Fitzallan, the high steward of Scotland. Their descendants included the Stewart dynasty of Scottish monarchs (Mary, Queen of Scots, was a Stewart, though she preferred the French spelling, Stuart). The Stewarts were responsible for many of the works that survive within the castle walls. They made Stirling Castle their court and power base, creating fine Renaissance-style buildings within the walls that were never completely destroyed, despite reconstruction for military purposes.

Today, you enter the castle through its outer defenses, which consist of a great curtained wall and batteries from 1708. From this lower square the most conspicuous feature is the Palace, built by King James V (1512–42) between 1538 and 1542. The decorative figures festooning the ornate outer walls show the influence of French masons. An orientation center in the basement, designed especially for children, lets them try out the clothes and musical instruments of the time. Across a terrace are the Royal Apartments, which re-create the furnishings and tapestries found here during the reign of James V and his French queen, Mary of Guise. The queen's bedchamber contains copies of the beautiful tapestries in which the hunt for the white unicorn is clearly an allegory for the persecution of Christ. Overlooking the upper courtyard is the Great Hall, built on the orders of King James IV (1473–1513) in 1503 and used for extravagant banquets. Before the Union of Parliaments in 1707, when the Scottish aristocracy sold out to England, the building had also been used as one of the seats of the Scottish Parliament.

Among the later works built for regiments stationed here, the Regimental Museum stands out; it's a 19th-century baronial revival on the site of an earlier building. Nearby, the Chapel Royal is unfurnished. The oldest building on the site is the Mint, or Coonzie Hoose, perhaps dating as far back as the 14th century. Below it is an arched passageway leading to the westernmost ramparts, the Nether Bailey, with a view of the carselands (valley plain) of the Forth Valley.

To the castle's south lies the hump of the Touch and the Gargunnock Hills, which diverted potential direct routes from Glasgow and the south. For centuries all roads into the Highlands across the narrow waist of Scotland led through Stirling. If you look carefully northward, you can still see the Old Stirling Bridge, the site of William Wallace's most famous victory. The castle also makes an impressive setting for occasional concerts.

When visiting, it's best to book your tickets—and accompanying time slot—online before you arrive.

Near the town center, this grand country house gives you a glimpse of a wealthy family's daily life in the early 1800s. In the kitchen, local guides explain cooking in the early 19th century and may even offer you a sample. Entry is through an impressive wooden hallway, and the first-floor morning and drawing rooms are the grandest in the region. There are exhibits on the Romans and the Antonine Wall, as well as on the history of Falkirk. The second floor is a gallery space and houses the town's archives. You can relax in the grand tearoom before you move on to the beautiful grounds of Callendar Park, which has activities year-round. The house is something of a secret, but it's well worth a visit.

This newer county jail was an improvement on the original jail across the road at the Tolbooth, but it was still a grim place as a visit to its cells will show. Visitors are taken through the cells and corridors by costumed actors who recount in gory detail what went on here. Groups depart from the main gate every half hour. A popular addition has been the Escape Rooms in which guests must find their way out following clues. Tickets for these rooms are for groups of between 4 and 8; be sure to book tickets and reserve a time slot in advance, especially in summer.

This small but intriguing museum in a neoclassical building, founded in 1874, houses The Stirling Story, a comprehensive social history of the town. It holds the oldest (reputedly) football in the world, as well as the charming 16th-century portraits of the Five Stirling Sybils. Closer to the present are banners and memorabilia from the great miners' strike of 1984–85. The chiming clocks remind us, on the hour, of the present. The museum also holds regular temporary art and historical exhibitions and has a pleasant café.