Culloden Battlefield is 5 miles east of Inverness, where the government army defeated the Jacobites on 16 April 1746. The National Trust for Scotland runs the visitor centre: £12.50 for adults, open daily 9am to 5pm until 1 November 2026, then 9am to 4pm. The battlefield itself is open every day of the year.
Culloden Battlefield is the moor 5 miles east of Inverness where the last Jacobite rising ended on 16 April 1746. In less than an hour the Duke of Cumberland’s government army broke the army of Prince Charles Edward Stuart. The National Trust for Scotland (NTS) now cares for the site. You can walk the battlefield free at any time; the visitor centre and museum charge £12.50 for an adult.
From Drumnadrochit on Loch Ness it is about 22 miles, a 35 to 40 minute drive through Inverness. Most people pair it with the Clava Cairns, three minutes down the road.
Checked October 2026 on the NTS planning page.
| Ticket | Visitor centre | Visitor centre and guided battlefield tour |
|---|---|---|
| Adult | £12.50 | £16.50 |
| Concession | £11.00 | £15.00 |
| Child | £8.00 | £12.00 |
| Family | £33.00 | £43.00 |
| One adult family | £26.00 | £36.00 |
| Young Scot | £1.00 | |
| Car park | £5.00 (free for NTS members) |
| Part of the site | Hours |
|---|---|
| Visitor centre and shop | 2 March to 1 November: daily 9am to 5pm, last entry 4.30pm |
| Visitor centre and shop | 2 November to 28 February 2027: daily 9am to 4pm, last entry 3.30pm |
| Café | Until 31 October 9am to 4pm; from 1 November 9am to 3.30pm |
| Battlefield | Every day of the year |
The Trust also sells each visitor centre ticket with a 10 percent donation added so it can claim Gift Aid (£13.75 for an adult). NTS members get in free. Guided battlefield tours are booked through the Trust’s events page.
By spring 1746 the Jacobite rising was failing. The army had turned back at Derby rather than march on London, and although it won at Falkirk in January, it was now short of food and money. NTS says the soldiers were down to three biscuits a day.
The Jacobites wanted to put the exiled James Stuart (James VIII to his supporters) back on the British throne, with his son Charles leading the army. Cumberland, the son of George II, marched his government troops from Aberdeen and camped at Nairn on 15 April, his 25th birthday. That night the Jacobites tried a surprise attack on the camp. The column moved too slowly in the dark and turned back before dawn, exhausted.
Some Jacobite commanders wanted to pull back to higher ground south of the River Nairn. Charles chose to fight on the open moor. At about 1pm the Jacobite guns opened fire and the government cannon answered. When the Highland charge finally went forward, through rain, smoke and grapeshot, the government lines held. NTS puts the whole battle at under an hour, with around 1,600 men killed, about 1,500 of them Jacobites. The Trust calls it the last pitched battle on British soil.
The defeat ended the rising. The government built Fort George, north-east of Inverness, afterwards as a base for its army, which Historic Environment Scotland says took 22 years to complete (see things to do in Inverness).
The moor is laid out so you can read the battle on the ground. Red flags mark the government front line, where most of the hand-to-hand fighting happened. Blue flags mark the Jacobite front line.
In the middle stands the memorial cairn, with the clan grave stones around it. Duncan Forbes, who owned the moor, built both in 1881. The stones mark mass graves, and NTS points out that they leave out two nations that fought for the Jacobites: Irish and French regiments are remembered by markers placed in 1994 by the White Cockade Society, on the far side of the cairns.
Leanach Cottage is the small thatched building on the field. A cottage on this spot was used as a field hospital for government soldiers after the battle; the present one was rebuilt in the early 19th century, and its thatch is heather cut from the battlefield. It now holds temporary exhibitions.
Look out for the Field of the English too. It was long thought to hold the government dead, but NTS says recent archaeology found no graves there.
The current visitor centre opened in 2007. Its museum tells the story from both the Jacobite and government sides, with weapons, archaeological finds such as musket balls and a pewter cross, and a 360-degree battle immersion theatre. The roof garden looks out over the whole moor, where goats and cattle graze to keep the land close to its 18th-century state.
Dogs are allowed in the shop and café and on the battlefield (keep them close; there is livestock) but not in the museum. There is no luggage storage, so leave cases in the car. Wheelchairs are free to borrow.
The address is Culloden, Inverness IV2 5EU. Follow the brown signs off the A9 or the B9006.
If you are staying on Loch Ness rather than in the city, Drumnadrochit is a quieter base: Culloden, Clava and Urquhart Castle all fit into one long day by car.
9 hours
A cheap full day that sails 30 minutes to Urquhart Castle for 70 minutes in the ruins (ticket included), then adds Beauly, Culloden Battlefield and the Clava Cairns standing stones.
from$60
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Clava Cairns and Culloden in the morning, then waterfalls and old Caledonian pine forest in Glen Affric, Beauly Priory and a last look at Loch Ness.
from$83
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Cruises to Urquhart Castle for a look round the ruins, then works in a distillery visit, lunch in Beauly, Culloden Battlefield and the Clava Cairns before evening.
from$98
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A private half day from Inverness to the Bronze Age cairns above the River Nairn and the Culloden battlefield, with the Jacobite story told by your guide.
from$471 per group (up to 8)
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The battlefield is. The National Trust for Scotland keeps it open every day of the year, and you can walk the moor, the flags and the clan graves without a ticket. You pay for the visitor centre and museum (£12.50 for an adult in October 2026) and for the car park (£5, free for Trust members). Members get into the visitor centre free.
The National Trust for Scotland suggests about two hours for the museum and the battlefield together, and says keen history visitors can spend three to four. A walk out to the memorial cairn, the clan graves and back takes a good part of that, so allow longer if you want to walk both front lines or see Leanach Cottage.
Yes. Stagecoach route 1B runs from Inverness to a stop called Culloden Battlefield, and routes 13 and 112 stop at the Culloden Moor Inn nearby. Times change, so check the current timetable on Stagecoach or Traveline Scotland before you go. By car or taxi it is about 15 minutes from the city centre.
The National Trust for Scotland says around 1,600 men were killed in less than an hour, about 1,500 of them Jacobites. Its battlefield page describes the moor as the resting place of 1,500 Jacobite and 50 government soldiers. The clan stones on the field mark mass graves, set up by the landowner Duncan Forbes in 1881.
Easily. The Clava Cairns are signposted 300 yards east of the battlefield on the B9091, according to Historic Environment Scotland, and the drive is about three minutes. The cairns are free and open all year. Several day tours from Inverness also stop at both, often with Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle in the same day.
The Clava Cairns are a Bronze Age cemetery about 4,000 years old, 7 miles east of Inverness and a three-minute drive from Culloden Battlefield.
The best things to do in Inverness are the Inverness Castle Experience, a walk along the River Ness to the Ness Islands, the free cathedral and Leakey's Bookshop.
The best Loch Ness tour from Inverness is the 3.5-hour coach, cruise and Urquhart Castle trip from the bus station, from $75 on GetYourGuide with entry included.
Urquhart Castle is a ruined castle on a rock above Loch Ness, about 2 miles from Drumnadrochit, run by Historic Environment Scotland.