Where Was The Outlanders Series Filmed On Location?

I get a little giddy talking about this one — the world of 'Outlander' is basically a love letter to Scotland, and the filming locations are a big part of why the show feels so rooted and alive. The production shot almost all of the series on location across Scotland (with a few studio/backlot shoots mixed in), and you can actually visit many of the places that stand in for Claire and Jamie’s world.

Some of the most iconic spots are obvious: Doune Castle is used as Castle Leoch and it’s instantly recognisable if you’ve watched season 1. Midhope Castle, tucked away on the Hopetoun Estate, plays Jamie’s family home, Lallybroch, and people fan-girl over its ruinous charm. Culross is the darling little village they repeatedly dress up as an 18th-century town (it’s often used for the small-town street scenes), while Falkland is another Fife village that doubled for period Inverness and other town moments. Blackness Castle gets used as a dramatic fortress backdrop in various scenes, and Hopetoun House has provided elegant interiors and stately home vibes for some of the grander rooms.

Beyond the buildings, the landscapes are everywhere: the production makes heavy use of the Highlands and lowland glens — think Glencoe and other dramatic valleys and lochs that serve as backdrops for traveling, battles, and quiet Highland life. Edinburgh and Glasgow regions have been used when the story needed more urban or 1940s/1960s settings, and the show mixes on-location exteriors with Scottish studio work for interiors and complex scenes. The crew also uses lesser-known spots across Fife, Stirling, and Perthshire to create that period feel.

If you’re planning a pilgrimage, many of the sites are visitor-friendly and guided tours will point out exactly where certain scenes were shot. For me, walking those stone streets and standing in front of the same castle walls made the story click in a way screenshots never do — the locations aren’t just scenery, they’re characters themselves.

I’ve always loved how 'Outlander' feels like a travel diary as much as a drama — the filming is rooted in Scotland so deeply that the locations almost become secondary characters. Most filming took place across Scotland: castles and ruins like Doune and Midhope pop up all the time, and quaint villages such as Culross and Falkland are repeatedly used for period street scenes. The crew leaned heavily on Highland landscapes too, using glens, lochs, and moors to evoke the wildness of the time.

The show balances exterior on-location shoots with studio work, but the on-site filming is what gives it that lived-in texture. I remember reading how locals spotted the cast around small towns and how some estates opened parts of their grounds to the production. That combination of historic architecture and raw landscape is, for me, the reason the series feels so transportive — it’s one thing to see a set, and another to stand where a scene was actually filmed. Visiting those spots afterward made the plotlines resonate more, and I still get nostalgic thinking about the view from the same hills Jamie and Claire once walked.