Scotland’s central belt is having something of a moment. Halfway between Edinburgh and Glasgow, in a part of Scotland more associated with heavy industry than heritage tourism, something unexpected has happened; Falkirk has reinvented itself.
The canals that once carried coal and iron now host the world’s only rotating boat lift. A field beside the M9 is home to two 30-metre steel horse heads that have become one of the country’s most photographed landmarks. And a whisky distillery that lay silent for three decades has risen from near-demolition to win the top prize at San Francisco’s World Spirits Competition.
It’s a strange and compelling combination, and it makes for a very good day out. Here’s how to spend a perfect 24 hours in Falkirk.
Morning: The Kelpies & Helix Park
The Kelpies appear on the horizon before you reach them, their steel heads catching the light above the flat farmland east of Falkirk. Up close, they’re even more arresting. Sculptor Andy Scott’s 30-metre horse heads, named after the shape-shifting water spirits of Scottish folklore, weigh 300 tonnes each and took four years to build.
They’re free to visit at any time, but a guided tour gets you inside one of the structures, standing in the steel ribcage while your guide explains how 928 individual cladding panels were shaped and fitted. Tours run throughout the day from The Helix Visitor Centre, starting at 10:30am and lasting around 25 minutes. Tickets start at £7, and two children go free with every paying adult.
The surrounding Helix Park stretches across 350 hectares, with a lagoon, adventure playground, and 27km of paths threading through woodland and wetland. If you arrive early, it’s worth a wander before your tour slot. The Visitor Centre opens at 9am, has decent coffee, and parking is free.
Read: 6 mythical places to explore in Scotland
Late Morning: The Falkirk Wheel
Ten minutes west by car, on the outskirts of Camelon, sits The Falkirk Wheel. When Scottish Canals needed to reconnect the Forth & Clyde Canal to the Union Canal 35 metres above, they could have built locks. Instead, they commissioned a rotating boat lift that looks like a vast steel claw rising from the water. It opened in 2002 and remains the only structure of its kind in the world.
The boat trip takes about an hour. You board at the basin, rise in the gondola (using, famously, no more energy than it takes to boil eight kettles), cruise along the aqueduct at the top, pass through the Roughcastle tunnel, then descend again. It’s genuinely thrilling in a quiet, canal-boat sort of way, and the engineering is mesmerising to watch. Adults pay £17.50, children aged 5-15 are £9.50, and under-5s go free. Book ahead in summer. If you’d rather stay on dry land, the Visitor Centre is free and offers a good vantage point. Parking is £4. Note that boat trips pause for annual maintenance from 6 January to 17 February 2026.
Lunch: Finnegans
By now you’ll have earned lunch, and Finnegans on Vicar Street is the place to get it. The café occupies a handsome Grade B listed former post office in Falkirk town centre, all high ceilings and original features. It opened in 2018 and won Central Region Café of the Year within eight months.
The kitchen sources eggs from Egglicious Farm, meat from Browns Butchers, and bread from Oliphants Bakers, all local. The scrambled eggs have a following, and the steak pie could fuel you through a Highland winter. It closes mid-afternoon, so don’t dawdle at the Wheel.
Or, if you’d rather take a pit stop at your hotel (or, more bleakly, in your car) before a busy afternoon, you’ll find perhaps the widest range of Falkirk takeaways on Scoffable, offering local delivery options for many of the town’s best spots.
Afternoon: Rosebank Distillery
Walk off lunch along the Forth & Clyde Canal towpath and within 20 minutes you’ll reach Rosebank Distillery, its Victorian red brick façade facing the water. This is one of whisky’s great resurrection stories. Rosebank was known as the ‘King of the Lowlands’ for its light, floral triple-distilled spirit, but it fell silent in 1993 when its owners decided there were too many distilleries in Scotland. The buildings were sold, the stills were stolen for scrap copper, and the site was earmarked for flats. Then, in 2017, Ian Macleod Distillers stepped in.
The restoration took four years. Original features were preserved where possible, the chimney was repaired, and new stills were built to the exact specifications of the 1840s originals. The distillery reopened to visitors in June 2024, and just last month its 31 Year Old expression had won Best in Show at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.
The Reawakening Tour (£25, 90 minutes) takes you through the stillhouse and finishes with tastings of Glengoyne and Tamdhu single malts plus Rosebank’s new make spirit. Drivers can request a takeaway pack. For those who want to taste the old stock, the Rekindled tour (£95) includes a dram of rare aged Rosebank, while the three-hour Revered experience (£300) is for serious collectors. Parking is free.
Late Afternoon: Callendar House & Park
Wind down at Callendar House, a 14th-century mansion set in 170 acres of parkland on the eastern edge of town. Entry is free. The house has hosted Mary Queen of Scots, Oliver Cromwell, and Bonnie Prince Charlie at various points in its long history, and today contains a working Georgian kitchen where costumed interpreters demonstrate 19th-century cooking techniques, plus an exhibition on the Antonine Wall, a section of which runs through the grounds. The wall, built by the Romans in 142 AD, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The tearoom does a good afternoon tea in the Drawing Room if you’ve room for it, or you can simply walk the grounds: woodland trails, an arboretum, a small loch, and a Roman-themed play area for children. The house is open Wednesday to Monday, 10am-5pm, and closed Tuesdays.
Evening: Dinner & Drinks
For dinner, Behind The Wall on Melville Street has been part of Falkirk’s social fabric since 1985 and celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2025. It’s a sprawling place, three bars and a restaurant spread across multiple rooms, with a beer garden out back and live music most weekends. The menu leans American, the whisky selection is deep, and it’s directly opposite Falkirk Grahamston station if you’re travelling by train.
For something more refined, the Scottish Steakhouse at Macdonald Inchyra Hotel holds an AA rosette and serves Scottish beef aged for at least 21 days. The hotel also has a spa with a 20-metre pool, which might appeal after all that walking.
If You Have More Time: The Dunmore Pineapple
Should you have a car and a taste for the eccentric, the Dunmore Pineapple is worth the detour. Built in 1761 for the Earl of Dunmore, this 14-metre stone pineapple crowns a summerhouse in the walled gardens of what was once Dunmore Park. It was voted Scotland’s most bizarre building in 1995, and nothing has come close since. The grounds are free to visit, open dawn to dusk, though there are no facilities. The Pineapple itself can be rented as holiday accommodation through the Landmark Trust, should you wish to sleep inside a giant piece of fruit.
Where To Stay
Macdonald Inchyra Hotel & Spa is a four-star property set in 44 acres near Polmont, with 102 rooms, an indoor pool, spa, and the Scottish Steakhouse restaurant. Rooms from around £70 per night.
The Orchard Hotel offers something smaller and more personal in the town centre. Family-owned, the building dates to 1786 and has 16 rooms, a bar, and bistro. It won Most Loved Falkirk Town Centre Business in 2025 and is a five-minute walk from Grahamston station.
Getting There
Edinburgh is around an hour by car via the M9; Glasgow is 40 minutes via the M80. By train, both Falkirk High and Falkirk Grahamston have regular services from Edinburgh and Glasgow, taking around half an hour. The Falkirk Wheel is a couple of miles from either station, so you’ll need a taxi for that leg. Cyclists can follow the Forth & Clyde Canal towpath, which runs right past Rosebank Distillery and connects to the Falkirk Wheel, making it a satisfying stop on a longer two-wheeled tour of Scotland’s cycling routes.
The Bottom Line
Falkirk isn’t an obvious destination, and that’s part of its appeal. The Kelpies and Falkirk Wheel would justify a visit on their own, but add Rosebank’s remarkable comeback, the layered history of Callendar House, and a 250-year-old stone pineapple, and you have something genuinely unusual. It works as a day trip from Edinburgh or Glasgow, though an overnight stay lets you take things at a more civilised pace.
