The Enchanted Forest: how a Pitlochry evening in October works

For about a month every autumn Pitlochry runs on two clocks. By day it is the usual Highland Perthshire town of walkers, coach parties and people looking at the salmon ladder. After dark it fills up for the Enchanted Forest, the sound and light show in Faskally Wood, and the town's evenings bend around it. In 2026 the show is called Stop The Clock: The 25th Hour, it marks the event's 25th year, and it runs from Thursday 8 October to Sunday 8 November.

This is how an Enchanted Forest evening works, in the order you will meet the problems.

Before you leave home: tickets

Buy tickets from the organiser, the Enchanted Forest Community Trust, a Scottish charity (number SC045237). Its site sells timed sessions and lists the options on the ticket page; it does not publish prices on the home page, so look there rather than at a resale site. The organisers call it one of Scotland's most popular autumn events for families. If your dates are fixed, buy the tickets before you book a room.

Six o'clock: parking

The single most useful fact about the Enchanted Forest is that you cannot drive to it. The organisers say there is no direct vehicle access to the wood. Everyone goes out on a shuttle bus from the Fishers Hotel on Atholl Road, in the middle of town, and the shuttle is included in the ticket.

So you park in Pitlochry and walk to Fishers. The organisers list the options and walking times to the departure point:

• Atholl Road car park: about five minutes, the closest.
• Rie-Achan Road car park: about seven minutes.
• Ferry Road car park: about eight minutes.
• Pitlochry Dam Visitor Centre car park: about ten minutes, and only after the visitor centre closes at 16:00.
• Pitlochry Festival Theatre car park: about fifteen minutes, over the suspension bridge across the Tummel.

Street parking is free in the evening but limited, and the organisers warn that traffic wardens patrol while the show is on, after 18:00 included. Some of the walking routes are poorly lit, so take a torch.

If you need step-free access

The organisers run an accessibility bus from Blair Athol Distillery on the Perth Road, and it must be booked in advance. Disabled parking on site is reserved for wheelchair users only, and those passes are issued first come, first served, again in advance. Read the event's accessibility page before you buy.

Seven o'clock: eat before or after, not both

Pitlochry is small, and the show brings a lot of people into it in the evenings. Fern Cottage on Ferry Road opens for dinner from 17:00 and asks parties of five or more to phone 01796 473840. Victoria's on Atholl Road books inside tables online. The Old Mill Inn on Mill Lane does not take table bookings from anyone who is not staying there, so it is first come, first served, with food from 17:00 to 21:00. The Wee Choo Choo, the Thai restaurant in a railway carriage by the station, takes last orders at 20:00 and is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

The simple plan is to book an early table near Atholl Road, eat, and walk to Fishers for your session time.

Eight o'clock: the wood

The show is in Faskally Wood, part of the Tay Forest Park, which Forestry and Land Scotland describes as a model woodland created by the owners of Faskally House in the 19th century. Loch Dunmore is inside the wood, close to the car park and picnic site. Dress for a walk in a wet wood in October, not for a theatre.

By day: see the same wood without the crowds

If you want to know what you were walking through, come back in daylight. Two waymarked trails leave the Faskally car park, per Forestry and Land Scotland's route card: the Dunmore Trail, about 1.2 km round the loch on a firm gravel path, allowing half an hour, and the Foresters' Trail, about 2.4 km, rougher, with roots, steep slopes and wooden steps, allowing an hour, which follows the shore of Loch Faskally. Forestry and Land Scotland promises a spectacular show of autumn colour, and in October the two shows overlap.

The rest of an October day

The Enchanted Forest weeks also bring the end of several seasons, so plan the daytime with the calendar in mind:

• Pitlochry Dam Visitor Centre is closed on Mondays from 14 September, and open Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 16:30.
• Blair Castle at Blair Atholl closes for the season on 30 October in 2026, with last entry at 15:45 each day.
• The Explorers Garden behind the theatre is open until 31 October, and the theatre says it is free for the rest of 2026.
• Killiecrankie, the National Trust for Scotland gorge, is open every day of the year; its visitor centre and cafe open 10:00 to 17:00 (check winter dates with the National Trust for Scotland).
• Blair Athol Distillery runs its September to May hours of 10:00 to 17:00.

The theatre's autumn run, Ceilidh, a new musical, plays off site from 12 to 17 October, and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (4 to 7 November) was listed as sold out on 11 October 2026.

Staying over

If you are staying, the Old Mill Inn and Port-na-Craig both have rooms within walking distance of Fishers Hotel, and the Atholl Palace and Knockendarroch are up the hill from Atholl Road. The Moulin Hotel is further out, in the village above the town, so allow for the walk down.