Local Essentials
The practical stuff most travel sites skip. Everything you need to know before visiting Stirling, from parking to pharmacies.
Accessibility
Station
National Rail lists step-free category A at Stirling station, with step-free access to all platforms, lifts, accessible toilets and a Changing Places toilet.
Castle
The approach is cobbled and sloping, with a maximum gradient of 1 in 15, and the main route through the castle reaches 1 in 9, by HES's measure. There are ten accessible spaces about 65 metres from the entrance, four manual wheelchairs to borrow, a mobility vehicle to the Inner Close on request and an adapted toilet in the first courtyard.
Wallace Monument
The galleries and the top are reached by a narrow spiral staircase of 246 steps. The toilets and a small lounge are at entrance level, per the Monument's own site.
Emergency Services
General Emergency
999 or 112
Police Station
Randolphfield Police Station, St Ninians Road, Stirling, FK8 2HD. Police Scotland lists the counter as open 7am to 12pm and 1pm to 12am, seven days a week. Non-emergency calls on 101.
Forth Valley Royal Hospital, Stirling Road, Larbert, FK5 4WR, whose emergency department is open 24 hours (NHS Forth Valley).
Minor Injuries Unit, Stirling Health and Care Village
Livilands Gate, Stirling, FK8 2AU
Phone not yet verified
Minor injuries unit
Open 9am to 9pm, seven days a week, including public holidays, for adults and children over the age of one, per NHS Forth Valley. NHS Forth Valley asks you to call NHS 24 on 111 before you go.
Forth Valley Royal Hospital Emergency Department
Stirling Road, Larbert, FK5 4WR
Phone not yet verified
Hospital emergency department, open 24 hours
NHS Forth Valley says the emergency department is at the rear of Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert and is open 24 hours. It gives no direct phone number: dial 999 in a life-threatening emergency, or call NHS 24 on 111 for advice.
NHS Forth Valley is the health board. NHS 24 is on 111 for urgent care that is not an emergency, and NHS Forth Valley asks you to call it before going to the Minor Injuries Unit.
Parking
Castleview and Springkerse park and ride
Rate: Parking is free. The P2 bus from Castleview or P1 from Springkerse costs £1 single or return for adults to any stop, per Stirling Council.
Castleview is off junction 10 of the M9 to the west of the city, and Springkerse is off the A91 to the east. The sites are open 24 hours, but the buses run to a timetable and not round the clock.
Stirling Castle car park
Historic Environment Scotland says the castle car park is closed to all vehicles except coaches and visitors who need accessible parking, and points drivers to Castleview park and ride.
National Wallace Monument car park
The Monument says free parking is provided for all visitors, with a five-minute shuttle bus or a walk up to the tower.
Pet-Friendly Info
Castle
Historic Environment Scotland does not allow visitors' dogs at Stirling Castle; assistance dogs are welcome.
Argylls Lodging
No dogs except assistance dogs on the Argyll's Lodging tours, per Historic Environment Scotland.
Hotel
The Stirling Highland Hotel lists itself as pet-friendly on its own site; ask when booking.
Pharmacies
Boots, the Thistles
34-41 King's Mall, the Thistles, Stirling
Listed by NHS Forth Valley among the Stirling area pharmacies (pharmacy openings notice, October 2023). NHS prescriptions issued in Scotland are free when dispensed in Scotland. A prescription issued in England is charged, per NHS Business Services Authority, so ask the pharmacist if yours came from outside Scotland.