Recently, I spent a couple of days in the Scottish town of Falkirk. My partner was speaking at the Edinburgh literary festival, and there were a few things we wanted to check out in the town.
Sitting almost equidistant between Edinburgh and Glasgow, Falkirk’s an interesting, much less touristy town – although there’s still plenty to see.
While we stretched our trip over two days, you could easily do it in one! Bearing that in mind, here’s what to see in Falkirk in one day, based on our trip!
How to get to Falkirk
Falkirk is close to both Edinburgh and Glasgow, so it’s a fantastic trip from both. It’s also not far from Rosyth or South Queensferry ports, which are departure points for many cruises from Scotland – Falkirk is sometimes listed on Scottish cruise itineraries!
You can, of course, drive to Falkirk – there’s decent parking in most of the places mentioned in this itinerary.
We didn’t have a car in Falkirk, and found that it is a spread out town. It’s possible to do a Falkirk day trip with no car, but you need to know what station you’re heading to!
I’d recommend taking a train to Camelon. From here, it’is an 18 minute walk to the Falkirk Wheel (your first stop!), but trains are less frequent than to Falkirk High or Falkirk Grahamston stations.
How to get around Falkirk
The thing I disliked the most about Falkirk was how spread out it is! This isn’t necessarily a problem if you’re driving, but if you are doing a train day trip, like that suggested in this itinerary, you
There’s no Uber in Falkirk, but we used a local taxi app called Bruce Taxis. The app is available on Android and Apple, and it works like Uber, although we paid (by card or cash) in the taxi itself. Taxis always took less than five minutes to arrive for us.
One day in Falkirk itinerary
Stop one: the Falkirk Wheel
The Falkirk Wheel is the world’s only rotating boat lift. You what? I thought when I heard that.
Essentially, it’s a lift with a giant propeller that lifts one gondola, which can accommodate up to three boats, in the air while it lowers another, as it connects two canals. This replaces an old system of 11 locks, which would take all day!
We went in a boat trip on the canal, where we did two spins on the wheel and learned about its history. It was great fun – my top tip would be to queue up as early as possible so you can get a seat at the front, then look at the wheel afterward!
Around a 15 minute walk away, there’s part of the Antonine Wall called Roughcastle. The Antonine Wall was essentially a second border of the northern edge of the Roman Empire (the first was Hadrian’s Wall), because they wanted to move further northwards. Roughcastle is an ancient Roman fort. Don’t expect anything super well preserved – but my partner went and said it was interesting!
Stop two: Callendar Park
I went to Callendar Park for Falkirk Parkrun on my second day in the town – although I ended up missing it as apparently, Parkruns in Scotland start at 09:30 rather than 09:00?! Never knew!
Instead, I ran around Callendar Park and Callendar Wood. Callendar House is a whopping 600 years old, and it’s free to go inside!
My favourite part though, was the trails that ran through Callendar Wood. This is a temperate rainforest, and has winding trails weaving around the area, perfect for jogging or hiking!
Stop three: Falkirk Town Centre
From Callendar Park, it’s a short walk to Falkirk Town Centre. I wouldn’t plan a trip to Falkirk just for the town centre, but it’s worth a quick coffee stop!
I grabbed a coffee at 4 Coo Wynd; it wasn’t the best coffee I’ve ever had, or the best coffee in Scotland (Absolute Roasters in Glasgow got that crown!), but it was decent and has a grab and go menu with lunches and cakes.
Stop four: The Kelpies
Finally, head to the Kelpies! It’s a bit of a trek to get here, so I would recommend booking a taxi using Bruce Taxi app.
The Kelpies are the world’s largest equine statues – giant horse heads looming from the ground. They’re here for two reasons. One is due to the Kelpies – legendary parts of Scottish folklore that were mythical creatures that used to lure people into the water – which is their namesake.
The other is a credit to the horses that used to haul the canal boats along Scottish Canals.
I found the heads very striking, and loved walking around them and learning about the history. There’s a visitor’s centre too, and what looks like a replica infront – although, in fact, the replica is actually the giant horse’s heads behind – the model was built first by Andy Scott to showcase his vision!
We also enjoyed walking through the Helix area – these are gardens and grounds surrounding the Kelpies.
If you’re taking a taxi from the Kelpies, walk to one of the car parks on the edge of the Helix – taxis will be much cheaper if you do.
How to get from Falkirk to other destinations
Once you’ve finished your day in Falkirk, hop in a taxi to Falkirk Grahamston.
If you’re staying in Edinburgh or Glasgow, I’d recommend heading back to either city for dinner – we didn’t find the food scene to be great in Falkirk and ended up just eating at Nando’s (which is a treat for us as we don’t have one that close by!) and Wetherspoons (as it was cheap).
From Falkirk Grahamston, you can easily get a train back to Edinburgh or Glasgow. Trains to Edinburgh run around every half an hour and take about 35 minutes, whereas trains to Glasgow run around every hour and take 45 minutes. You can see some of my tips for saving money on UK trains here.
I’ll be writing a few more posts about Falkirk, so stay tuned for those!
