The Outlander Effect: A Virtual Tour of Scotland

Sarah Bredeman

Photo credit: Outlander/Starz Image acquired via Starz Media Room

Outlander Effect, noun.

1. The act of travelling to Scotland, especially to those places used as sets in the Starz series Outlander. 2. The predisposition for one to want to throw themselves into anything and everything relating to Outlander in terms of location, dress, language, religion, sexual activities, medical activities, and the like. 3. The effect of Outlander on fans of Outlander.

More from Outlander Fandom

A recent BBC article credits Outlander for a boost in tourism to some of Scotland’s historical sites. Specifically, Doune Castle has had a 44% increase in visitors since it’s debut as Castle Leoch in the Starz adaptation of the Outlander novel.

According to the BBC, “The three months from June to August 2015 saw 1,826,047 visitors at Historic Scotland’s 77 ticketed attractions, an increase of more than 34,000 on the previous year.”

Who can blame the touring population? Scotland is beautiful. Simply open up your handy-dandy search engine and look up pictures of Scotland and you’ll see. Who wouldn’t want to visit this magnificent country?

Outlander fans could have told you that long before the show became a reality, though. Fans worldwide have been posting about their Outlander tours for years. Once again, simply Google the phenomenon and you’ll come up with several itineraries- some from official travel agencies, others from loyal, dedicated, and die-hard fans.

But what about those of us that are securely landlocked in the good ole U.S. of A? Or elsewhere? Not everyone can just hop on a jet airliner and skidaddle over to the UK for a lovely little holiday.

Don’t worry. I got you.

Welcome to Claire & Jamie’s virtual tour of Scotland! Grab a hot drink and some snacks, sit back and be prepared to be awed by the power of color photography and the interweb.

Next: Historic Scotland

"A photo posted by historicscotland (@historicscotland) on Aug 24, 2015 at 11:05am PDT"

Our first stop on this virtual tour is Historic Scotland. In addition to being the official site for all things Scotland, including travel, they have an awesome Instagram and Twitter presence, with fun facts, photos, and news about travel and tourism.

The Outlander Effect can be seen first and foremost on the Historic Scotland website- they have their very own Outlander Itinerary, which includes Doune Castle (Castle Leoch), Blackness Castle (Fort William), Linlithgow Palace (Wentworth Prison corridors/ entrance), and Aberdour Castle (monastery from “To Ransom A Man’s Soul”).

Another cool way to explore Scotland virtually through Historic Scotland is using their interactive “Places to Visit” map, located on the right hand side of the page, just underneath the membership ad.

Historic-Scotland.gov.uk

Hover over each section and click the one you would like to learn more about. You’ll be redirected to a page listing all of the tourist attractions in that region, including links to lodging, museums, and historic sites. The Kingdom of Fife, for example, lists St. Andrew’s Cathedral, St. Andrew’s Castle, and the accompanying buildings on the St. Andrew’s property. Also, on each region page, you can view an interactive map with optional terrain guides, and satellite images of the locations.

Next: Balvenie Distillery 360 Virtual Tour

http://www.eyerevolution.co.uk/scotland/

I love Google. When I was searching for cool things to show you guys, I came across THIS website. The company, EYE REVOLUTION, create 360 degree virtual tours, and- lucky us!- they have an AWESOME one for Scotland. Specifically, this tour shows the Balvenie Distillery and the surrounding grounds, including a KILLER sunset/sunrise against the barley field, the duck pond, pagoda, couperage, malting floor, and still. Balvenie Distillery is located in Dufftown, Scotland in the North and Grampian region of Scotland. (FYI- not too far from Glenlivet, Scotland which is, of course, home of the famous Glenlivet Whiskey distillery!)

I’ve included a gallery of screenshots from the virtual tour below, but I would implore you all to click the link above (OR HERE!) and take the virtual tour. The sweeping landscapes in the barley fields are especially breath-taking, and have inspired me to make Scotland a priority for my next major travel destination! (But, I mean, let’s be serious- Scotland was already at the top of my list!)

There is also a tour of some properties, including flats and homes in Chelsea, London. I know it’s not Scotland, but it’s still the UK, and Claire is British, after all!

Next: Welcome to Edinburgh

Last but certainly not least is the plethora of fun and beautiful video tours of Scotland you can find on YouTube.

Like Google, YouTube is easily one of my most valued and trusted friends, so of course I turned to it for a neat video highlighting possibly one of the coolest places on earth- Edinburgh. I thought about getting down with Google Earth, but that’s pretty obvious and I wanted to step outside of the norm.

Edinburgh is, of course, Scotland’s capital and one of the main tourist attractions/ cities in Scotland. It’s the city Claire and Frank start out in, and it’s a city we’ll visit time and again in Outlander episodes of the future. Even though I’ve never been to Scotland myself, ask anyone about their time in Edinburgh and they will tell you they had the time of their life. From a rich history to a fascinating culture, it’s probably worth a visit JUST to the one location.

Of course there is plenty more we could give you. Hell, you could spend HOURS just on YouTube finding touristy videos and virtual tours and historical vids of one the most beloved places on Earth. So, cheapskates and travel-averse readers, go out into the vast web and pretend to be places you aren’t! And if you find a cool virtual tour, drop me a line!

More from Claire and Jamie

Sarah Bredeman

Sarah calls Kansas City home and enjoys reaping the benefits of that by eating a lot of BBQ and watching Royals baseball as often as possible. She is a recovering wannabe cool kid, comic book enthusiast, soon-to-be-mom, and general lover of literature.