Visiting The Kelpies In Falkirk, Scotland By Day & By Night

Since 2014, Falkirk in Scotland has been home to a pair of fascinating sculptures called The Kelpies. Created by sculptor Andy Scott, they’re located in a public park called The Helix.

Kelpies are Scottish mythological creatures, said to live in the country’s lochs (lakes), rivers and streams. They’re thought of as water horses that can shape-shift and which prey on humans who cross their path.

During our trip to Scotland with friends, we stayed overnight in Falkirk, with The Kelpies being one of the key attractions that brought us there. We ended up visiting twice – once during the day and then again at night; here’s why.

The Kelpies By Day

When visiting during the day, you can drive all the way up to the main parking lot by the structures. The parking lot has a nominal parking fee depending on the time of year you visit and what kind of vehicle you visit in. At the time of publishing this post, here’s how much it costs:

• Cars
  • November-February: £0-£2.50
  • March-October: £2.50-£4.50
• Large Vehicles
  • November-February: £0-£2.50
  • March-October: £6-£10
• Motorcycles
  • November-February: £0-£1
  • March-October: £1-£1.50

There are restrooms next to parking lot, as well as a visitor center that’s open every day of the week from 9am until 4pm or 5pm (depending on the time of year). The visitor center features a gift shop, café and more.

Right outside the visitor center are a couple of smaller Kelpies that were built at a 1:10 scale. These were built by Andy Scott before the main sculptures were created in order to showcase his vision. Thousands of steel segments were utilized and these smaller models were subsequently scanned to help scale up his designs for the larger creations which were, at that point, still to be built.

From there, we went over to check out The Kelpies close up. In keeping with the fact that they’re water-based creatures, the horse heads initially look like they’re rising up out of the water.

At first glance, you might think that the body of water is just a purpose-built pond, but that’s not the case. Instead, they’re located along a canal, just off the River Carron.

In fact, there’s even a set of locks in the middle of the installation. If you’re traveling in a barge (narrowboat), you could therefore bring it along the canal and through the middle of The Kelpies.

As you can see, the two sculptures aren’t identical. One of the horse heads peers down at you; depending on the angle, it looks like it’s staring right at you.

The other horse has its head tipped back and its mouth slightly open, like it’s ready to grab someone and pull them in the water.

Despite being constructed with metal, this one has a lustrous-looking mane.

The Kelpies are 30 meters (98.5 ft) high; you can see people near them in the photo below for scale.

The Kelpies were constructed with a metallic skeleton of sorts…

…and a metallic skin held in place with more than 12,000 bolts.

After hanging out there a little longer, we went off to get dinner in Falkirk, before heading back to our hotel, albeit only temporarily.

The Kelpies By Night

We didn’t get too cozy back at the hotel because we had plans to return to The Kelpies that evening. We’d heard that they get lit up at night, so we wanted to check that out.

From November to March, the parking lot by the sculptures closes at 8pm, while from April to October it closes at 10pm. The parking lot gets locked by a barrier, so if your vehicle isn’t out by then, it’s stuck there until the morning.

We visited in April and arrived at about 9:45pm; we didn’t want to have to rush, so we parked at the Helix Car Park instead. This is a parking lot along the road leading up to the main parking lot; it’s free to use and open 24/7, but it does mean you have a 5-10 minute walk up to the sculptures.

Visiting both during the day and at night was definitely the right call. Seeing them in their natural state and then lit up helped us appreciate them more during both visits.

If you’ll be staying in or passing through Falkirk, a stop at The Kelpies is definitely worthwhile.

Saga 2025 Trip To London, Liverpool & Scotland – All The Posts

Here are links to all of the posts in this series:

• Saga 2025: Trip With Friends To London, Liverpool & Scotland – An Intro
• Saga 2025 Day 1: London – Police Station Hotel, British Museum, Dinner In Darkness & Abbey Road
• Saga 2025 Day 2: Liverpool – Cavern Club, Hard Day’s Night Hotel, Cocktails & More
• Visiting The Kelpies In Falkirk, Scotland By Day & By Night