The 10 Most Beautiful Bridges in Scotland

A shining symbol of Scotland, the Forth Bridge is Edinburgh’s own Golden Gate. Made from steel, granite and 6.5 million rivets, this iconic cantilever railway bridge connects South Queensferry to North Queensferry and plays host to around 190 to 200 trains per day. This masterpiece was designed by Sir John Fowler and Sir Benjamin Baker and after opening in 1890, became the UK’s first major structure to be comprised of steel. Unsurprisingly, the bonnie Forth Bridge was voted Scotland’s greatest man-made wonder in 2016.

With a backdrop as dramatic as the enigmatic Cuillin mountains, it’s no surprise that the Sligachan Bridge is attached with folklore. This ancient wee bridge basks in a settlement on Skye and serves as a starting point for many climbers, adventurers and wanderers alike. Providing a safe crossing over the enchanting Skye waters, the Old Bridge is a magical sight.

Carved from concrete and sympathetically designed, Kylesku Bridge in Sutherland journeys over Loch a’ Chairn Bhain and serves as a replacement for the ferry service to and fro Kylesku to Kylestrome. This thin, almost alien like structure, which empathetically curves to morph in with its scenic surroundings, is a fine example of a box girder bridge. Subtle yet simplistically stunning, Kylesku Bridge opened in 1984 and is sturdy enough to weather strong Scottish winds reaching up to 100mph or more.

Decorated by the occasional foxglove colony, the Clachan Bridge, which has been standing proudly near Oban in Argyll since the 1700s, is an absolute beauty. This resilient humped masonry bridge boasts a single arch and was built as such to accommodate large vessels, some even up to 40 tonnes. This picturesque structure crosses over the Clachan Sound, a body of water that meets the Atlantic Ocean at both ends. This is why the Clachan is fondly referred to as the ‘Bridge Over The Atlantic’.

Hypnotic and impressive, the Tay Bridge rises up from the Firth Of Tay and provides a railway crossing between Dundee and Wormit, a suburb in Fife. The first Tay Bridge was part of an unfortunate incident and grave engineering disaster in 1879, when the whole structure collapsed into the water after high winds, taking down a train and passengers with it. The second bridge, which still stands today, opened in 1887, with the double-track crossing created from iron, steel, concrete and 3 million rivets. A substantial refurbishment project in 2003 helped spruce up the Tay Bridge, including the hand-removal of 1000 metric tons of bird droppings and replacement of hundreds of thousands of rivets.