Where Is The Traitors Castle? Why the Cast Never Sleeps There

Here is a detail that surprises many viewers: nobody on The Traitors actually sleeps in the castle. Alan Cumming said as much in a 2023 interview, explaining that none of the cast stayed there and that they were put up near Inverness Airport instead. For a show built on the idea of strangers locked inside a Gothic pile, that is quite the reveal. So where is The Traitors castle, what is it really called, and can you go and see it? Here is what has been confirmed, what has only been reported, and a few nearby places that appear on screen.

Information	Details
Name	Ardross Castle
Location	Ross-shire, in the Scottish Highlands, near the village of Alness
Distance from Inverness	Roughly 25 to 30 miles north (sources vary), about a 30-minute drive
Style	A 19th-century Gothic Revival country house, not a medieval fortress
Owners	The McTaggart family, since 1983
Used for	The UK and US versions of The Traitors, including the celebrity editions
Open to the public	No, it is a private estate

So, where is The Traitors castle?

Since the show launched in 2022, The Traitors has been filmed at Ardross Castle, about 30 miles from Inverness. It sits in Ross-shire, in the Highlands, and is roughly 200 miles north of Glasgow. By road, it’s around four hours from Edinburgh or Glasgow, and about eleven from London.

The castle appears on screen as one place, but the show is more spread out than it looks. The surrounding estate grounds are used for the missions, and some of the most memorable scenes were shot elsewhere in the region. More on those below.

One point that trips people up is that the American version isn’t filmed in the US. Both the UK and US versions film at Ardross Castle, which is why a US cast ends up wandering around a Scottish turret in the rain. The celebrity series returns there too.

A castle that was never really a castle

Ardross looks like it has stood for centuries, but it is a relatively young building. It was designed as a grand country mansion rather than a fortress, with turrets and battlements added for show. That explains why the rooms feel more like a stately home than a dungeon.

The estate’s story goes back further. It was bought by the 1st Duke of Sutherland in the late 1700s, and the castle sits on the site of an older hunting lodge. The estate was broken up and sold in 1937, and Mr and Mrs Austin Mardon owned the castle until 1983, when the McTaggart family bought it. The family has since worked on restoring the gardens and renovating the castle and estate properties.

Can you visit or stay at The Traitors castle?

Not casually. Ardross is a private estate and does not let rooms, so even a day trip is off the table. The official line, as reported, is that it is not a hotel and you cannot book a night’s stay. The most you can do is look at it from the surrounding footpaths and roads.

There is a loophole for those with a bigger budget. The castle can be hired for weddings of up to 120 guests, corporate events, and team-building days, and several rooms are available, including the Great Hall and the Drawing Room. Wedding parties can reportedly stay for two nights. So technically, you can sleep at the castle if you get married there. Pricing is not published in the sources I found, so I’ll leave that to the venue.

Where the cast really sleeps

Contestants do not sleep at the castle, and the Cumming comment above is the clearest evidence. A hotel in Inverness has also said that contestants head back to the city every evening. It is a good reminder that the “locked in a castle” idea is partly television craft. The rooms are dressed and lit to look moody and mysterious, but the cast go home to ordinary beds.

The other locations that appear on screen

The castle gets the credit, but a few nearby places do real work in the show:

• The train: The first-episode train arrival is filmed at Boat of Garten on the Strathspey Railway, about an hour’s drive from the castle. The introduction on the train is staged purely for the show.
• The lake: The floating coffins scene in season four’s first episode was filmed on Loch Glass, near Evanton.
• The grounds: Parkland around the castle, reported at about 100 acres along the River Alness, is used for tasks.

If you’re planning a Highlands trip around the show, Inverness makes a sensible base. It is the closest sizeable city, and it’s where the cast reportedly stay.

Do other countries film at a different castle?

Yes, and this is where the answer to “where is The Traitors castle” depends on which version you watch.

The Irish version was filmed at Slane Castle in County Meath. Season three of The Traitors Australia was reportedly filmed at Claremont Castle in Timaru, New Zealand. Other international versions use their own locations, which I haven’t verified individually, so I won’t list them.

For the UK and US shows, the answer is the same: Ardross.

Will the show keep filming there?

It looks that way. Reports indicate the BBC has reserved Ardross Castle for filming through to 2030. That is a report rather than something the broadcaster has publicly confirmed in the sources I found, so treat it as likely rather than guaranteed. Spin-offs have followed the same pattern. The Traitors: New Blood, a US spin-off, was reported to have returned to Ardross Castle, with filming believed to have taken place in spring 2026.

Interest in the building has clearly grown. A director of Ardross Castle Enterprises spoke in 2023 about rising demand to hire it since the show took off, and it’s easy to see why. The place is now as recognisable as any of the contestants.

The short answer

If you came here asking where The Traitors castle is, the answer is Ardross Castle, in the Highlands, a short drive north of Inverness. You can’t walk in, and you can’t book a room, but you can see it from the outside, base yourself in Inverness, and add Boat of Garten and Loch Glass to the trip. Just don’t expect to bump into Claudia Winkleman.

Britain Buz