Traveling in Scotland in 2022, you just can’t avoid Outlander. The series of novels by Diana Gabaldon, now also a hit television show on Starz, is having a major impact in shaping people’s travels. And if I’m being honest…I don’t think that’s a bad thing.
In my travels, it’s interesting to observe how a movie or TV show can transform the tourism industry of a place. Sometimes called “set jetting” (or “location vacation”), the phenomenon of visiting a place just because you’ve seen it onscreen is an ever-bigger factor in itinerary planning. And in Scotland, Outlander is driving tourist traffic to a huge degree. But how should a thoughtful traveler approach this trend? Here are a few thoughts.
On a previous trip to Scotland, back in 2015, the TV series had only just begun, and Outlander tourism was in its infancy. As a fan of the first season myself, I sought out a few locations to include in our Scotland guidebook — including Doune Castle, which stood in for “Castle Leoch”; the charming village of Culross, featured as “Cranesmuir”; and the Highland Folk Museum, where scenes of traditional life were filmed. But my travel writer’s sixth sense told me that Outlander was on the verge of something big.
Returning again this summer, I was stunned by the difference seven years had made. Several more seasons of the TV show have only increased its fandom, and added to the already-long list of Outlander “must-sees.” The national tourist office has even produced a high-quality, fold-out map — and maintain a comprehensive website — locating Outlander-related sites throughout Scotland. In gift shops, life-size cardboard Jamie Frasers are elbowing aside Loch Ness Monsters. I even saw an official Outlander Tartan Pocket Square™.
Outlander tourism has even trickled down to small sights: In the wonderful, endearing, volunteer-run Glencoe Folk Museum — on the main drag of a tiny, one-street Highlands village — they’ve taped up a photo of Sam Heughan (who stars as Jamie) perusing the display cases.
I’ve seen this happen before. I’ve seen in at Harry Potter-related sights around the UK (including ones in Scotland). I’ve seen it in Dubrovnik and Croatia’s Dalmatian Coast, which came on many travelers’ radar thanks to Game of Thrones. Even Albuquerque, New Mexico, is newly trendy for a weekend getaway, thanks to those eager to walk in the footsteps of Walter White from Breaking Bad or Kim Wexler from Better Call Saul.
Most recently, I’ve seen this phenomenon in the town of Richmond, just outside London, which has started to attract quite a few Ted Lasso pilgrims…including me.
Sometimes this impact is short-lived. For a brief period in the mid-Aughts, we added mentions to our Paris and London guidebooks about various landmarks pivotal to the plot of The Da Vinci Code; a few years later, after that fad had passed, we took most of them out again. Others are evergreen: In Salzburg, Sound of Music tours are as big an industry now as they ever have been, even as the film approaches its 60th birthday. (And sometimes it’s hard to judge: Doing our Scotland updates this summer, we’ve debated whether it’s time to finally retire our “Debunking Braveheart” sidebar about the 1995 movie.)
As a travel writer who tries to approach Europe thoughtfully, I have complicated feelings about “set jetting.” (Full disclosure: In addition to being a professional traveler, am also a massive TV and film buff; in a previous life, I even wrote movie reviews for my hometown newspaper.)
On the one hand, I’ve observed how becoming famous in a movie or TV show can bring well-deserved attention to a worthy place that might otherwise get overlooked. Once there, those visitors come to love that place on its own merits. That’s a good thing.
On the other hand, I don’t have much patience for people who go to a place only because of the screen connections, with no appetite for going beyond that basic photo op. A friend of mine, who works as a tour guide in Dubrovnik, once told me that she occasionally gets requests from people asking her to do a tour exclusively of Game of Thrones filming locations…“without that boring history or culture stuff.” She turns down those requests, and frankly, I wish those people would stay home.
One distinction to consider is whether the place you see on screen is actually “playing itself.” In Scotland, Harry Potter pilgrims book months ahead for a chance to ride on what they call “Hogwarts Express,” perhaps not even realizing that the historic steam locomotive has a real name: the Jacobite Steam Train.
Or take Dubrovnik — which, in Game of Thrones, represents fictional locations that exist only in the fantasy world of Westeros. There’s nothing “Croatia” about what you see on the screen. This can lead to some unfortunate missteps. Late in the run of the series (spoiler warning), the city of Kings Landing is blown to bits by Daenerys Targaryen and her dragon. Many of these scenes featured recognizable streets and landmarks of Dubrovnik — a city which was, during the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991 and 1992, the tragic subject of a real-life, medieval-style military siege. Back then, the actual buildings of Dubrovnik were bombarded from above; townspeople took cover, rooftops burned, streets smoldered. Having seen photos and news footage from the Siege of Dubrovnik — and having heard the real-life stories of its victims — it struck me as particularly insensitive for the show’s producers to so gruesomely destroy its fantasy doppelgänger onscreen.
In Outlander, on the other hand, Scotland represents Scotland — better yet, historical Scotland. I’ve been won over by the way that Outlander is rooted in real Highlands history. It gets people in the proverbial door, and then — crucially — focuses them on the “right things.”
The best example: Culloden. The Battle of Culloden, which was fought on April 16, 1746, on a moor just outside of Inverness, was the pivot point for all of Scottish history. As the Jacobite troops of Bonnie Prince Charlie were defeated by the Hanoverian army of King George II, the traditional clan system of the Highlands was shattered; life for the Scots changed forever.
Likewise, Culloden presents a turning point in the Outlander saga. (Light spoilers ahead.) Not only does Jamie Fraser fight on Culloden Moor; earlier, Bonnie Prince Charlie himself appears as a major character, as the Frasers move to France and hobnob with the Stuart royal family in exile.
I’ve toured the Culloden Battlefield on multiple occasions over the years. Each time, I’ve been impressed by the site’s haunting ambience, and by the outstanding visitors center that tells its story. But I’ve noticed some key differences between pre-Outlander visits and post-Outlander visits. First, post-Outlander, there were a lot more people out on the moor with me…and many were laying fresh flowers at the Fraser clan marker. Also, I must admit, having seen the dramatization of the battle on the show — and feeling a more personal connection to some of the battle’s (fictional) participants — my appreciation of the site was even greater.
If the impact of Outlander is that more people are going to a genuinely great and important site, and learning about real history while there…then I’m all for it.
Of course, there are many Outlander sights in Scotland that have less to do with real history. A very short drive from Culloden are the prehistoric Clava Cairns, including the stony remains of a burial chamber dating back millennia. We’ve described these in our guidebook for years as a good place to get a glimpse at Scotland’s (relatively sparse) prehistoric artifacts. Now we’ve also had to add a mention of the split standing stone, which vaguely resembles the one Claire Fraser uses to travel through time. Are the many new visitors flocking here for a photo op also taking a moment to learn about this site’s real origins? Possibly…but somehow, I doubt it.
Understandably, some locals have misgivings about all of this. At the tourist office in one small town, I picked up a brochure for a local folk museum that touted its ties to Outlander. Later, when I got to the museum, I asked the attendant whether they actually had an Outlander exhibit. She grew instantly perturbed. “Oh, come on! That’s fantasy. This is a real museum about real history. Where do people get the idea that everything is about Outlander?” “Um,” I responded, and showed her the brochure — produced by her own museum — trumpeting the Outlander connection. (What can I say? The Scots know what sells. And I will resist the urge here to draw comparisons with a certain mythical sea monster…)
That said, many Scots I’ve talked to — including the sticklers — acknowledge (sometimes begrudgingly) that Outlander does a pretty impressive job of conveying real Highlands history amidst all of the time-travel fantasy and bodice-ripping. Many Scots still feel burned by Braveheart — the last time a movie thrust Scotland onto the international stage — in which Mel Gibson completely distorted actual history in service of a rollicking action picture. Even if they don’t love Outlander, most Scots recognize that it’s far better than Braveheart.
So maybe it’s about more than just whether it’s a “real place” — but about the realness of that place. When Stephenie Meyer wrote her original Twilight novel, she set it in Forks, Washington. How did she choose? She simply looked up which American town got the most rainfall (reasoning that vampires would appreciate a gloomy climate)…and Forks was it.
Forks is not far from where I live in Seattle, and on a few occasions, I’ve visited the area (for its stunning Olympic Peninsula scenery, not the Twilight connection). And I was struck by how, based on this offhand decision made two decades ago, Forks has completely rebranded itself as “Twilight town.” When you go to little Forks, you see a Twilight café, Twilight gift shop, Twilight cabins, Twilight tour company, Bella’s truck from Twilight…one time, I even drove by a soggy stack of Twilight firewood (no joke).
I don’t mean to besmirch Stephenie Meyer or Twilight (or Forks, for that matter). The fact is, a first-time author doesn’t always have the resources to travel far and wide, scouting locations for a novel that may never see publication…much less become an international phenomenon. But when it comes to what guides your travel planning, “I basically picked it out of a hat” doesn’t strike me as a good enough reason to visit a place.
Meanwhile, it’s clear that Diana Gabaldon eclipsed Meyer (pun intended) in her meticulous research for Outlander. Before writing her novel, Gabaldon had earned a Ph.D. and was, effectively, a professional researcher. And it shows. Then, the producers of the TV series doubled down by committing both to honor Gabaldon’s original vision, and to respect real Highlands history. And the result is a show that gets a lot of people — including many who previously never cared one lick about Scotland — very excited to visit the site of a 275-year-old battle. That’s an impressive feat. Yes, even if the side effect is a few Outlander-themed souvenirs.
In the end, I believe the best kind of “set jetting” is when a piece of pop culture both attracts people to a new place, and whets their appetite to learn more. And on that count, Outlander sets a high bar. If you’re heading to Scotland because you fell in love with the place by reading or watching Outlander…good for you. Have a great time tracking down all of those sights. But once you get there, make sure you go beyond the Claire and Jamie photo ops, and really get to know Scotland, too.
I was in Scotland updating our Rick Steves Scotland guidebook. Our brand-new, fully up-to-date Fourth Edition arrives in December — just in time for the holidays. If you’re going sooner than that, the current (Third) edition is still fundamentally sound and packed with great tips…just expect some changes, and confirm hours ahead of time.
My travel memoir, The Temporary European: Lessons and Confessions of a Professional Traveler, includes a chapter about “set jetting,” and specifically about the time I had to take two Sound of Music tours back-to-back, on assignment. For a more cynical and humorous take on when “set jetting” lacks the cultural insight of Outlander, check it out.
