Scotland's Highlands are one of the most in-demand filming locations in the world right now. They're also one of the most misunderstood when it comes to permits and access.

The most common thing I hear from international productions is "we thought Scotland had right to roam." It does, for walking. Not for commercial filming. The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 grants the public a right of responsible access, but commercial activity, including film and photography production, is explicitly excluded.

Who Controls What

The Highland permit landscape is fragmented across multiple bodies. On a single shoot day you might need permissions from three or four different organisations.

NatureScot manages access agreements for Scotland's protected landscapes. This covers many of the locations international productions want to shoot, including the Quiraing, Old Man of Storr, and much of the Skye coastline. Standard NatureScot agreements take 2-4 weeks to process.

Highland Council handles road-based filming permits, parking suspensions, and any filming in public spaces within the council area.

Historic Environment Scotland (HES) manages castles, ruins, and heritage sites. If you want to film at Urquhart Castle overlooking Loch Ness, you'll need their approval and a location fee.

Private estates. Large swathes of the Highlands are privately owned. Some estates are production-friendly, some charge location fees, and some simply don't want film crews on their land. Knowing who owns what, and who to talk to, is half the battle.

Realistic Timelines

For a standard TVC or music video shoot in the Highlands, here's what I'd budget in terms of permit lead time:

  • NatureScot agreement: 2-4 weeks
  • Highland Council road permit: 2-3 weeks
  • HES property permit: 3-6 weeks
  • Private estate agreement: 2 weeks minimum, highly variable
  • Forestry and Land Scotland car park access: 1-2 weeks

The biggest mistake I see is productions trying to lock Highland locations two weeks before the shoot date.

What It Costs

Costs vary significantly depending on the location and the scale of your production. As a rough guide:

  • NatureScot access agreements: usually free, occasionally a small admin fee. Some sensitive sites have caps on crew size
  • Highland Council road permits: £150-400 for a standard closure
  • HES property fees: £800-3,000 depending on the castle, crew size and production category (advertising sits at the top of the scale)
  • Forestry and Land Scotland: typically £200-600 per location day plus access fees for car parks and lay-bys
  • Private estate agreements: anything from free through goodwill, to £500-5,000 per day for the larger sporting estates with established filming infrastructure
  • NTS properties (Glenfinnan Viaduct, Mar Lodge, Torridon): £500-2,500 per day depending on property

The Glenfinnan Viaduct is worth a specific note: it sits inside NTS Mar Lodge land, the access road and lay-by are Highland Council, the railway itself is Network Rail, and Jacobite Steam services run from late March to late October. Coordinating a clean shot of the train on the viaduct involves three permitting bodies and a timetable. Productions that walk into Glenfinnan two weeks ahead and ask for the steam train shot consistently miss it.

I include full permit management in all production packages, so your team doesn't need to navigate any of this directly.

Locations That Currently Have Filming Caps or Restrictions

A few notes from recent shoots, accurate as of 2026:

  • The Quiraing and Old Man of Storr have crew size caps (typically 8-12 on the ridge) and require drone pre-clearance separate from CAA airspace authorisation
  • The Fairy Pools car park is Forestry and Land Scotland and limits are tight in peak season
  • St Abbs Head bans filming on the headland during seabird nesting season (April-August) with very limited exceptions
  • Glen Etive (the Skyfall road) has been formally restricted to small unit work after sustained over-use during 2024-25
  • Edinburgh Castle Esplanade is unavailable during the Edinburgh Military Tattoo build and run window, mid-July through August

My Advice

Contact a fixer before you've confirmed budget. A 15-minute conversation about permit feasibility costs nothing and could save you weeks of wasted effort on a location that was never going to work in your timeline. The pattern I see most often with productions that try to handle Highland permits themselves: they secure two or three of the four required permissions, then run out of time on the fourth and have to relocate the shoot day at short notice.