The Falkirk Wheel

Nice modern looking open spaced cafe serving good coffee, tea and bakery little bit on the pricey side but arnt all tourist attractions pricey?

great I love it!

Great place to take the kids, would recoment it to anyone

Parents visited Falkirk Wheel and had wheeley good time

It is a very impressive piece of engineering but to call it "a great day out" is a bit of a stretch. I found it hard to spend more than an hour there.

This is a must-see attraction. The wheel is a very impressive piece of engineering and it’s fascinating to watch it working. The boat trips are reasonable value at around £7 for an adult. It’s great on a sunny day just to spend hours watching though - you can watch the wheel working approximately every 1/2 to 1 hour. The shop is fine, the cafe is good - and has outdoor seating almost directly under the wheel and indoor seating with huge glass windows so you can see what’s going on. When I was there, there were also ice cream and burger vans and a bouncy castle thing. Interesting to watch the swing bridge working too.

A visit to the wheel is a great way of spending a sunny afternoon and if I thought my daughter could survive a week on a barge I’d spend it going up and down on the wheel given half a chance. There is a play area for the children, interesting displays for the adults and an impressive structure for anyone interested in Structures, Architecture or big, clever machinery.

A great day out for all the family, with a lovely area to have a picnic go for walk and enjoy the park. Of course the main attraction is the wheel and is truely an amazing feat of engineering and worth a visit.

I visited the Falkirk Wheel as part of a weekend away for my husband’s birthday. We’d both been wanting to see it for a long time as we live near the canal in Edinburgh and had heard so much about the Wheel. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t great and when we got to the Wheel it transpired that it was closed for its annual maintenance. However, the cafe and visitors centre were both still open and the Wheel is still impressive even when stopped (even more so in some ways as the basin had been drained). The staff were all very helpful, friendly and apologetic about the Wheel’s state. The main downside to the day (apart from the weather) was that I had spent a long time on the Wheel’s website finding out how to get there and what facilities there were, and nowhere on the website did it mention that it was in fact not running. It was worth a visit though, we’ll just have to go again when it is actually running!

This review is not a description of this amazing engineering achievement; this has been done at length elsewhere.

This short review is just my way of urging you to visit as early as possible. Take the family, or go on your own; there is so much to see that each person will find enough to interest them.

If you can, take the boat ride because this is by far the best - in my opinion the ONLY way to really take in the awesome breadth of this monumental stucture.
It has been described as iconic (yes!), innovative (definitely!!) and awe-inspiring (you will understand when you visit).

And it’s not just the Wheel; there are lots of “smaller” attractions to keep younger visitors occupied and stave off boredom.
Watch man and nature work together in a truly magnificent location; you will never forget it.

what a beautiful site. a must see one off for everyone. there is a huge car park at the tamfourhill end and also at the camelon end. they are both pay and display for 2 hours. they also have disabled parking spaces right at the main entrance. you have to walk right through the visitor centre to get in. the visitor centre is quite small. once you are through there, if you turn left this will take you to the cafe, shop and toilets. i have to point out, that the toilets are lovely and always clean. any time we have good weather though there is normally a wait to get into the toilet. if you turn right once out of the visitor centre then you can walk across to the picnic benches where there is a burger van costa coffee van and an ice-cream van. they also have a play park and trampolines. it is a great day out, but be sure to wrap up as it can be deceivingly cold.

The Falkirk wheel is a must see for all visitors to Falkirk.They have various boat trips along the canals and through the wheel itself for a reasonable price. There is an information center with a mini display showing how the Wheel works and a gift shop selling mainly Scottish merchandises. There is a cafe inside which is slightly on the expensive side but there is a nice view and it’s warm!
There is a good kids play park which we often go to which has an irn bru theme and is popular with children. They have burger, coffee and ice cream vans which sell nice food but they are very expensive.

this shop has an excellent range of gifts to suit every pocket

Although the Falkirk Wheel is kind of interesting, I don’t think they have made the most of it. It only goes every 30 minutes. It is very expensive for a 5 minute boat ride. The visitors centre is tiny, with very little in it. The gift shop is good and has a lot of different things not just about the Falkirk Wheel. The cafe is pretty poor, the selection of things is basically a few sandwiches, you can’t get a proper meal.

We visited last weekend in the heaviest rain - if we hadn’t been meeting our relatives we’d have postponed the visit. However, the weather scarcely mattered as it turned out! The trip on the Wheel was fantastic (totally enclosed of course so no one could get wet!) with a wonderful video display. Then there was the commentary inbetween by a very humorous man who knew his stuff inside out (as he should - he was the captain of the boat!) and made us all laugh too. Back down on the 'surface’ in the shop there were many interesting souvenirs and other gifts of all prices. A model of the Wheel behind glass was very interesting. Even better was the little working model which the blind or visually impaired can hold - the 'real thing’ is almost impossible to describe whereas the model gives an instant impression of the shape and design. (See my photo) Apparently they used to sell these models and with little barges attached too. Alas, they had sold out and weren’t sure when others would be made. I hope they will stock them in future.

The cafe is excellent and perfect for vegetarians, with a lot of choice. We were almost speechless when told that there were THREE different vegetarian soups on offer that day! There was a special offer of soup with a sandwich and I would recommend that as it was good value and delicious. The roasted vegetable panini were excellent as well. The staff were all pleasant and helpful (see two of them in my pic). The cafe is spacious with a marvellous view of the Wheel right next to the window. As for the toilets, well, I have to mention them (not that I usually do loo-reviews!) because they were among the best I’ve ever seen. They were so well looked after and clean, with flowers and nice soap - and even moisturiser provided!! I just had to take a few photos in there as well despite some odd looks.

I just wish the car park wasn’t so far from the building - we all got so wet afterwards! However, that won’t stop me from giving 5 stars - a great place to visit altogether for a day out.

We went as a group of 21 year old girls, found it very short, couldnt spend more than a couple of hours there. And very boring!

This should certainly be on everyones “Must See” list. It is truly amazing. I am no engineer or canal buff but this is awesome. Built to commemorate the Millenium by linking the Forth & Clyde and Union canals it is the Worlds only structure of this kind. The rotating boat lift removes the need for many locks an covers a drop over 120ft.
You can go on boat trip, around £8, which begins in the Lake on the lower level, then into the Wheel and up to the Union Canal. It takes about 30 mins. The views are stunning but listen to the noise this great Wheel makes as it takes you up….....there isn’t any, IT IS SILENT. What an amazing piece of engineering. Boat trip times do seem to vary through the year so do check on their website. It also gets busy but you can book in advance.
In the Visitor Centre, free entry, there is an interactive exhibition with really interesting facts & fugures, a Cafe which sells reasonably priced drinks & snacks and a Gift Shop with some unusual souvenirs & something to suit all pockets.
Outside there is plenty of parking, picnic area, Adventure playground. snack kiosk, the Antonine Wall heritage site, Loads of walks & Cycle paths and an Educational Trail. All free.
There is lots to do here and you are able to see it all without paying a penny, although the Boat Trip is worth while.
There are cheap flights now from most airports so it is well worth making a long weekend break to see this.

We were very lucky to have been some of the first public visitors to the Wheel. What a magnificient feat of modern day engineering. Needless to say we have been back several times since this and each time marvel at its prominence on the Falkirk canals and landscape. If you are in Scotland at any time make sure it is on your list of 'things to do’. You will not be disappointed whether you are a canal boat enthusiastic or simply enjoy something different. They have a boat tour trip so that you can experience the wheel at first hand as it takes you up and over at near silence. The restaurant on site is also worth a visit to relax and talk about “The Wheel”. Like us we sure you will return with other members of your family and friends.

A great free outing for kids and adults alike. Plenty of reasonably priced parking and free entry into the park. There are lots of picnic areas and a great view of the wheel from most places in the park. When I went with my five year old and three year old we sat in the seats right underneath the wheel and had the awesome experience of seeing it from a really unique angle. There is a fab wee adventure play area and plenty of open space for kids to play. The staff were pleasant and very informative about the wheel. The visitor centre is very interesting and has some interactive exhibits for the kids, the gift shop has a great variety of items from pocket money to the more expensive presents didn’t use the cafe but looked to be reasonably priced. Not enough for a full days outing even if you did go for a canal boat ride on the wheel, which we didn’t do(the point of the outing for us was that it was free or very cheap) but you could combine it with a wander to the nice shopping centre a walk in Callendar Park or a visit to the Antonine Wall or Roughcastle.
All in all a very worthwhile and enjoyable outing.

I often take my 7year old daughter and 5 year old niece to the irn bru park at the falkirk wheel. We take a picnic (you can watch the wheel in action from the picnic benches) as i find the snack vans, situated right at the park are pretty expensive.

There is also a great view of the wheel lit up at night from the wheelhouse restaurant.