The museum, Burns Cottage, café and toilet facilities are open daily. Please see the Planning Your Visit section for more information.
Getting here
Robert Burns Birthplace Museum is in Alloway, 2½ miles south of Ayr and is signposted from the A77. It’s around 40 minutes from Glasgow. There’s a regular train service from Glasgow to Ayr, and from Ayr there’s a local bus service to Alloway.
Opening times
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Museum
Christmas closures: 25, 26 Dec and 1, 2 Jan
- 1 Jan–29 Apr, closed Current period30 Apr–30 Sep, daily, 10.00–17.00 1 Oct–31 Mar 2022, daily, 10.00–16.30 (last entry 16.00)
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Burns Cottage
Christmas closures: 25, 26 Dec and 1, 2 Jan
- 1 Jan–29 Apr, closed 30 Apr–16 Jun, daily, 11.00–15.30 (last entry 15.00) 17 Jun–20 Jun, closed 21–22 June, 11.00–15.00 Current period23 Jun–30 Sep, daily, 11.00–15.30 (last entry 15.00) 1 Oct–31 Mar 2022, daily, 11.00–16.30 (last entry 16.00)
Entry prices
- Adult
- £11.50
- Family
- £27.00
- One adult family
- £20.00
- Concession
- £8.50
Planning your visit
We want you to enjoy your visit to RBBM – your safety is our priority. This means we’ve had to make some changes so that we can keep everyone safe. Please read our Guide on what to expect before you set off.
This property is part of the ‘We’re Good to Go’ scheme, which means we have carried out an official COVID-19 risk assessment to check we have everything in place to reopen safely.
Please be aware that for the health and safety of visitors, volunteers and employees in our hospitality venues, we will record the name and contact details of everyone who enters in order to support NHS Scotland’s Test and Protect. This information will be used to enable NHS Scotland to contact you should you have been in the venue around the same time as someone who has tested positive for coronavirus. We are obliged to process this data to comply with The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 11) Regulations 2020. Please see our Data Protection page for further information.
Further to this, in National Trust for Scotland non-hospitality settings, where there is either a pre-booking system in place or there is the potential for close contact (eg in some of our smaller properties), we will ask visitors to provide limited contact information. This is for the purposes of managing the number of visitors and also to support NHS Scotland’s Test and Protect. For further information, please see our Data Protection page.
You can buy tickets at Burns Cottage and at the main museum on Murdoch’s Lone. The two sites are connected by a pedestrian walkway called the Poet’s Path.
For more information about planning your visit, please see the drop-down facilities information below or take a look at our frequently asked questions.
Facilities & access
- The two main sites (Burns Cottage and the museum) are connected by the Poet’s Path, a 500m pedestrian walkway. On busier days, our volunteers run a regular electric shuttle along it.
- We offer accessible openings on the first Tuesday of every month from 3–5pm. Robert Burns Birthplace Museum: interactive screens and sound effects will be switched off, and cleaning lights will be switched on. Burns Cottage: sound effects will be switched off.
We have an ongoing programme of accessible content development. Detailed accessibility guides for the most visited Trust places are available on our Accessibility pages as well as links to useful resources.
We’d love you to visit the Euan’s Guide website to review the accessibility of Trust places and tell us (and others) what’s good and where we need to do better.
Disabled parking is available at Burns Cottage and the museum.
Both the museum and the Education Pavilion (next to Burns Cottage) have accessible toilets.
There is level access at Burns Cottage and the museum. The Poet’s Path is also level and the Monument Gardens are accessible.
The historical parts of the site, such as the Auld Kirk, Brig o’ Doon and Burns Monument, have uneven steps and surfaces.
We have a range of snacks and soup available throughout the day.
Dogs are welcome in the garden areas but please keep them on a lead.
Assistance dogs are welcome throughout the site.
There’s one electric car charging post at the museum. It has two charging spaces with the following specification: Rating: 7kW 32A - Socket: Type 2 Mennekes.
The museum, education areas and meeting rooms are fitted with induction loops.
Parking is available at the museum and Burns Cottage, although the site is easy to walk around. Parking is free for members of the National Trust for Scotland.
Our Burns-themed play area, Scots Wa-Hey, is perfect for young visitors and is full of fun features. It can be found in the museum garden.
There is level access at Burns Cottage and the museum. The Poet’s Path is also level and the Monument Gardens are wheelchair accessible.
The historical parts of the site, such as the Auld Kirk, Brig o’ Doon and Burns Monument, have uneven steps and surfaces.
Wheelchairs are available for any visitors who need them.