Pitlochry Fish Ladder — Attraction in Scotland

Pitlochry is famous for its hydro-electric dam and salmon ladder. The ladder was specially constructed to enable salmon to by-pass the dam and make their way upstream to Loch Faskally above. The ladder is 310 metres long and consists of 34 chambers, linked together by tunnels that the salmon can swim through. It enables around 5,000 salmon to return to their spawning grounds each year - a journey of some 6,000 miles! However, chances of seeing a salmon are slim (Autumn is usually when they are most prolific).

The dam is an impressive structure and we highly recommend you take the short walk to it. You might be lucky and see a salmon swimming through the observation chamber, we eventually got lucky ourselves and took this photo in June 2006!

A new visitor centre opened in 2017 and it has some exhibitions about the lifecycle and migration patterns of salmon, the development of hydro electric energy in Scotland and some hands on displays that children can experiment with. The visitor centre also has a cafe that overlooks the dam.

PLEASE NOTE: The observation chamber for viewing salmon passing through the ladder closed at the beginning of 2019 due to "Health & Safety" concerns. You can remotely view activity in the ladder on screens in the Visitor Centre, but it isn't as exciting as peering through the glass and seeing the fish up close. It is hoped that they will re-open the viewing chamber, but there is no...

So this place is just massive, it's massive. The dam which at the end of is the fish ladder is open to the public to have the experience and power of the hydro plant generating the leki. Photos are attached so like them please. This dam and ladder is not (in my opinion) for wheel chair users unless your extremely adaptable and very handy with your chair this is not for you. I recommend the visitor centre where you can view everything from afar which is absolutely amazing by the way. The car park has three electric charging points which I presumed were the electric company SSE. I didn't even know what a fish ladder is until I went here and it's a bit freaky when your directly above it and the water below is swirling like whirlpools....it was just freaky but great and...

Been here a few times in October when visiting Pitlochry for the enchanted forest which is too late in the year for salmon, so decided this weekend we could take the 3 hour journey to see the salmon viewing platform with more chance of seeing something. Should have checked here first as absolutely gutted to find it closed. However they do have a small screen with a live feed above people eating in the cafe, great for the socially awkward and those that can make it over the dam. This information should be on the website or even a notice in the car park. My husband has trouble walking so had we known this was closed we would have went else where with our day. I would rather pay a small fee or donation to see the viewing area, even if it is only for a small...