2 Best Sights in Stirling and the Central Highlands, Scotland

You can almost hear the trotting of horses' hooves and the zip of arrows in this 21st-century re-creation of the battle that changed the course of Scotland's history in 1314. Robert the Bruce's defeat of the armies of the English king, despite a 2-to-1 disadvantage, is the stuff of legend. Using 3-D technology, the visitor center allows you to see a battle raging across screens that ring the central hall. Participants on both sides speak directly to you, courtesy of holograms. Later you can play a role in a Bannockburn battle game (reservations essential; age seven and older only). Bruce pursued the Scottish crown, ruthlessly sweeping aside enemies; but his victory here was masterful, as he drew the English horses into marshy land (now the area around the new center), where they sank in the mud. A circular monument commemorates the battlefield. Book ahead; tickets are for timed entry.

Set among the oak woods and above a rocky river just north of Pilochry, the Pass of Killiecrankie was the site of a famous battle won by the Jacobites in 1689. The battle was notable for the death of the central Jacobite leader, John Graham of Claverhouse (1649–89), also known as Bonnie Dundee, who was hit by a stray bullet. One English soldier is reputed to have escaped the Jacobite troops by jumping into the river at a point still known as "Soldier's Leap." After Dundee's death the rebellion petered out. The National Trust for Scotland's visitor center at Killiecrankie explains the significance of this battle, which was the first attempt to restore the Stewart monarchy.