Corgarff Castle consists of a much-altered rectangular 16th-century tower house, white-washed and restored, with later pavilions and star-shaped outworks. The castle was built about 1530 by the Elphinstones, and leased to the Forbes family. It was torched in 1571 by Adam Gordon of Auchindoun, killing Margaret Campbell, wife of Forbes of Towie, and 26 others of her household.

The Erskine Earls of Mar acquired the lands in 1626, but the castle was burnt by Jacobites in 1689; then again in 1716, this time by Hanoverians to punish the Earl of Mar for his part in the Jacobite Rising; and for a third time in 1746. In 1748 the government bought Corgarff, remodelled the tower, and used it as a barracks after the Jacobite Risings. It was later used as a base to help stop illicit whisky distilling, but was abandoned in 1831, and placed into the care of the State in 1961.

The castle is open daily from April to September; it is also open weekends only from October to March