📌 Underground tour in Old Town, City of Edinburgh
★★★★
Combine the steep topography of Edinburgh‘s Old Town with the march of time and you end up with a city constructed as much vertically as horizontally. New(er) buildings on the busy Royal Mile conceal a hidden-away warren of centuries-old streets preserved below, with unsuspecting tourists passing overhead in their thousands every day. One such alleyway is Mary King’s Close: buried underneath the Royal Exchange Buildings since the 17th century. Whatever went on in these dark wynds would have been consigned to the past, but in 2003 they re-opened as an atmospheric tourist attraction accessed only by well-choreographed, guided tours. In-character guides and a fair number of ghost stories don’t take too much away from the feeling of discovering a secret world; we think it’s still well worth a visit, with fewer cheap thrills and more genuine history than The Edinburgh Dungeon around the corner – though that has its own appeal. Photography is unfortunately not permitted.
🌍 Location
📌 2 Warriston’s Close, Royal Mile, 5-min walk south of Edinburgh Waverley station
🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NT 258736
🛰️ GPS coordinates: 55.949953,-3.190486
🚆 Edinburgh Waverley | 🚌 Numerous local buses | 🚋 Princes Street
🚗 Car parks / street parking nearby (both charge)
📝 Key info
⌚ Daily by guided tour only – advance booking strongly advised
🎫 £27 adult / £20 child
