Private Edinburgh Castle Tour

Edinburgh, Scotland

Great choice

10+ bookings last month.

3 to 4 hours (approx.)
Pickup offered
Group discounts
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

If you’re a history buff, no visit to Edinburgh is complete without a tour of Edinburgh Castle. Receive personalized attention on a private 3-hour tour, during which you’ll delve deep into the history of the Edinburgh icon and avoid long lines often in excess of two hours with a pre-booked entrance ticket. Plus, you’re guide collects you from your hotel to prevent you getting lost in Edinburgh’s winding streets.

Private 3-hour tour of Edinburgh Castle
A personalized experience ideal for history buffs
Avoid waiting in line by reserving an admission ticket in advance
Hotel pickup and drop-off by a guide is included

What's Included

Local guide
Professional guide
Hotel pickup and drop-off
Private tour

Food and drinks

Meeting and Pickup

You can head directly to the meeting point, or request pickup

Pickup points

Select a pickup point

Pickup details

We can meet you at any Central Edinburgh hotel and walk up to the castle or we can meet you at an agreed location by the Royal Mile. WE CANNOT MEET ANYONE OR PICKUP FROM THE CRUISE TERMINAL. THERE IS NO PARKING AT THE CASTLE AND IT IS 5 MILES AWAY FROM THE TERMINAL.

Meeting point

Royal Mile
Edinburgh EH1 1QS, UK

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

Itinerary

Edinburgh Castle

3 hours • Admission Ticket Included

St. Margaret's Chapel

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

The Great Hall

15 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Scottish National War Memorial

20 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Mons Meg

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received within 48 hours of booking, subject to availability
Not wheelchair accessible
Operates in all weather conditions, please dress appropriately
Children must be accompanied by an adult
Stroller accessible
Service animals allowed

Minimum age is 5
Dress code is smart casual. Comfortable shoes are recommended.
Near public transportation
Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
This is a private tour/activity. Only your group will participate

Supplied by

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Gallery picture 1 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 2 (from a traveler's review)

Reviews

4.7

based on 15 reviews

Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor

We perform checks on reviews

Andy was fantastic! We...

John_B, Mar 2026

Andy was fantastic! We had a great tour of the castle and learned so much. We enjoyed our time immensely.

Terrific insight into Edinburghs history

Jo_S, Nov 2025

Enormous amount of war history and terrific guide. Small group was great to learn all the hidden parts of the castle. Absolute wrath of information.

Response from Host, Jan 2026

Thankyou for taking the time to leave us a kind review. We're so glad that you all enjoyed your tour with Andy.

Less is sometimes more!

Shelby_M, Sep 2025

I booked a 3-hour tour and ended up with a 4.5 hour tour! While our guide was extremely thorough, the level of detail was lost on us once hunger for lunch set in. When we advised the guide that we had another activity planned at 3:00 he simply spoke faster.

Response from Host, Jan 2026

Thanks so much for your kind review, we really appreciate it and glad you enjoyed the tour!

Definitely do the tour it is amazing

chris_l, Jul 2024

The tour overall was great. The tour guide meet us at the hotel and we enjoyed a nice walk to the castle. While getting a good overall history of scotland and some funny stories to boot. At the castle it was the same we got loads of history and stories about it. It was all at our pace so no rushing from spot to spot like some tours.

Tour guide Andy was...

Cory_H, Jan 2024

Tour guide Andy was incredibly knowledgeable about Scottish history, culture, and the history of the castle. Very much recommended.

Response from Host, Feb 2024

Thanks so much for your tremendous review. I'm really glad you enjoyed your tour and Andy really enjoyed meeting you too,

Our guide, Andy, was the...

Glenn_R, Sep 2023

Our guide, Andy, was the BEST in the Business. His professionalism and knowledge was outstanding. The information he passed along to our family was extremely thorough and concise. He really made our stay in Edinburgh the memorable. He went the extra mile to show us everything including the accommodations with travel. I would highly recommend him for all our future tours. Regards,

Response from Host, Feb 2024

Thanks so much for your amazing review. Andy was totally over the moon to see it. I'm so glad you had such a good tour with him. Thanks so much!

Great learning Experience!

Tammy_P, Sep 2023

Andy was very knowledgeable and a great tour guide for our three hour excursion. He also spent extra time with us helping us to find certain items we were shopping for. Needless to say, he went above and beyond our expectations. There is a lot to know about the history of castle and Andy was able to help us understand it. There is so much to see I recommend planning more than 3 hours there. We were there 4 hours and felt rushed in some areas, but we had another excursion to get to. Otherwise we could have spent the whole day there. Great place to visit, we’ll worth the investment and time with Andy.

Response from Host, Feb 2024

Thanks so much for your kind review. I'm so glad that you had a good tour with Andy. We always try to do all our tours as if we are with friends or family so I'm glad he was able to help a little with the shopping. Thank-you again!

Excellent in-depth experience

Justin_N, Jun 2023

Had a wonderful and excellent historical tour of castle with Andy. Highly recommend the private tour if you want more in-depth history of castle

Response from Host, Feb 2024

Thanks so much Judith. Andy was delighted to get your review and know that you had such a good time.

Wrong guide for venue

Cheryl_P, Jun 2023

The tour guide is not the most organized for a 3 hour tour. He’s probably better all day or multi day. He wants to impart much more info than was warranted for a castle tour. Spoke little of the castle building or life in the castle. It was a disappointing morning, especially for the price paid.

Response from Host, Jun 2023

We're sorry that you didn't enjoy your tour. Andy is a very organised and talented guide and even been used by CBS tv. It was yourself who insisted to be at the castle 30 minutes before entry and also going off to have tea. You didn't even want to go in some areas and buildings of the castle and decided not to visit half of the amazing exhibitions there. Those you did see, you hurried through and didn't want to spend any time there. Every time your guide started speaking or showing you anything, you would walk off and also did not want to be close to anyone due to fears about Covid. He frequently asked you if you had any questions but didn't say anything. Your guide had even researched your family connections. Given that you didn't want to listen to or be close to your guide, go in many of the buildings or exhibitions, I'm not sure what more could have been done. We hope you enjoy the rest of your holiday and are more open to enjoying the other incredible sights and experiences that Edinburgh and Scotland have to offer.

5 hours that should have been 3!

Judy_D, Aug 2022

It was great to have a private tour but our guide could have been better prepared and just talked too much. He met us at our hotel at 9:15 am and we got back to our hotel (he walked and talked the whole time) at 2:05 pm…almost 5 hours! We only wanted 3 hours for a reason. So it just got to be frustrating although we were very nice and patient.

Response from Host, Aug 2022

Hi Judy, thank you for taking the time to leave feedback which we greatly appreciate. Out of the 4 hours 50 minutes, it takes approximately 20 minutes each way to walk between your hotel and the castle. Your guide, Andy also asked you if you’d like to see a couple of things you said you’d missed on a previous tour of the old town and added this in at the end. As it is a private tour the duration will always vary depending on the interest and feedback of our guests. Andy made sure to ask on several occasions, “how are we doing”.? We also make a point of asking guests how they are feeling, are they happy, want to speed up, slow down etc and at no point did he pick up there was an issue with timing. The guide doesn't get paid extra for a longer tour and does so out of the kindness of his heart, to do a good job and ensure visitors have a great day and experience as much as possible. I'm sorry that on this occasion you found the duration of your personalised tour too lengthy and that his efforts weren't appreciated. Nevertheless thank-you again for your review.