Edinburgh Castle: Guided Walking Tour with Entry Ticket
Recommended by 95% of travelers
Edinburgh, Scotland
- 1 hour 30 minutes (approx.)
- Offered in: English
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Overview
A trip to the capital of Scotland isn't complete without a tour of Edinburgh Castle. Follow your guide through the grounds and hear tales of the castle's royal residents—including Mary Queen of Scots—and learn more about the rich history of the building. After your tour ends, there's plenty of free time explore the castle's interior and the rest of the grounds, which includes three museums, two prisons, a canine cemetery, the Chapel of Saint Margaret, the National Monument to the fallen of Scotland, the Great Hall, and a Royal Palace.
- Plenty of time for photo ops of Edinburgh Castle and the surrounding city
- Hear unique stories of Scottish history and ask questions along the way
- Don't be disappointed: Pre-booking tickets guarantees entry
- An activity the whole family can enjoy
What's Included
- Entrance ticket & Edinburgh Castle Guided Tour
- Entre fees
- Pet Not allowed. Only guide dog.
- Gratuities
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- WRX5+WF, 361 High St, Edinburgh EH1 1PW, UK
Meet in front of the entrance to Advocates Close, opposite (St. Giles’ Cathedral) . Look for the black umbrella with the tour provider's yellow logo.
End point
- Edinburgh CastleCastlehill, Edinburgh EH1 2NG, UK
Tour end inside Edinburgh Castle
Itinerary
1
Edinburgh Castle
1 hour • Admission Ticket Free
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Stroller accessible
- Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
- Please note in poor weather conditions the tour will remain outdoors as access to the castle buildings is not available for tour groups
- Tour will be inside the castle walls, but outdoors, with free time after the tour to to explore the castle an to go inside every building (Museums, Royal Palace, prisons, and much more). We can not access those buildings during the tour, but the tour will still be carried out within the castle grounds.
- The castle is a complex of buildings, not a single building.
- On this tour you will be guided around Edinburgh castle, with specific stops assigned by the castle authorities.
- Bags over 30L in volume are not allawed inside the castle.
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 30 travelers
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Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
4.8
based on 6,129 reviews
Pamela_F, Jun 2026
Well, it all started with my mistakes! I booked a Spanish speaking tour- we don’t speak Spanish. Then, I didn’t read that we had a meeting place rather than meeting at the castle. Once the mistakes were realized, we went up to a man with a black/yellow umbrella and asked questions. He jumped into action and messaged someone to come help us. Within a few minutes, someone arrived with our tickets and allowed us to join in with an English speaking tour. What a stoke of luck! We ended up with Jen and what a delight! She is a wealth of information and entertaining! What a great time!
Bryan_L, Jun 2026
Our tour guide Ross was a great addition to our castle tour. Very knowledgeable and funny too. Definitely recommend
Zeynep_K, Jun 2026
Great tour, David (Australian) is a good storyteller and fun. Everything easy and smooth. I would definitely recommend this tour. Make sure to wear a jacket since it is very windy up there.
Dawn_J, Jun 2026
Great guide, very knowledgeable and meeting place was good. The castle was beautiful and separated into different buildings with some wait time standing in lines
Renon_P, Jun 2026
Jen was so much fun and full of the history at the castle!! She’s a natural.
It was insightful to find out King James was born in the castle. I love that I learned this, now my King James Bible has more context to me.
Chris_V, Jun 2026
Good info, presented in unique way with the pictures Ignas had to add to the experience. Make sure you note the starting point as it’s not at the castle due to military restrictions.
Liz_H, Jun 2026
Raj was great! Loved the history he shared with us about Robert the Bryce and Mary, Queen of Scott’s.
Elizabeth_J, May 2026
Ross was a fantastic guide, and getting the overview of the castle and its history from him was a great way to kick off our visit to the castle, before we were left (appropriately!) to our own devices to explore.
Micaela_G, May 2026
Easy to meet up, excellent & knowledgeable tour guide. He navigated the crowds well, and offered interesting facts & highlights.
David_F, May 2026
You couldn't hear the guide due to the size of the group, all of the other groups around us and the construction. Not the guides fault just to much going on. If the guide had a microphone and we had headphones the tour would of been much more enjoyable.
marci_t, May 2026
Rush to get to your guide through hundreds of ppl at Edinburgh Castles. The tour guide Gavin was great but also hard to keep up with him as the only clue in the crowd where he was was his hat. Not the umbrella. Maybe 3 stars for the tour company
Cassidy_B, May 2026
Sonia was so much fun! She was an amazing guide, very personable, knowledgeable and I felt in good hands. I would recommend this tour to anyone!
Paula_M, May 2026
Great history lesson, beautiful views of the city, moderate elevation increases, and knowledgeable and engaging guide.
Rebecca_C, May 2026
Our group was large and so were the crowds. There was also construction inside the castle to prep for fringe festival. We could only hear our guide when we were practically on top of him. The stories were very interesting and he was good at telling them, but I wasn’t going to knock down old ladies to get into the inner circle.
As an added bonus, during our stay in side the castle there were two fire alarms that required us to shelter in place for 45 plus minutes, so we didn’t get to see everything we wanted to see.
It is an absolutely beautiful castle though. My advice is to sign up with a group that has the ear pieces so the guide can use their little microphone and everyone can hear the history clearly or use their little guided audio tour.
Robert_L, May 2026
Great historical castle experience with a great guide named Ross.
Quite a lot of tourists visiting the Edinburgh castle, but still worth it!
Mary_O, May 2026
My son and I had a great tour experience. Raj was our guide and he was very knowledgeable. I will highly recommend it if you didn’t book tickets on time. I have visited the castle before without a guide and missed things, but Raj made sure to explain which places to visit in the castle after the tour.
Charles_L, May 2026
Good tour of the castle. The tour guide was very nice and knowledgeable and shared additional recommendations during our time in Edinburgh. Would recommend!
Boris_S, May 2026
Compact, funny and informative Tour. Kristel, our Guide, did a great job - very competent. Well organized tour!
Shrey_R, May 2026
Lovely tour by Krystal! Had a great time ! She is quite knowledgeable and very patient. The castle can get crowded at 13:00+
Mark_Z, May 2026
Our day began stressful as we struggled to get to our meeting point on time. The tour guide was very accommodating.
Our guide was informative and had a good sense of humor. The castle is definitely worth visiting. So much history filled with amazing stories. Great tour!
Roslyn_P, May 2026
It’s a 1.30 experience with a lot of information in a short amount of time. I enjoyed it but didn’t feel it was worth the cost of the ticket compared with other walking tours I have done.
Wesley_W, May 2026
Incredible better than expected ……great time……..guides were great………….cant wait to go back………..great
Haley_O, May 2026
This was an enjoyable your and our guide was extremely knowledgeable, but since we don’t actually go inside to any of the exhibits or landmarks within the castle, it felt like it would have been better to do a self guided tour. Weather was quite poor and I would have appreciated less standing around and more activities or information. However, the guide was lovely and very funny.
BopBop, May 2026
The experience was great - our guide was very knowledgeable about Scottish history & gave is many anecdotes.
RC_K, May 2026
We are a couple in our early 60's and did this experience in May of 2026. Tour was scheduled to start at 10am at a meeting point near St. Giles on the Royal Mile. There were a lot of tours meeting here so we were glad we went to the meeting spot 10 minutes early to check in. There was one person doing check in and a long line but it went quickly and we were sent over to meet our guide who was holding an umbrella with a logo. Once the rest of our group of about 20 people arrived we set off about 5-10 minutes after 10. Our guide Catherine was knowledgeable and entertaining. She did an especially good job of trying to include and engage the 2 children in our group. We really appreciated having tickets pre-arranged for the caste as when we passed the ticket booth all tickets for the day were sold out. It would have been helpful if the tour started at 9 (when the castle opened) or 9:30 as by the time we entered the castle (after 10:30) it was extremely busy. Nevertheless, our guide finished near the jewels and the wait was only about 10 minutes to see them, although this line grew to be quite long later. After the guided tour we spent time on our own exploring inside buildings at our leisure. This tour was worth it for us as we got tickets on the day we wanted to a site that was a high priority for us to see. Our guide, Catherine, made it a more interesting experience as hearing her information and stories were an excellent supplement to the signage available to read. The walk up to and inside the castle was quite steep but it was gradual. Our guide stopped at strategic spots to let all catch up. There are uneven cobble stones to be aware of throughout.
Keith_U, May 2026
My next trip I would just do the audio tour. Chaotic check in. Crowded and very hard to hear tour guide.
Betty_H, May 2026
The castle is worth a visit the only thing i could fault was we could'nt hear what the guide was saying .
Nancy_L, May 2026
Nick was an excellent guide. He was informative and friendly and funny. He definitely enhanced the experience!
Edmund_W, May 2026
Our guide was well informed. Be prepared for large crowds be patient. The museums and exhibits are well worth your time.
Andrew_F, May 2026
Our Guide, Jen was fabulous! She was very knowledgeable and delivered the story of the castle in a very entertaining way.
From $53.43
per personup to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)
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