Edinburgh Private Walking Tour
Recommended by 100% of travelers
Edinburgh, Scotland
- 2 hours 30 minutes (approx.)
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
Skip the guesswork of exploring Edinburgh on your own with a private walking tour led by a local guide. Discover the city’s past and present through its royal history and memorable characters—some of whom inspired well-known books and stories—while visiting highlights on and off the Royal Mile, including the area around Greyfriars Kirk. Along the way, get personalized recommendations on where to eat and drink, and enjoy a relaxed pace with one-on-one attention tailored to couples, families, and small groups.
- Explore the city with an in-the-know guide to get a local's perspective
- Listen to fascinating tales about Edinburgh's history, legends and royal connections
- Go at a pace that suits you and your private group—no need to rush
- Receive recommendations for restaurants and bars to visit later
What's Included
- Professional guide
- Gratuities
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- St Giles' CathedralHigh St, Edinburgh EH1 1RE, UK
We meet at the main steps to St Giles Cathedral which is on the Royal Mile just across the street from Royal Mile Whiskies.
End point
This activity ends back at the meeting point.Itinerary
1
St Giles' Cathedral
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
2
Royal Mile
20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
Grassmarket (Pass By)
3
Advocate's Close
5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
4
Deacon Brodie's Tavern
5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
5
Victoria Street
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received within 48 hours of booking, subject to availability
- Tours leave from the main entrance of St Giles' Cathedral on the Royal Mile. You will recognize your guide from the name badge around their neck
- Please arrive at least five minutes early
- Wheelchair accessible
- Please dress for the Edinburgh weather, which can be very irregular
- Stroller accessible
- Service animals allowed
- Near public transportation
- Transportation is wheelchair accessible
- Most travelers can participate
- 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
Reviews
5.0
based on 91 reviews
Benjamin_A, Nov 2025
We had an exceptional experience with David! He worked to ensure the tour was targeted to the things we wanted to see and spent ample time at each stop explaining the history and significance with our two teenage boys. I would highly recommend a tour!
Response from Host, Dec 2025
Dear Benjamin,
Many thanks for taking the time to write a review of your tour with David. He is a very talented guide who can easily include everyone into a tour and helps everyone understand our great city.
We hope you can come tour with us again some day.
Will
Rodney_H, Oct 2025
well worth booking. Very informative and interesting. Our guide Kieran really knows his history and took us to places we would have never found on our own!
Response from Host, Dec 2025
Dear Rodney,
We are glad you enjoyed your tour with Kieran, he is a great guide who loves to get people off the beaten path so we are really happy you appreciated that.
We hope you can come tour with us again.
Will
Kim_K, Oct 2025
Kierin was knowledgeable. Entertaining, and full of love for his country. This was an enjoyable experience.
Response from Host, Oct 2025
Dear Kim,
Many thanks for taking the time to write a review. Keiran is a great guide who loves Edinburgh and Scotland dearly, he is an amazing story teller and a wonderful historian and we sre glad you enjoyed the tour so much.
Kind regards
Will
Paul_F, Sep 2025
Shanna provided us with a customized tour of Old Town that was informative and entertaining. Her knowledge of Edinburgh history - both of the royal families and its famous and infamous citizens made for a wonderful to both Edinburgh and Scotland ad well. Shanna and this tour are highly recommended!
Response from Host, Sep 2025
Dear Paul F,
Many thanks for taking the time to write a review of your private Edinburgh Old Town walking tour with Shanna.
Edinburgh is an amazing city and Shanna is a great story teller and historian and everyone loves her tours.
Here at iconic Tours we are always about making each tour suit the private group booked on with us and we are glad you all enjoyed the different aspects of the tour so much.
Many thanks
Will
Patti_S, Sep 2025
Shawna was a great tour guide very knowledgeable. We learned a great deal. Edinburgh has a lot to offer. Make sure you wear a comfy shoes for the tour.
Response from Host, Sep 2025
Dear Patti S,
We sre delighted you enjoyed your tour with Shanna so much. She is an amazing guide with a huge knowledge of all things Edinburgh and Scotland.
We totally agree, comfy shoes are a must if you come to visit, with all the steps and cobbles it's best to be kind to your feet.
Debra_R, Sep 2025
The Royal Mile in Edinburgh is filled with people and large tour groups. It was wonderful for my husband and I to see all the highlights of Old Town while avoiding most of the congestion. Our guide, Adrian was knowledgeable, entertaining and made it a great experience. We definitely recommend him.
Response from Host, Sep 2025
Dear Debra,
Many thanks for taking the time to write a review for your tour with Adrian.
At Iconic Tours we love to get people off the beaten path and away from the big group tours, Edinburgh has so many amazing places to explore and we love that our private walking tours of Edinburgh help tourists see a side of Edinburgh that only the locals really know about.
We hope to see you again, maybe next time we could even get you up to the Highlands.
Many thanks again,
Will
gabriella_g, Sep 2025
Great way to walk about Edinburgh in a way that fits your fitness level and learn so much about Scotland’s history by visiting the highlights at your pace. We decided on this style of tour because we can be slow walkers (knees hurt) and I would not want to slow a group of tourists… or miss out on the explanations! Anyway David was a fantastic tour guide. We explained our difficulties and he was always paying attention to our physical needs and making sure that we could negotiate slopes and staircases (of which there are plenty).
We had a thoroughly enjoyable evening learning from him so many intricate details and taking the first look around Edinburgh!
Definitely recommend this experience. 5 star!
Response from Host, Sep 2025
Dear Gabriella,
Many thanks for taking the time to write a review of your tour with David.
Not only is he a great guide, historian and story teller he is most definitely a kind and compassionate human being and makes sure tours go at a pace to suit whomever he is with.
We hope you can come tour with us again one day.
Many thanks again,
Will
Gina_W, Sep 2025
My husband and I had a wonderful walking tour with David. He was amazing. He had a lot of knowledge about Edinburgh and Scottish history. If you do this tour ask for David
Response from Host, Sep 2025
Dear Gina,
Thank you so much for the review for your tour with David. He's an amazing guide and a great guy, like all the guides at Iconic Tours he gets constant 5 star reviews as we all love what we do and we are glad you feel that too.
We hope you can come tour with us again one day.
Will
Paul_G, Sep 2025
Kieran was a wonderful guide - knowledgeable, engaging, and genuinely enthusiastic about Scottish and Edinburgh history. Amazing experience!
Response from Host, Sep 2025
Dear Paul G,
Thank you so much for taking the time to write a review of your tour with the wonderful Kieran. He loves Scotland and Edinburgh and has so many great stories and amazing history to share.
All of our guides at Iconic Tours are very passionate about what we do abd we love to give everyone a real local experience. We hope you can come and tour with us again one day.
Kind regards
Will
Beverly_B, Aug 2025
David was extremely knowledgeable and entertaining with great stories about the history and the uniqueness of Edinburgh. He answered all of our questions and was extremely gracious at all times.
This was an extraordinary introduction to a fascinating city.
Response from Host, Aug 2025
Dear Beverley,
David is indeed amazing, he can answer all your questions, tell you all about that you really need to know to understand Edinburgh and give you a few laughs along the way
Clay_K, Aug 2025
Kieran was extremely knowledgeable and friendly! We had a wonderful time hearing many new stories about Edinburgh
Response from Host, Aug 2025
Dear Clay,
Many thanks for taking the time to write a review. Kieran is brilliant, a real gifted story teller, an amazing historian, all round nice guy and a real credit to the team at Iconic Tours.
Peter_M, Aug 2025
Fantastic tour, we had to cut it a little short for our own reasons, alas, would have loved to have had the extra half hour ...
David is more than a tour guide, he's a historian - we really got immersed in how the center of Edinburgh evolved. More than that, he was delightful company!
We'll be back to Edinburgh for a longer stay, and will definitely take our friends and family on this tour. You should too!
Response from Host, Aug 2025
Dear Peter,
Many thanks for taking the time to write a review for your tour with David, he really enjoyed meeting you and as you found out, even in a short time David really helps Edinburgh come alive. At Iconic Tours we all want to make sure everyone has the best tour possible and David always knocks ot out of the park.
We hope you can come and join us again one day for another tour of Edinburgh or even beyond.
All the best,
Will
Laura_H, Aug 2025
This tour was a great way to start our Scottish vacation. We got to walk around Edinburgh and learn about the history of the city and get an idea of how the city was laid out. The tour guide gave us some very good recommendations on places to go and see while we where there which turned out to be great. I could recommend this tour to anyone who wants to see the area and does not know much about the city.
Response from Host, Aug 2025
Dear Laura,
Many thanks for taking the time to write a review for your tour with Adrian.
Adrian is a great guide. As well as having an intimate knowledge of history and culture he has wimderful suggestions of things to do in Edinburgh to suit the varied tastes of the lovely people we get on tour.
We hope you can come tour with us again.
Many thanks
Will
Roberto_G, Jul 2025
David was excellent, Very kind and knowledgeable about Edinburg and Scotland, excellent service.. Truly recommend
Response from Host, Jul 2025
Dear Roberto,
Thank you so much for your lovely review. David is amazing and really knows how to get people to understand our great city in just a few hours.
We hope you can come tour with us again one day and we can show you even more.
Many thanks
Will
Jeremy_S, Jun 2025
Great introduction to the old town.
Entertaining and interesting talks by Adrian.
Would definitely recommend.
Response from Host, Jun 2025
Dear Jeremy S,
Thank you so much for taking the time to write a review for your Edinburgh Old Town tour with Adrian.
Adrian is a great guide who really knows how to bring Edinburgh's history and stories to life. We hope you can come tour with us again one day.
Kind regards
Will
BETH_P, Jun 2025
Adrian was a very personable and knowledgable guide. This was a great start to exploring Edinburgh!!
Response from Host, Jun 2025
Dear Beth,
Many thanks for taking the time to write a review of your Edinburgh Old Town tour with Adrian. He is a great guide and gives a perfect overview of our great city whilst being great at getting to know his customers and adapting the tour to suit them.
We hope you can come tour with us again.
Kind regards,
Will
Iconic Tours
Paul_R, Jun 2025
If you want a perfect introduction to Edinburgh history and are short on time, this is your tour. We only had 2 nights in Edinburgh and after checking into our hotel we headed to this 4:30 tour. David was such a knowledgeable guide and also made it enjoyable with some fun facts to go along with the history.
Response from Host, Jun 2025
Dear Paul,
We are glad to hear that your tour with David was a great introduction to Edinburgh for you.
We always like to show people the iconic sites and fill them in on the must know history and stories of our great city.
Many thanks
Will
Iconic Tours
Stephen_N, Jun 2025
Very interesting, wonderful tour and guide, David. Well worth the time and expense. Very interesting stories, historical and otherwise.
Response from Host, Jun 2025
Dea Stephen,
Many thanks for taking the time tonwrite a review for your tour with David. He's an excellent guide and story teller with a huge knowledge about all things historical about Edinburgh.
I hope you can come tour with us again.
Will
Wendy_L, Jun 2025
Terrific experience we were 3 lucky people to have had such a great guide. We sawcGrass market, royal mile area and much more
Response from Host, Jun 2025
Dear Wendy,
It was really my pleasure to meet you all. At Iconic Tours we love to show people the best places and tell the best stories and sort out the facts from the many fictions Edinburgh has.
I hope you have a wonderful time here and I hope to see you all again sone day.
Kind regards
Will
Kelly_R, Jun 2025
Fun facts as well as history of old town. Nice to be with personal group so you could get in more info.
Response from Host, Jun 2025
Dear Kelly,
Many thanks for taking the time to write a review for the private walking tour you had with Kieran from Iconic Tours.
As this is a private tour we can easily go off on tangents to suit and make the tour really suit what you want rather than just reading off a script. We ar glad you enjoyed the tour so much.
Many thanks
Will
Christa_P, May 2025
The private walking tour with Kieran was so fun! He shared lots of historical facts with us (& several spooky/haunted city tales!). Time went by so quickly—we didn’t want it to end. Highly recommend & absolutely worth the money.
Response from Host, May 2025
Dear Christa_P,
Many thanks for taking the time to write a review of your tour with Kieran from Iconic Tours.
Kieran has ana amazing knowledge of all things Edinburgh and is a bit of an expert on all things spooky and haunted as well.
We hope you can come tour with us again.
Many thanks
Will
Keith_W, May 2025
Our guide’s command of the local history and lore was amazing. I highly recommend this tour to anyone who wants to take a deep dive on this wonderful city. Even our kids (10-12) stayed interested.
Response from Host, May 2025
Dear Keith,
Many thanks for taking the time to write a review for your private walking tour of Edinburgh with Shanna from Iconic Tours.
Shanna has an amazing knowledge of history, lore and is currently doing her PhD in Viking history so she is super knowledgeable about so many topics but always finds it easy to pitch tours to people of different ages.
We do hope you can come tour with us again some day.
Kind regards
Will
Gerry_L, Apr 2025
We had a wonderful tour with David. He was extremely knowledgeable and shared so many stories and facts about Edinburgh. Be sure to book a tour with David you will not be disappointed.
Response from Host, Apr 2025
Dear Gerry L,
Thanks for taking the time to write about your tour with David. He is wonderful, as are all our guides, and everyone who toirs with us alleyways recommends the guide they had and for good reason.
Thanks again,
Will
Jeff_Z, Mar 2025
David was very knowledgeable and engaging. We appreciate that he tailored the tour to our interests.
Response from Host, Mar 2025
Dear Jeff_Z,
Thank you for taking the time to review your tour with David. He's a great guy with a vast knowledge of all things Edinburgh and Scotland and he's really adept at making each tour different to suit individual tastes.
We hope you can tour with us again one day.
Kind regards
Will
torylodge, Jan 2025
We had the best walking tour with Kieran, it was most interesting and he had a vast knowledge of the history of Edinburgh with a few fun facts too. We would highly recommend this walking tour.
Response from Host, Feb 2025
Dear Tory Lodge,
Thank you for taking time to write a review of your amazing walking tour of Edinburgh Old Town.
We are so happy you had such a great time with Kieran, he's a great guy, a wonderful guide and really treasure trove of knowledge.
We hope you can come tour with us again one day.
Kind regards from Edinburgh
Will
Susanne_G, Jan 2025
Fantastic insights from our guide David a historian who always knew an answer to our myriad of questions. We learnt a lot about this beautiful city and enjoyed getting to know its history. We all (age range from 11-66) loved the experience. Many thanks!
Response from Host, Jan 2025
Dear Susanne,
Thank you so much for taking the time to write a review of your tour with David.
David can pitch his tours to any age level and keep everyone engaged whilst helping them get to understand our great city.
I hope you can come tour with us again one day.
Kind regards
Will
SHANE_A, Dec 2024
David our guide was the quintessential tour guide, rich in history wrapped into stories that had us engaged from the beginning to the end!! He was so flexible in terms of what we wanted to see. Very personable, helped us take great pics and never hesitated to answer all questions!! Honestly, if you are interested to learn Scottish history, DAVID is your guide!! I have travelled the world and don’t think I have come across a guide who is so rich in history, he really brought the town to life!! David made our stay extra special!!
Response from Host, Jan 2025
Dear Shane,
Many thanks for taking the time to write a review for your tour with David.
It's amazing to hear that you have travelled the world and never met a guide with such an in depth knowledge of history and brings it all to life with ease. As well as guiding he writes about history and has talked in TV about it, when it comes to Scotlands history you could not be in better hands.
We hope you can come tour with us again one day.
Will
Elena_C, Dec 2024
David was wonderful. We learned so much about Edinburgh. Our guide was super friendly and incredibly knowledgeable. Would highly recommend!
Response from Host, Jan 2025
Dear Elena_C,
Many thanks for taking the time to write a review for your with David.
He's a great guide and a wonderful guy to spend some time exploring Edinburgh with and we hope you can come tour with us again one day.
Kind regards from Edinburgh.
Will
Jordan_G, Nov 2024
David was incredible. So kind and knowledgeable. We learned a lot and 10/10 would recommend to anyone visiting.
Response from Host, Nov 2024
Dear Jordan,
We are delighted you had such a great time with David. He's an amazing guide and we are glad you recommend him for any tour of Edinburgh.
Justin_W, Oct 2024
This was a fantastic tour and an amazing tour guide. We've never been to Scotland so the stories and history we were told really opened our eyes to the area. The tour guide was really fun and very knowledgeable. I 1000% recommend this tour.
Response from Host, Nov 2024
Dear Justin,
Many thanks for reviewing your tour with Kieran. He is a brilliant guide and very funny as well, everyone loves a tour with him and we hope you can come tour with us again one day.
Kind regards
Will
From $100.84
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