Multi-Sensory Haunted Underground Vaults Tour in Edinburgh
Recommended by 93% of travelers
Badge of Excellence
Edinburgh, Scotland
- 1 hour 15 minutes (approx.)
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
The Blair Street Vaults shouldn’t be missed when visiting Edinburgh—especially for fans of the spooky and macabre. But independent visits aren’t allowed, so you’ll need to a guide to gain access to this restricted underground area. On this ghoulish walking tour, descend into the darkened depths of the vaults and hear vivid retellings of torture, murder, and body snatching from your guide.
- Enjoy a personalizedexperience, limited to 18 people maximum
- Ideal for those intrigued by the paranormal, this spooky tour is sure to scare
- Listen to gruesome tales of torture, murder, and body snatching
- No manufactured frights, ensuring everything you experience is genuine
What's Included
- Exclusive multi-sensory experience; with master Storyteller guides
- Small group experience
- Exclusive access to the famous Blair Street Underground Vaults on this high-spirited tour
- Enhanced with hand-picked sounds of Edinburgh and delivered through TourTalk audio devices
- Take home an exclusive ghost story gift!
- Listen to the Exclusive Sounds Of Edinburgh Tour Playlist
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- Mercat CrossHigh St, Edinburgh EH1 1RF, UK
Mercat Cross, High St, Edinburgh EH1 1RF. Look for the 8 sided monument with white Unicorn on top. You will find a member of our visitor services team waiting here to check you in. They will be dressed in black, holding an iPad, wearing an orange lanyard & holding a black & orange umbrella.
End point
- 28 Blair St, Edinburgh EH1 1QR, UK
Mercat Tours, 28 Blair Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1QR. This tour ends after a visit to our Blair Street Underground Vaults.
Itinerary
At an afternoon departure time to suit your schedule, greet your guide at a central location. Following your cloaked guide, weave your wicked way through the shadow-shrouded streets of Edinburgh’s Old Town and gain insight into Edinburgh’s dark history.
After the spooky scene has been established, descend to the vaults beneath Blair Street and feel a morbid chill permeate the air. Tentatively wander through darkened passages and hear gruesome tales of torture, murder, and body snatching.
Ghost stories galore, you are sensitive to a cold breath on the back of your neck and the flicker of a candle in the distance. Return to daylight and bid your guide farewell.
After the spooky scene has been established, descend to the vaults beneath Blair Street and feel a morbid chill permeate the air. Tentatively wander through darkened passages and hear gruesome tales of torture, murder, and body snatching.
Ghost stories galore, you are sensitive to a cold breath on the back of your neck and the flicker of a candle in the distance. Return to daylight and bid your guide farewell.
1
Mercat Cross
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
2
Edinburgh Old Town
30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
3
Mercat Tours
30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Please note that we cannot accept babies or children under the age of 5 on this tour.
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Service animals allowed
- Near public transportation
- Most travelers can participate
- Tours are guaranteed all year round, so please dress for the weather, with comfortable shoes.
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 18 travelers
Supplied by
Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
4.7
based on 1,702 reviews
Baylee_D, Apr 2026
This was SUCH a fun tour! Check in was easy and simple. Bo, our guide, was kind and witty. He was very knowledgeable and created the perfect eerie mood! My husband and I were definitely spooked near the end. With that being said, there is no truly scary moments, making this relatively family friendly. Overall, a great, quick tour on a dark and stormy night!
Elizabeth_D, Mar 2026
A great and unique way to experience part of the city! Tour guide (Jude) was fun and knowledgeable as we walked through the Royal Mile to the entrance of the vaults. We embraced changing Edinburgh weather by sheltering in the near by Close. Inside the vaults we heard stories of residents from history and about some encounters of other guests. I even discovered an encounter of my own on my hand - spooky!!
Kekes_A, Mar 2026
Great experience going through the Edinburgh South Bridge's with an marvellous performances from Michael.
Magnificent way of showing Edinburgh story.
Susan_A, Mar 2026
Wear good footwear, as the ground is uneven in parts. A torch comes in handy. An interesting lesson on the social history of Edinburgh. Our guide Veni was great. She was very welcoming and passionate about the history of Edinburgh.
Elise_S, Feb 2026
I rarely leave reviews. Phenomenal experience. ————————————————————————————————————————————————-11111
Darren_T, Dec 2025
The tour was really good, Steph the guide was really chatty before the tour began and slipped effortlessly into character. She was knowledgable about the history and told the tales with enthusiasm and made it fun. I would highly recommend this tour, it’s a good way to spend an hour or so learning about the darker side of Edinburgh.
Craig_V, Dec 2025
Great walking tour…fun glimpse into some of Edinburgh’s sordid history. Jude was a fantastic guide and storyteller! Perfect level of creepy for our 14yo.
Sarah_R, Dec 2025
Shannon was a very good storyteller and made the tour really intriguing! Very interactive tour and had a lot of fun. Thank you!
James_C, Dec 2025
Our beautiful guide Shannon was full of knowledge and was absolutely intoxicating while telling the stories of the past and bringing to life the ghosts of the vaults.
Stephany_J, Sep 2025
Steph was amazing such a brilliant storyteller! A fun family friendly activity! Recommend doing with family
Shagun_M, Aug 2025
Fantastic! Must do. Creepy to say the least. Steph was our guide and she was fantastic. They end the tour in the vaults, it is spooky down there. For a non believer, I ended up believing in those moments. My son did get scared, but Steph was so kind and gentle and gave him a flashlight to “protect” himself from any presence. Definitely a must do!
Emily_A, Jul 2025
This was an excellent, ‘off the beaten path’ activity for our family. My two teenagers were delighted by the gore!
Loviza_P, Jun 2025
This was a fun experience, the tour guide was very passionate about the storytelling and was happy to answer all the questions that you had. If you like history, this one is for you!
Loretta_S, Jun 2025
Be prepared as there are quite a few narrows stairs to go down. The information given by Mike was amazing.
Garrett_L, May 2025
Our guide Shannon was amazing. Such a great storyteller and brilliant at creating creepy and disturbing imagery. I think this was one of the best Viator tours we’ve booked ever. So unique with taking the group down to the underground vaults, combining real history with haunted tales. Highly, highly recommend if you’re ever in Edinburgh.
ShirleyDodds, May 2025
Half an hr walking tour and told about how criminals were tortured, and about ghosts.Half an hr in Blair underground vaults, being told about resident ghosts and how people lived down there.Nicola was our guide and she was great, very dramatic
Kenneth_F, Apr 2025
Our guide was very knowledgeable and entertaining. She seemed to really enjoy sharing the stories of the area past.
Rosie_P, Feb 2025
Jack was a very knowledgeable guide, and very patient. The tour was very well planned.
As someone who has a disability, they listened and kept an eye to check we were ok and still with the group at all time.
The pace was adapted to suit all participants.
AnjaMaria_S, Feb 2025
It was a very spooky tour in the underground of Edinburgh, our guide Mike was very professional and told the stories with passion
Michelle_M, Dec 2024
Shannon, our guide, was very engaging and an excellent storyteller. We were all riveted! Thought this was the perfect tour to give us a bit of Edinburgh’s darker history.
Glynis_P, Dec 2024
The tour is short but long enough to absorb a lot of information. 30 mins above ground walking through the Closes and a further 30 minutes underneath in the vaults. We were extremely fortunate to have a wonderful guide, Steph who was positively enlightening and interesting. I could have listened to her for hours. Thank you Steph for making the tour so informative and entertaining.
Johan_K, Dec 2024
It's a fun and slightly scary experience with cool historical background information of Edinburgh, and particularly the South Bridge, told by a very enthousiastic and good storyteller, Steph. We enjoyed this and we're captured by her performance.
Charis_P, Nov 2024
Fabulous tour - very amusing and knowledgable guide. Would highly recommend and you certainly see a different side to Edinburgh.
AlanS_F, Oct 2024
Jim Scott is the best guide!! He kept us entertained the entire tour and we were able to learn a lot from Scotland history.
Lisa_W, Oct 2024
I loved the stories our tour guide Marieh told us! Very interesting place we would not otherwise have known about.
Elaine_C, Oct 2024
What a wonderful yet creepy tour. Shannon was an absolutely wonderful storyteller. Top notch. Kept everyone engaged in her stories. Didn’t appreciate hearing the rocks being stuck together or the smell of fish in the last vault but HEY, guess the ghosts had other ideas for me
Thank you Shannon. Great job!!!! Loved it!!!!!
Eric_K, Sep 2024
Was pretty hooky, would not recommend. Take a more informative tour, there would be more interesting facts about the vaults.
JB_W, Sep 2024
We paid for a small group tour but there was close to 15 or more on it. It was crowded and uncomfortable. We found this tour really disappointing. In the attempt to make stories interesting and lively - they came across silly and far less interesting. The price for a one hour presentation was steep especially when the time in the vaults was max 20 minutes. We found this tour underwhelming.
Joanna_H, Aug 2024
Really really great tour, very interesting, fact filled, Marie our tour guide was amazing, she made me feel less anxious when I said I hadn't been in the vaults before, she really played the part of characters from hundreds of years ago, would definitely go on a Mercat tour again.
ian_p, Jun 2024
The experience of the vault was great and go with an open mined you my get to discover something your not expecting like a cold hand or an image meny thanks to our guide Maria
From $40.07
per personup to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)
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Multi-Sensory Haunted Underground Vaults Tour in Edinburgh
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1 hour 15 minutes
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