Old Town Historical and Underground Tour

Recommended by 96% of travelers

Edinburgh, Scotland

Popular pick

Booked 10+ times last week!

1 hour 30 minutes (approx.)
Offered in: English

Why travelers loved this

4.8

· Amy_W ·

Dec 2025

Great tour with Morven. Really interesting content. Learnt lots and kept my interest. Good balance with more dark & disturbing history, and more light content. Found it all fascinating. Plenty of opportunity for photos of the beautiful architecture, too!

· KarenMacLean ·

Feb 2026

Really enjoyable and interesting tour inside the underground vaults and also around the City as well. Our guide was Holly and she was very knowledgeable about the history of the vaults and the City. Not a tour for you if you don’t like dark enclosed spaces, but it wasn’t frightening. We would definitely recommend as a way to understand how Edinburgh developed.

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Overview

Get an in-depth perspective on Edinburgh on this guided tour that goes deeper than most. Usually led by a guide with a PhD in Scottish history, this tour offers a journey through Edinburgh’s medieval Old Town from the main thoroughfares to the hidden closes (alleyways) and courtyards. Your guide shares tales of dramatic events in the neighborhood's history, as well as those of the writers, philosophers, and inventors who called the area home.

Led by either the holder of a PhD in Scottish history or a guide with decades of experience
Relaxed pace: Take the opportunity to ask questions
Offers an insight into Scottish history glossed over by many tours
Includes visits to Canongate Kirkyard and the underground vaults

What's Included

90 Minute tour of Edinburgh’s Old Town and South Bridge vaults.
Tour led by a well trained, highly knowledgeable and personable guide.
Relaxed nature of the tour allows for plenty of questions and further discussion.
Learn about the extraordinary events which shaped this great city.
Access to our exclusive section of underground.
For those who want to learn more about Edinburgh’s past this tour is a must do!

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

124 High St, Edinburgh EH1 1QS, UK

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

Itinerary

City of Edinburgh Tours

45 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Service animals allowed

Near public transportation
Most travelers can participate
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 28 travelers

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)

Gallery picture 3 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 4 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 5 (from a traveler's review)

Reviews

4.8

based on 1,646 reviews

Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor

We perform checks on reviews

Rich history and great storytelling

Tracy_S, Apr 2026

Morven our guide was so knowledgeable and gave great historical detail. I learned so much even although I was brought up in Edinburgh. She brought the history to life through the stories (without the corny ghost parts). The underground part of the tour was fascinating and even although it's dark and the spaces relatively small, it didn't feel claustrophobic although it might for some people. Cannongate Kirk is also steeped in history and Morven's knowledge of the witch trials was impressive. I thoroughly recommend the tour.

Choose another tour company- the rude owner doesn’t deserve your money.

Lucy_H, Apr 2026

Tour operator: City of Edinburgh Tours Tour we were on: The Old Town Historical and Underground tour The tour was marred by how it began, but more on that later. The tour guide was very pleasant with a quiet confidence. While the underground vault was interesting, it's only a small part of the tour. It was my misfortune to meet the owner on what should have been an enjoyable outing. - Arrived 5 minutes before the tour began in full view of the tour guide - The man in the booth scanned our tickets demanding to know where my husband was. I said he would be right with us. He went from 0-60 in his manner and aggressively said “We have other people on this tour you know! We are NOT waiting just for YOU.” I actually hate confrontation and I was taken aback by his attitude. I gathered myself enough to politely state: 1. That I hadn’t asked the tour to wait 2. That I wouldn’t dream of asking anyone to wait and repeated that my husband would catch us up and that he was a minute away. I then got a tirade of verbal abuse from him that - ironically - prevented me from joining the tour group. I was so shocked that I walked away from the booth while he was mid-stream of his verbal diarrhoea and then he audibly complained about me to the other employee in the booth. This was in front of the guide and the other four participants on the tour. I had done nothing to warrant this treatment and if we hadn’t paid in advance online, I would have left there and then. Maybe he had had a really bad day, but his aggression and rudeness came from nowhere and I spent the rest of the tour trying to process what I had experienced. I was genuinely appalled to find out from the tour guide that he was David and he was the owner. The tour guide said she hadn’t had to deal with him much in the past, which suggests he isn’t often customer facing…Now I know why. At the end of the tour, I was so upset that my husband went back to the booth. David wasn’t there but we got his number and he rang David. My husband is a very level and diplomatic man so he rang to understand why he was so aggressive to me and why he felt that was acceptable behaviour. David refused to budge an inch, refused to admit any wrongdoing and made no effort to make amends or reparations for his actions. Encountering the owner David was the low point of my entire trip to Edinburgh. The way you speak to people is absolutely unacceptable. You shouldn’t be anywhere near a customer facing role and I’m sorry for the staff who have to work for you. Conclusion There are so many other tour operators that offer a similar product and don’t go out of their way to upset customers. Avoid this company at all costs; The owner doesn’t deserve your custom.

Good tour. Guide was very...

Ron_S, Mar 2026

Good tour. Guide was very knowledgeable. Only issues are she needs to slow down and talk a little slower.

Very interesting tour

KarenMacLean, Feb 2026

An excellent tour!

Neil_H, Feb 2026

Emilie our guide was superb, encylopaedic knowledge put across in a relaxed humorous way. The tour was excellent, thoroughly recommend it.

Vaults and Old Town tour

Wendy_M, Jan 2026

The guide was very knowledgeable and kept it interesting. Wear comfortable shoes cause there is some steps, and uneven ground surfaces.

Excellent history tour of Edinburgh

Lizzie_D, Jan 2026

Saturn/Frederick was excellent! Knowledgeable, entertaining and a pleasure to follow around Edinburgh. We heard well rehearsed stories and anecdotes of Scottish history as we walked around the city and saw what was left of the tales. It was a very easy pace so would be accessible for mixed age groups but the shallow winding staircase made it not suitable for those with physical challenges. It's mostly outdoors so dress appropriately! Thoroughly enjoyed it, would recommend!

Great tour with Morven....

Amy_W, Dec 2025

Lesser known Edinburgh stories

Carolyn_W, Dec 2025

We enjoyed this tour with Sessions. I hadn’t seen the underground vaults before so it was interesting to hear how they were used and how they were discovered under South Bridge. There were lots of great details about the buildings and notables of the Old Town.

Excellent tour by Holly

Charles_B, Dec 2025

Really interesting tour with lots of history about Edinburgh. Holly was excellent and knowledgeable.

Instructive and...

Laurel_W, Dec 2025

Instructive and entertaining journey through Edinburgh's early history. James, our tour guide was superb!

Very good

yasmin_g, Nov 2025

Very good experience, entertaining and informative. Went with my friend and Definitely recommend it!

Edinburgh old town and historical tour

James_P, Nov 2025

Our guide was Chichon he was excellent. Very knowledgeable, good fun and made the tour interactive and fun for all.

The guide is sensational.

Elizangela_M, Oct 2025

The tour was very interesting and informative. Our guide was fantastic at explaining the historical context of each place we visited.

Great tour

Deborah_M, Oct 2025

Very lively for guide Emily really played the part. It was like a living waking history lesson that was fun.

Historical Edinburgh & Vaults

Robert_M, Oct 2025

Tour was taken by Emilie who was in costume and character. A informative lively experience where we learnt a lot. (Serious, but also good for also involving the younger ones)

Emilee was great, such an...

SHARON_H, Oct 2025

Emilee was great, such an amazing storyteller with a vast amount of knowledge. She was our favorite guide so far.

Chihon was an excellent...

Collette_M, Oct 2025

Chihon was an excellent guide. He was very engaging, knowledgeable and had us laughing throughout the tour. Our 10yo loved hearing about the history of Edinburgh just as much as we did. Highly recommend!

Fab tour of old Edinburgh

Fiona_M, Oct 2025

Great tour, full of very interesting history of old Edinburgh. Lovely guide, clear, packed a lot in, gave us information that we hadn’t known before, despite being relatively local. Vaults fascinating - who lived in them, drinking dens etc. Also city walls, how Edinburgh grew and evolved as a city. Highly recommend!

Lagre group. A lot of...

Britt_L, Oct 2025

Lagre group. A lot of information. To many tiny details about persons? Good guide. Nice walk. No problem with kids 10 and 12 years.

Difficult address to find...

Eleonora_A, Oct 2025

Difficult address to find and not very friendly receptionist, but very interesting experience . Amaizing performance of our tour guide. October is a perfect season to visit Scotland .

Fantastic tour

Nichol_B, Sep 2025

We did the Old Town Historical Underground Tour today with Emily as our guide, and she was fantastic! She made the local history come alive and we really enjoyed the experience. Highly recommend this tour to anyone visiting.

Interesting and informative

Christine_S, Sep 2025

Chihon was a wonderful guide through the city. He was extremely knowledgeable and enthusiastic which made it even more fun. This was an interesting look into a vault below the city and the history you walk past around the city.

Great history lesson

MA_O, Sep 2025

This was fun and our guide Emilie was fantastic but it was a little too long underground. I’d have liked more of the surrounding area.

Wonderful experience

Renee_M, Sep 2025

Chihon was a great tour guide. The stories and history he told us made us feel like we could see how it felt to live way back then. Great group of people in our group.