Edinburgh Castle Tour: History and Mystery

1,385 Ratings

Edinburgh

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Discover Edinburgh’s secrets on a 2-hour Royal Mile walking tour. Explore hidden gems, historic sites, and optional Edinburgh Castle visit.

Duration: 2 hours, 15 minutes

Cancellation: 24 hours

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Highlights

St Giles’ Cathedral - Admire the exterior and listen to its history.
Parliament House - Observe the exterior.
Edinburgh Old Town - Discover on foot and learn its history from your guide.
Royal Mile - Walk with your guide who will share captivating stories.
John Knox House Museum - See the exterior and learn its history with…

What's Included

Exclusive multi-sensory experience with master Storyteller guides
Enhanced, hand-picked sounds of Edinburgh through TourTalk audio devices
Small group experience
Fast track, skip the line entry into Edinburgh Castle

Additional Information

This walking tour offers an ideal introduction to the capital of Scotland. The first secret revealed? You can bypass the queue at Edinburgh Castle!
Delve into Edinburgh’s hidden gems and uncover the essence of Scotland’s capital, away from the typical tour buses and guidebooks. This magnificent city, rich in captivating history, remains beautifully…

Location

Mercat Cross

High Street

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.

Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings

4.8

(1385 Ratings)

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Steveo482

Aug 29, 2025

Royal Mile Tour…fabulous - It felt to be an immersive tour of the history and present day of the Royal Mile. Linda was an outstanding engaging tour guide, making a long experience to be full of history, engagement and enjoyment. She is a superb guide and made a wonderful story and a challenging few hours into a great experience

Review provided by Tripadvisor

Ernesto_g

Aug 29, 2025

Exceptional Edinburgh and Royal Mile Tour - Linda, our guide, was fantastic. Her historical knowledge and pictures added another level of expertise to what could have been only a verbal tour. Mercat tours provided headsets which allowed everyone to hear her comments. While it might be difficult to find the tour start location, the Mercat Cross location is directly beside the church. As tour time approaches, Mercat tours does setup a meeting location, and makes every attempt to locate the tour participants.

Review provided by Viator

Saturn_246

Aug 29, 2025

A not to be missed tour! - Mally was the best tour guide. He was so informative and captivating. We particularly enjoyed the storytelling! I would recommend this tour to historical enthusiasts.

Review provided by Tripadvisor

Mark_o

Aug 28, 2025

Ozzello - There were more people in our group than we thought we would have. Our guide Charles was GREAT and GREAT

Review provided by Viator

Coulsonb34

Aug 28, 2025

A terrific tour - Craig was an excellent tour guide. His knowledge of Scottish history and sense of humour made this tour very enjoyable. We loved the historical stories of the various alleys along the Royal Mile!

Review provided by Tripadvisor

Shawn

Aug 28, 2025

Very interesting walk with our guide, Molly! He knows his history and is passionate about sharing it with others. - We recommend this tour to get a condensed background along with bits of information that make Edinburgh so unique. Thanks Mally for the memorable tour!

Review provided by Tripadvisor

N8130pfkyles

Aug 27, 2025

Phenomenal walking tour of the Royal mile and Edinburgh Castle - Linda did an absolutely spectacular job in explaining the history of Scotland and its relationship to England pertaining to the Royal mile. She was a wealth of knowledge.

Review provided by Tripadvisor

Bev

Aug 26, 2025

Very Revealing - We did The secrets of the Royal Mile and Edinburgh Castle tour. This is a walking tour on uneven cobblestone streets, requiring good walking shoes. Our guide was Veni. If you are interested in obscure, little known historical facts this is for you. Everything from bridges that are underground, where executions took place, the remains of fortification walls and which buildings are the oldest in the city to personal stories of the lives of kings and queens. Veni was an excellent guide, very knowledgeable and professional, patient and quite funny at times. Highly recommended for a historical peak behind the obvious.

Review provided by Tripadvisor

Timmt387hm

Aug 28, 2025

Great walking tour of the Royal Mile and Castle! - Linda was awesome! The guide makes or breaks a tour and she was excellent. A great story teller with a cheeky sense of humor! She knows her history and presented it in a way that was fun and interesting. She was also very considerate of my wife’s lack of mobility and walking with a cane.

Review provided by Tripadvisor

Jolon_g

Aug 27, 2025

Very good walking tour of Edinburgh. Just make sure you have enough time. - I booked a 1pm (2 hr 15 min) guided tour of the royal mile and Edinburgh castle (well in advance) while on shore from a HAL cruise. The last bus back from the city to the tender dock was leaving at 3.20pm, which I didn't find out until the day itself. This meant it was going to be very tight for me time-wise towards the end of the tour. Unfortunately we didn't get to the Castle until just before 3pm, giving me literally 5 minutes to have a quick look before heading down the hill to my bus. Such a shame, as I was really looking forward to this part of the tour. Otherwise it was a very informative and interesting walking tour with an excellent, knowledgeable guide. I'd recommend it, but make sure you have enough time!

Review provided by Viator

Check Availability

From $68

up to 6 guests

1 - Adult