Which vaults
Blair Street or Niddry Street: which Edinburgh vaults you actually enter
This is the single most useful thing on this site and almost no listing tells you. The chambers under the South Bridge are not one shared space. They are held in sections by different operators, entered by different stairs off different side streets, and two tours sold with nearly identical descriptions can take you into completely different rooms.
Quick answer
The Edinburgh vaults are entered from two main side streets: Blair Street and Niddry Street, both running off the South Bridge. Different operators hold different sections of the chambers, so the tour you book decides which rooms you see. Both sets are genuinely inside the 1788 arches. Listings rarely name the street, so the table on this page does it for you.
Which vaults, at a glance
- Main entrances
- TwoBlair Street and Niddry Street
- Both off
- South Bridgethe street on top of the viaduct
- Same bridge?
- Yesdifferent sections of the same arches
- Both genuine 1788?
- Yesneither is a reconstruction
- Blair Street
- The larger setused by the multi-sensory tour
- Niddry Street
- The other setentered by a stair off the side street
- Named in listings?
- Rarelywhich is why this page exists
- Does it change the price?
- Nooperators differ, sections do not
- Does it change the hour?
- Somewhatroom sizes and layouts differ
- Cheapest way in
- $20one hour, under the bridge
The split
Why are the vaults divided between operators?
Private property, split between owners, with no single entrance.
Because they are property.
When the chambers were excavated again in the 1980s they were not handed to a museum or a trust. They were and remain private commercial space under a public street, and different sections came into different hands. Several are held by tour operators, one section has been used as a venue, and some chambers are simply storage as they were in 1790.
The practical consequence for a visitor is that there is no single “Edinburgh vaults” site with one entrance. There are stairs down from Blair Street, stairs down from Niddry Street, and a locked door at the bottom of each. Which one you go through is decided by whose tour you booked, and it is very seldom stated on the booking page.
None of this makes any tour less genuine. Every set of chambers under the South Bridge is the same age, the same construction and the same history. But if you are doing two vaults tours — and some people do — it is worth choosing operators from different streets, or you will walk the same rooms twice.
How to tell
Five ways to work out which vaults a tour enters
The listings are vague on purpose. These five get you an answer anyway.
- Read the meeting point, not the title
A meeting point on Blair Street or Niddry Street tells you more than any amount of description. Both are short streets running downhill off the South Bridge.
- Look for the phrase "Blair Street"
One operator uses it in the listing text. If a tour mentions it, that is the section you are getting.
- Check whether the tour is above ground first
Tours that start with a walk around the Old Town usually enter later and from a different stair than those that go straight down.
- Compare the photographs carefully
The chamber shapes differ between sections. Two listings using visibly different rooms are not in the same vaults.
- Ask, if you are booking two
Operators answer this question readily. It only matters if you intend to go underground twice, and then it matters a great deal.
Whichever section you enter, it is the same 1788 structure — and the same reason the chambers were abandoned.
What the vaults are, in full→Every trip, current fare
Every vaults tour, and where it goes in
Twelve tours, cheapest first. The column that matters is which underground each one enters; the ones marked as the vaults are inside the South Bridge arches.
| Tour | Length | Price | Which underground | Cost per hour | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Old Town & Underground Ghost TourThe cheapest hour under the bridge | 1 h | $20 | The vaults | $20.00 | 4.4 · 1,871 |
| The Edinburgh DungeonAn attraction with actors, not a historical site | 80 min | $24 | None — an attraction | $18.00 | 4.6 · 1,716 |
| Evening Underground Ghost TourThe evening slot in the South Bridge vaults | 75 min | $24 | The vaults | $19.20 | 4.4 · 4,063 |
| Old Town & Underground Historical TourThe bridge and the chambers as the actual subject | 1.5 h | $25 | The vaults | $16.67 | 4.4 · 2,068 |
| Underground Vaults TourThe standard vaults tour, most reviewed in the city | 1 h | $25 | The vaults | $25.00 | 4.5 · 12,500 |
| Haunted Vaults & Graveyard TourA kirkyard and the vaults in one evening | 1.5 h | $27 | The vaults | $18.00 | 4.6 · 7,277 |
| Late-Night Vaults Terror TourThe late slot, run harder | 75 min | $27 | The vaults | $21.60 | 4.6 · 4,571 |
| Extreme Paranormal Underground Ghost TourThe vaults and a kirkyard, played for fright | 75 min | $27 | Vaults + kirkyard | $21.60 | 4.3 · 885 |
| Multi-Sensory Haunted UndergroundThe original Blair Street vaults tour | 75 min | $34 | Blair Street vaults | $27.20 | 4.5 · 2,754 |
| Small-Group Historic Vaults TourThe Blair Street chambers, in a small group | 75 min | $34 | Blair Street vaults | $27.20 | 4.7 · 614 |
| Real Mary King's CloseA street the city built over in 1753 | 1 h | $36 | Mary King's Close | $36.00 | 4.7 · 4,457 |
| Vaults Evening Tour with WhiskyTwo hours, ending with a dram underground | 2 h | $39 | The vaults | $19.50 | 4.7 · 2,798 |
Common questions
Which vaults, answered
What is the difference between the Blair Street and Niddry Street vaults?
They are different sections of the same chambers under the South Bridge, entered by stairs from two different side streets and held by different operators. Both are genuinely inside the 1788 arches.
Which Edinburgh vaults are the best?
Neither section is better than the other in itself — the difference is the operator and the guide rather than the stone. Our verdict page ranks the tours rather than the streets.
Are all the Edinburgh vaults tours in the same place?
No, and this catches people out. Different operators hold different sections. If you book two vaults tours from the same operator you will see overlapping rooms.
Can you visit the Blair Street vaults without a tour?
No. Every section is private property behind a locked door, and there is no public access to any of them.
Are the vaults under South Bridge or under the Royal Mile?
Under the South Bridge, which meets the Royal Mile at the Tron. Mary King’s Close is the site that is actually under the Royal Mile itself, further along.
Go deeper
More on the Edinburgh underground
The Edinburgh vaults
Built in 1788, used for thirty years, abandoned, and dug out again.
The closeReal Mary King's Close
A street built over in 1753 and lived in until 1902.
The bridgeThe South Bridge
Nineteen arches, one of them visible, and 120 chambers inside.
The whole thingThe underground city
What is actually beneath the Old Town, and what is only a story.
Side by sideVaults or the close?
The comparison everybody makes, with a straight verdict.
Vaults toursEvery vaults tour compared
Seven tours into the same chambers, and what separates them.
