Every vaults tour
Seven of the twelve tours on this site go into the South Bridge vaults, and they are sold with descriptions so similar that choosing between them looks arbitrary. It is not. They differ in four things that matter, and price is the least important of them.
Quick answer
Seven tours enter the Edinburgh vaults, from $20 to $39. They differ by the hour they run, how much of the time is actually underground, which section of chambers they hold, and whether they are pitched as history or as fright. The most reviewed is the standard vaults tour at $25, with 12,500 ratings — more than every other listing on this page combined.
Book direct
Twelve tours, cheapest first. Seven of them enter the South Bridge vaults; the others go to Mary King’s Close or to an attraction that is not underground at all.
★ 4.4 · 1,871 reviews
★ 4.6 · 1,716 reviews
★ 4.4 · 4,063 reviews
★ 4.4 · 2,068 reviews
★ 4.5 · 12,500 reviews
★ 4.6 · 7,277 reviews
★ 4.6 · 4,571 reviews
★ 4.3 · 885 reviews
★ 4.5 · 2,754 reviews
★ 4.7 · 614 reviews
★ 4.7 · 4,457 reviews
★ 4.7 · 2,798 reviews
How they differ
Everything else in the listings is the same sentence written seven ways.
A vaults tour at four in the afternoon and the same chambers at eleven at night are different experiences with the same stone. The late slots consistently rate higher, and they sell out first.
Some tours spend half the time walking the Old Town above and explaining what you are standing on. That is not padding — it is what makes the chambers legible — but if you came for the underground, check the split.
Blair Street and Niddry Street hold different rooms under the same bridge. It only matters if you are doing two tours, and then it matters a lot.
The historical tour treats the 1788 bridge as the subject. The terror slot treats the chambers as a setting. Both are honest about which they are, if you read the listing properly.
If none of the seven appeal, the other underground is a street rather than a storeroom, and it is a completely different hour.
Mary King's Close, in full→Every trip, current fare
Cheapest first, and the column that decides it is which underground each one enters.
| 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
From $20 for the cheapest hour to $39 for the two-hour tour that ends with a dram in one of the chambers. The most-booked one is $25.
The standard vaults tour at $25 if you want the clearest look at the chambers, with 12,500 reviews behind it. The late-night slot if you came to be unsettled, and the historical tour if the 1788 bridge is what interests you.
Sixty to ninety minutes for most, of which forty-five to sixty are underground. The longest is two hours.
Not necessarily. Different operators hold different sections of the chambers, entered from Blair Street or Niddry Street. Two tours from different operators will show you different rooms.
The daytime and historical ones are not — they are explanatory. The evening and late-night slots are built to unsettle, and say so. Nothing on this page involves anyone jumping out at you.
On most tours, without flash. It is genuinely dark down there, so a phone will struggle. That is the chambers, not the operator.
Go deeper
Built in 1788, used for thirty years, abandoned, and dug out again.
The closeA street built over in 1753 and lived in until 1902.
The bridgeNineteen arches, one of them visible, and 120 chambers inside.
The whole thingWhat is actually beneath the Old Town, and what is only a story.
Which vaultsDifferent chambers under the same bridge, and who runs which.
Side by sideThe comparison everybody makes, with a straight verdict.
