Side by side
Edinburgh vaults or Mary King's Close: which one should you book?
If you only have one underground hour in this city, this is the decision, and it is not close once you know what separates them. One is a set of empty stone chambers where the interest is the structure and the story. The other is a street with doorways and fireplaces where the interest is that you can see it. Both are real, both are worth it, and they suit different people.
Quick answer
Book Mary King’s Close if you want to see a preserved street with doorways, windows and fireplaces. Book the South Bridge vaults if you want empty 1788 chambers, a cheaper ticket and a more atmospheric hour. The close costs $36 and rates 4.7; the standard vaults tour costs $25 and carries 12,500 reviews. They are at opposite ends of the Royal Mile and are not connected.
The two undergrounds, side by side
- The vaults — built
- 1788inside the arches of the South Bridge
- The close — built over
- 1753when the Royal Exchange went up
- The vaults — what you see
- Empty chambersstone, curved ceilings, no light
- The close — what you see
- A streetdoorways, windows, fireplaces, furnished rooms
- The vaults — price from
- $20seven tours to choose between
- The close — price
- $36one operator, timed entry
- The vaults — rating
- 4.4–4.7across seven listings
- The close — rating
- 4.7the highest on this page
- Where
- Opposite endsof the Royal Mile; not connected
- Both need a tour
- Yesneither is publicly accessible
The verdict
Which one is actually better?
The close if you want to see. The vaults if you want to feel.
For a first visit, and if you can only do one: Mary King’s Close. Not because the vaults are weak, but because the close gives you something to look at. A street survives under a building with its thresholds worn, its windows facing nothing and its fireplaces in the walls, and no amount of good guiding in an empty chamber matches the effect of standing in it.
For atmosphere, for a lower price, and for choice: the vaults. Seven tours enter them, from $20, at every hour from mid-morning to nearly midnight. The chambers are colder, darker and rawer than the close, and if what you want is the feeling of being under a city rather than a museum experience, this is it.
For a family with older children: the close, comfortably. It is presented as social history rather than as a fright, the ceilings are higher, and nobody is trying to startle anybody.
For anyone doing both: do the vaults first and the close second. The chambers give you the geology of the Old Town, and the close then reads as what people actually did inside that geology. In the other order it works less well.
The differences
Six things that genuinely separate them
Not marketing differences — these change what the hour is like.
- One is a bridge, one is a street
The vaults are the inside of a viaduct. The close is a road with houses on it. Everything else follows from that.
- One is empty, one is furnished
The chambers were cleared two centuries ago. The close still has thresholds, window openings and fireplaces, and a few rooms are dressed.
- The prices differ by about a third
$25 against $36. Which is fair: one is an hour with a guide and a lamp, the other is a maintained heritage site under a working building.
- The vaults have seven tours; the close has one
That means slots, hours and styles to choose between underground — and none of that flexibility at the close, which runs on timed entry.
- The close is easier on anyone uneasy in tight spaces
Higher ceilings, wider spaces, more light. The vaults are genuinely enclosed.
- The atmosphere is the other way round
If the point of the evening is to be slightly unsettled, that is the vaults after dark, not a heritage site under the City Chambers.
If the answer is both, book them for different days — two undergrounds in one afternoon blur into one memory.
What to expect down there→Every trip, current fare
Both undergrounds, and every tour into them
Twelve tours, cheapest first. The column that decides your booking is which underground each one enters — seven go into the vaults, one into the close.
| 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
Vaults or the close, answered
Which is better, the Edinburgh vaults or Mary King's Close?
For a single visit, Mary King’s Close — because you can see a preserved street rather than empty rooms. For atmosphere, a lower price and a choice of hours, the vaults. Both are genuine and both need a guided tour.
Are the Edinburgh vaults and Mary King's Close the same thing?
No. The vaults are chambers inside the 1788 South Bridge. The close is a street built over in 1753 when the Royal Exchange went up. They are at opposite ends of the Royal Mile and are not connected.
Can you do both in one day?
Yes — they are a ten-minute walk apart and each takes about an hour. But two undergrounds in one afternoon tend to blur, and doing them on different days is the better plan if the trip allows it.
Is Mary King's Close scarier than the vaults?
No, the other way round. The close is presented as social history with a ghost story attached; the vaults after dark, and especially the late slot, are built to unsettle you.
Which is better for children?
The close. Higher ceilings, more to look at, and nothing designed to frighten. Most vaults tours set a minimum age and the late-night ones set a higher one.
Which one has better reviews?
The close rates 4.7, the highest on this page. The standard vaults tour rates 4.5 but from 12,500 reviews, which is far more evidence than any other listing here.
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.
Which vaultsBlair Street or Niddry Street
Different chambers under the same bridge, and who runs which.
Vaults toursEvery vaults tour compared
Seven tours into the same chambers, and what separates them.
