Edinburgh: History Lovers Old Town Walking Tour
Description
Discover the history Edinburgh's most historic quarter in a personal small group setting with an expert local guide. On this intimate 2 hour Walking Tour, you’ll find out how Edinburgh has evolved and developed over the past 2000 years. What were the major events that shaped it's development and who were the famous/infamous characters behind these events? We answer these questions and many more! Tours in English language only. You'll see all of Edinburgh's most important landmarks, and some lesser known Old Town locations as well. This tour is perfect for the discerning traveller who wants the real history of the Old town.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Traverse Edinburgh’s historic thoroughfare, see buildings dating back to the 1400s and hear some of the major events which shaped its history. We end the tour here.
Explore Edinburgh’s world famous graveyard, hear how this site inspired renowned authors from Mary Shelley to J.K. Rowling contributed to medical science and the story of a certain very loyal dog.
Edinburgh’s traditional farmers’ market, home to some of the oldest pubs in the city (with connections to hangings and body snatchers) and the best view of the Castle in Edinburgh.
We walk around the cathedral, exploring it's architecture and history
We walk through the Old town, examining the history of the city's most interesting quarter
We start the tour here and explore the bowels of the Old Town, learning gruesome medieval history of Edinburgh.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Wheelchair accessible
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Wheelchairs and Strollers can be used on this tour, but the Old Town is hilly and has cobblestones
Reviews(241)
Our guide Zander was obviously new to this. His stories were a bit long winded. He would take off from one point to another without tending to the older, slower people on tour leaving them in the dust….he would have awkward pauses during he dissertations and stories. He would keep the group in the blazing sun and not move into comfortable shade during these ramblings…..I think he has great potential and should really make some changes ….
Loved this tour. Highly recommended it. Lots of interesting places and information. Tour guide did really well on gathering everyone together before telling about the area.
Attention: we booked a guide for a town trip in French: the guide spoke only English, and the group included both English-speaking and French-speaking clients: we had to cancel the service: very disappointed with Viator. However, we were refunded. But we were unable to enjoy the expected service.
Hello, I'm sorry you booked the tour in English. We don't offer tours in French, and we do say in the content for this tour that it only occurs in English. I spoke to you on the phone to help give you a full refund and help fix the problem. I'm sorry you still feel like this is our fault. I as I said on the phone, we only offer tours in English and we do state this on Viator. I think your review is very unfair for the above reasons.
Fantastic tour! Our guide was very knowledgeable and a great story teller. She gave us recommendations for places to visit after the tour and they were all great!
We did the two-hour walking tour in the afternoon, and honestly, we could have kept going for another couple of hours! We love history and discovering the hidden stories and legends behind a city, and Kieran was the perfect guide for that. He shared lots of fascinating stories about Edinburgh and pointed out things we would never have noticed on our own. His sense of humor made the tour both entertaining and engaging, so we learned a lot while having some laughs along the way. As Outlander and Harry Potter fans, we also enjoyed hearing about Edinburgh's connections to both worlds, as well as learning about other movies and TV series that were inspired by the city. It made the tour even more interesting for us. We had a short time in Edinburgh, and this tour was the perfect way to get to know the city beyond simply walking around its beautiful streets. Edinburgh is such a beautiful and magical place, and you can really feel that atmosphere as you explore it. We had a fantastic time and would highly recommend this tour to anyone visiting the city. Don't hesitate to book it—you won't regret it!
Nice to get a city tour from a friendly guide but overall the level of information and history was marginal. Still say go ahead with the tour but we found our best tours through historical site docents who were passionate about the sites and also had depth and breadth of overall UK History.
Hello! Thanks for booking this tour, and sorry you didn't get enough history out of it. This tour is designed to uncover the history of Edinburgh and Scotland. I'm sorry if you wanted more UK history. This is not something we advertise for this tour, so I can understand that if you thought you were doing a tour that focussed on UK history, you would be disappointed. Wishing you all the best, Chris Walker Owner Local Eyes Tours
It was a great experience; we enjoyed listening to descriptions of the city and its stories. The route wasn't tiring at all, it added a lot to my life. That's a lovely thought, with love.
We arranged for a private 2 hour tour of old town and new Town and our guide, Zander hit all the main highlights and told us so many interesting facts and tidbits of history. He was so pleasant and knowledgeable! We highly recommend Local Eyes!
This was a great way to kick off our trip to Edinburgh! We got a great lay of the land and learned a ton in our two hour tour. Highly recommend!
Our guide Shanna was great - informative, funny, easy to understand, really knows what she’s doing and clearly enjoys doing it. In addition to being an excellent guide, she had very recently studied Scottish history at the graduate level and was very knowledgeable in answering follow-up questions!
