Dark Secrets of the Old Town Tour in Edinburgh

What Is Included

Two things are included: the tour guide and the walking tour. The guide is a local guide who walks you through the old town, the graveyards and the alleyways. You do not enter any building, and no ticket to a museum, a close or an underground site comes with this tour. There are no vaults on this route and no stated entry inside the graveyards' locked sections.

The listing promises stories rather than admissions: Burke and Hare, known as the Westport Murderers, the witch and warlock trials, the Black Death doctors, Scottish faeries, myths and funny anecdotes from your local guide, and views across Edinburgh.

What You May Pay for on the Day

The listing states no mandatory extras. Tips are not included. If you want something paid afterwards, the options nearby include The Real Mary King's Close, at 2 Warriston's Close on the Royal Mile, where you should check the official page for current prices, and Surgeons' Hall Museums on Nicolson Street, where adult admission is 10 pounds and the museum is open 10am to 5pm with last entry at 4:30pm.

Neither is part of this tour.

The Old Town Alleyways

The walk starts in the winding alleyways in the centre of Edinburgh. The Old Town sits on a crag and tail hill, and its closes are steep alleys running off the Royal Mile between tall tenement buildings. The guide uses these lanes to set up the dark themes: the 19th century black market for corpses, the serial killers William Burke and William Hare, and the plague doctors of the Black Death, the bubonic plague pandemic of the 1300s.

On the Burke and Hare story, the documented history is that the pair killed 16 people in 1827 and 1828 in the West Port area and sold the bodies to the anatomist Robert Knox, who paid around 8 to 10 pounds per body. Burke was hanged before a crowd estimated at 25,000. One reviewer notes that groups with buggies found the steps slow but manageable.

The Witch Burning Sites and the Views

The route passes the sites where witches and warlocks were burnt, and the listing promises views across Edinburgh while the guide covers this chapter. The documented history is heavy: the Witchcraft Act of 1563 made witchcraft a capital crime in Scotland, an estimated 4,000 to 6,000 people were tried and more than 1,500 were executed, and about 75 percent of the accused were women. Most convicted witches were strangled at the stake before being burned.

The main waves of prosecution ran in 1590-91, 1597, 1628-31, 1649-50 and 1661-62. The listing also promises Scottish faeries and myths here, which the guide frames as folklore rather than history.

Old Calton Cemetery

The listing calls Old Calton Cemetery Scotland's most haunted graveyard and highlights says you visit it. The documented record is that Old Calton Burial Ground opened in 1718 when the Society of Incorporated Trades of Calton bought the land. Philosopher David Hume is buried there.

Waterloo Place, built between 1815 and 1819, split the ground in two. Monuments include the Political Martyrs' Monument, an obelisk for reformers sentenced to deportation in 1793, and a Lincoln statue dedicated in 1893, Scotland's only statue of Abraham Lincoln and the only American Civil War monument outside the United States. The tour visits the graveyard, and the listing does not state entry to any locked section.

Canongate Kirkyard

The description names Canongate Kirkyard as a place you visit and learn about the Black Death. The kirkyard belongs to Canongate Kirk, founded in 1688 and completed in 1691. Economist Adam Smith is buried there, and the poet Robert Fergusson, who died in 1774, has a monument erected in 1828 that Robert Burns arranged.

The kirkyard holds about 62 tombs, 140 monuments and 150 wall plaques, and the last burial was the architect Robert Hurd in 1963. The listing does not state where the tour ends, so allow time to walk back to your accommodation after the 2 hours.

Wheelchair Users

The listing names wheelchair users as not suitable. There is no accessibility detail beyond that. If you need step-free access, the Edinburgh Dark History Tour is listed as wheelchair accessible by its platform, with all areas, surfaces and transport options accessible, and it covers murderers, plague, witch trials and hangings in 2 hours for $24.23.

Anyone Expecting Vaults or Building Entry

Nothing is included except the guide and the walk. Some travellers say clearer information on the ghost emphasis and which sites are included would help. To be plain: this is a history walk with ghost stories above ground, with no vaults and no entry inside buildings.

If you want underground chambers, the Haunted Underground Vaults and Graveyard Tour at $34 enters the South Bridge Vaults after Greyfriars Kirkyard, and the Edinburgh Evening Underground Ghost Tour at $25 goes underground for less.

Non-English, French or German Speakers

The tour runs only in English, French or German. If your language is Spanish or something else, no translation or audio guide is stated for this listing, and most other listings in this set are English only, so check options on the platform before booking.

Anyone Who Needs a Fixed Meeting Point or a Late Scare

The meeting point may vary depending on the option you select, so you must check it on your booking. The listing also says it is likely to sell out, so book ahead. If you want hard scares after dark, the Late-Night Underground Vaults Terror Tour is strictly 18 and over and refuses under 18s, and the City of the Dead: The Double Dead Tour caps groups at 6 and takes you into the Covenanter's Prison.

Neither is a match for a family walk like this one.

What Is Free to Walk Alone

Old Calton Burial Ground is run by the City of Edinburgh Council and is a Category A listed site you can enter by day, with Hume's tomb, the Political Martyrs' Monument and the Lincoln statue. Canongate Kirkyard is also open ground where you can find Adam Smith's grave. The Royal Mile itself, its closes, and the sites linked to Burke and Hare and the witch trials are all public streets.

Greyfriars Kirkyard, though not on this tour's stated route, can be walked free in its open part, and self-guided information boards there are offered in several languages. For a free walk, the pages on Burke and Hare and the haunted places in Edinburgh cover the stories and the sites.

What You Cannot Do Alone

You cannot enter the underground vaults on your own. They are entered only on a guided tour, and operators such as Mercat Tours and Auld Reekie Tours each claim exclusive use of their own chambers. The Covenanters' Prison in Greyfriars Kirkyard is kept locked and can be entered only by arrangement with the kirk or on a City of the Dead tour, though the Friends of Greyfriars Kirkyard run open days and free tours for community groups.

This tour does not claim access to either, so nothing in its route is actually locked to the independent walker. Paid attractions you can visit alone include The Real Mary King's Close, where you should check the official page for prices and times, and Surgeons' Hall Museums, 10 pounds for adults, open 10am to 5pm.

When the Guide Is Worth the $26

You pay for the telling, not for access. A local guide sequences the Burke and Hare, witch trial, plague and faerie material with jokes and anecdotes, and offers it in French or German, which walking alone cannot. If you would rather read up and walk yourself, the free graveyards plus the Greyfriars Kirkyard guide will fill a good afternoon for nothing.