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Well, is there an underground city in Edinburgh? Not quite. There are parts of Edinburgh that are underground, but there isn’t an entire underground city below Edinburgh (as cool as that would be).
You are able to tour these underground places, but where exactly are they and why are they underground?
I have visited all of the different underground parts of Edinburgh, so let’s get into the details of how and why you should visit Edinburgh’s underground world.
About the Underground Areas of Edinburgh
Underground, dark passageways in Edinburgh can still be accessed today. And I’d really recommend venturing into them on an underground tour.
There are two sections of Edinburgh that are underground and that you can visit:
- South Bridge Vaults
- Mary King’s Close
Both are in Old Town Edinburgh.
Differences between the Edinburgh Underground Tours
I’d separate all the underground tours into two categories: haunted or historical.
Haunted tours focus on scary stories or paranormal activities that have occurred underground.
Historical tours focus on the history of the underground areas and what it was like for people living there back in the day. It’s not meant to be a scary experience, however being underground can still freak people out. (One person in our group had to leave because of this.)
They are very different experiences so be mindful of the type of tour you book.
Which Should You Visit: The Vaults or Mary King’s Close?
The Vaults and Mary King’s Close are different experiences, so you could book both. However, if you are limited on time, here is a breakdown of the differences to help you decide which one to visit.
The Vaults (Mercat Tours or Auld Reekie Tours)
Frequency: Operates 25+ tours a day
Duration of tour: 60-75 minutes
Types of tours: Historic Underground, Ghostly Underground, and more
What to expect: Tour the underground Vaults and learn about its history and/or supernatural stories.
My thoughts: Auld Reekie’s terror tour was too crowded and not scary enough, while Mercat’s smaller group size and more intimate storytelling was more to my taste.
How to book: Book online.
- Mercat Tours offers a Historic Underground Tour and a ghost tour.
- Auld Reekie Tours offers a late-night terror tour of the Vaults in addition to their original Vaults tour.
Mary King’s Close
Frequency: Operates 40+ tours a day
Duration of tour: 60 minutes
Types of tours: Standard guided tour, special Halloween tours, and more
What to expect: Tour the underground Mary King’s Close and hear stories and see the recreated dwellings (with mannequins and such) to visualize what life was like there.
My thoughts: A very expensive tourist factory experience that left me feeling a bit ripped off.
How to book: Book online.
Map of Underground Edinburgh
1. South Bridge Vaults
The South Bridge was completed in 1788 to connect Old Town to New Town. The bridge was filled in underneath with storage spaces, vaulted chambers four stories deep, now called the Vaults.
There are about 120 rooms, or vaults, under the South Bridge.
Today, you can take a tour to learn about life in the Vaults, its history, and all the stories that occurred (historical and ghostly). It’s a truly one-of-a-kind experience, a must do while in Edinburgh.
The Vaults at South Bridge stretch from High Street to Chambers Street.
It’s not possible to visit the entire length of the underground Vaults, but you can visit certain sections.
History of the South Bridge Vaults: Why Are They Underground?
- Designed as storage spaces. The shops above the bridge used the storage spaces for the first 30 years, eventually abandoning it because of poor air quality and dampness.
- Life in the Vaults in the early 1800s. The poorest of the poor turned the Vaults into temporary homes, which was not ideal because of the poor air circulation and lack of sanitation and space for cooking. For lighting, they lit lamps with fish oil, leaving a horrible stench.
- Criminal activity in the Vaults in the 1800s. Others used the Vaults as illegal gambling dens, illegal whisky distilleries and storage spaces for corpses. Wait, corpses? Body snatchers were rumored to use the Vaults to secretly transport recently dead bodies to the university medical school which needed cadavers (and paid well for them).
- The Vaults abandoned for over a century. The conditions in the Vaults were so terrible, they were eventually shut down and filled in with rubble sometime during the mid 1800s.
- The Vaults rediscovered in the 1980s. They were forgotten for several decades until uncovered again in the 1980s, and then they were excavated in the 1990s. During the excavation, signs of human life were discovered, including toys and bottles. Because the Vaults were abandoned for so long, and left untouched, they were pretty well preserved, like a time capsule, giving a unique glimpse into the lives of its former residents.
Visit with Mercat Tours: Blair Street Vaults
A tour of the Blair Street Vaults will allow you to see 7-10% of the South Bridge Vaults.
The Blair Street portion of the Vaults is entirely owned by Mercat Tours, so they are the only ones able to show you around this portion.
Mercat Tours Historic Underground Tour is a 75-minute tour that takes you into the Blair Street Vaults, a section of the South Bridge Vaults, and shares so many fascinating stories of life in Edinburgh underground. I did this tour and loved it.
Mercat also offers a ghost tour for those who are interested in a spooky experience.
What It’s Like Visiting the South Bridge Vaults with Mercat Tours
The first time I visited the Vaults in Edinburgh, I took a historical tour with Mercat Tours to the Blair Street Vaults.
The tour starts above ground. You’ll meet at the Mercat Cross, where your tour guide will tell you about Old Town Edinburgh in the 18th century and explain how the Vaults came to be.
You’ll be given a headset to better hear the tour guide who has a microphone, and then you’ll descend down into the Vaults.
You’ll get to explore various rooms (or vaults), some larger than others, while standing in almost complete darkness, listening to stories of all that went down there.
How scary is Mercat’s historical tour?
I took Mercat’s historical tour, not a scary one, and it was still pretty eerie. One person in our group didn’t even make it down the stairs before she chickened out and turned back. My mom was also freaked out (she did, however, complete the tour but complained of a nausea-induced stomachache afterward).
My camera kept fogging up and turning off, something it’s never done before (and hasn’t done since).
I’m not sure if it was the humidity, the moisture in the air, or what, but it was strange.
Oddly enough, I watched an episode of “Ghost Adventures” where they spent the night in the Edinburgh Vaults, and their camera also kept fogging up and turning off. The hosts of the show claimed it was a supernatural disturbance.
Spooky, right?
If you are interested in the supernatural, then definitely book the haunted tour as they go into more details about all the supernatural stories that have occurred in the Vaults.
Visit with Auld Reekie Tours: Cowgate Vaults (off Niddry St)
Some walking tour companies, such as Auld Reekie Tours, will take you to other sections of the South Bridge Vaults, such as near Cowgate, off of Niddry Street.
Auld Reekie Tours offers a late-night terror tour of the Vaults in addition to their original Vaults tour.
What It’s Like Visiting the South Bridge Vaults with Auld Reekie Tours
On a subsequent trip to Edinburgh, I tried the late-night terror tour, meeting our tour guide at 10 p.m. to have a “scary” experience in the Vaults.
How scary is Auld Reekie’s terror tour?
In actuality, it wasn’t that scary. Our group was too large (30 people!) and I was more worried about trying to see over people’s shoulders than looking behind my back for ghosts.
Perhaps it was also the loud music creeping through the walls from the clubs next door. I just didn’t feel that creepy-crawly feeling like I thought I would.
Still, it was interesting.
What do you see on the tour?
The Auld Reekie Tour shows you several vaults, including one that a Wiccan coven used until 2014, since left untouched.
But first they’ll take you into their torture room, where they exhibit various devices and the tour guide will explain how each one was used to torture people in the medieval ages.
I found this to be a bit too gruesome, personally. And there is an option to skip it, when booking your tickets, if that’s not up your alley either.
2. Mary King’s Close
Mary King’s Close is one of the buried closes in Edinburgh Old Town with a rich and layered history.
Mary King was a business owner, and the close was named after her about 48 years after her death.
History of Mary King’s Close: Why Is It Underground?
The story of Mary King’s Close is different from the Vaults. Its story starts earlier, in the 1500s.
Mary King’s Close was once home to a tenement about 12 stories high, and it was open to the sky for nearly 200 years, until 1753, when the top stories were demolished, and the bottom stories were buried under the city.
At the time, it was illegal to live underground but not to work underground. People did use the bottom floors as workshops until the City Chambers took over in 1897, using the space as storage for their city archives. In 1902, the last people living in the close moved out.
How to Visit Mary King’s Close
In 2003, the Real Mary King’s Close started offering tours of the 17th century street hidden underneath the Royal Mile.
This is now one of Edinburgh’s top attractions. Over 257,000 people visited Mary King’s Close in 2023, a record, according to Edinburgh Evening News.
To visit, you’ll need to book well in advance (don’t try to get a tour the same-day) as it’s a very popular tour.
What It’s Like Visiting Mary King’s Close
I took a tour of Mary King’s Close in September alongside a group of 18 strangers.
First thing they tell you is to take off your jackets and coats as it’s quite humid underground. Also, no photography is allowed.
Inside, your guide will show you around not just Mary King’s Close (that’s saved for last), but three other underground closes, including Stewarts Close, Pearson Close, and Alan’s Close.
A little about the rooms you see on the underground tour:
- The underground spaces are arranged to look like dwellings, where some have mannequins, furniture, hay for animals, a plague doctor, and even a fake fireplace.
- In one room, you’ll watch about 5 minutes of videos of actors representing historic people from the close, including Mary King, talking about their lives.
- There’s also a room that’s said to host the ghost of a little girl named Annie, who lost her doll.
- One of the last rooms you’ll see is a family workshop, where you’ll wait while every group gets their souvenir photo taken on the main street of Mary King’s Close.
- In each room, there are audio guide numbers for those who speak other languages.
Final thoughts on Mary King’s Close:
As many other reviewers have noted, the tour guides at Mary King’s Close don’t have much enthusiasm, and this was the case for mine as well. They’re really just reciting a script, doing their job, and it felt more like going through a tourist factory.
Also, the stories told were similar to ones I’ve heard on other walking tours in Edinburgh, so it didn’t feel like a truly unique experience.
Is Mary King’s Close Worth It?
It was so expensive that I felt that the cost wasn’t quite worth it.
The standard one-hour tour was £24 per adult, but the biggest drawback for me is that they don’t allow you to take photos inside the close.
So if you want a photo, you’ll have to purchase the one they take of each group in the close, which is an additional £15.
I had to purchase one, of course, for the memory and to add to my blog, so £39 for a one-hour tour just felt a bit steep. The photo does come in a nice booklet, so that softened the blow.
Can You Visit Underground Edinburgh Without a Tour?
Bars in the Vaults
There are a few bars in the Vaults that you can visit, such as Whistlebinkies and Bannerman’s Bar. Both play live music as well.
If you’re wondering how to visit the underground Vaults without a tour, this would be the only way (visiting a bar).
Tips for Visiting Underground Edinburgh
Book your tour ahead of time. Visiting the Vaults and Mary King’s Close are popular activities in Edinburgh, so they do get sold out. Book ahead of time to avoid disappointment.
Keep your supernatural tolerance in mind. If you don’t want to be scared, book the historical tour in the Vaults. (The standard tour of Mary King’s Close is also a historical tour, not a scary one.) If you can handle tales of the supernatural, then book the haunted tour! (The Real Mary King’s Close has its own special scary tour, especially for Halloween.)
Book a tour at night. This can be hard to do in the summer when the sun doesn’t set until past 10 p.m., but if you are visiting Edinburgh in any other season, the darkness of night adds to the experience.
Where to Stay in Edinburgh While Doing an Underground Tour
My number one recommendation of where to stay in Edinburgh on your first visit is: Old Town.
It will 100% be the best place to experience all of Edinburgh’s charm and magic.
Plus, the underground tours occur in Old Town, so it would be most convenient to stay there, especially if you plan to do a tour at night.
For a full, detailed breakdown of the best areas to stay in Edinburgh, see my post, “Where to Stay in Edinburgh the First Time: 5 Best Places + 5 to Avoid.”
Some Recommended Hotels in Old Town:
- Leonardo Royal Hotel (near the train station)
- The Witchery by the Castle (on the Royal Mile)
- Apex Grassmarket Hotel (for views of the castle)
- Apex City of Edinburgh Hotel (for views of the castle)
What to Pack to Visit Edinburgh
Warm, waterproof wear
If you’re visiting Edinburgh during its cold and rainy season (almost every month of the year besides a few weeks in summer), you should definitely bring a warm waterproof jacket and waterproof walking boots.
- This waterproof jacket and these waterproof boots I took with me to Scotland helped us explore no matter the weather. We walked around Edinburgh in the rain and snow, during foggy mornings and chilly evenings, and enjoyed it all. Be prepared for rainy weather, and dress for it, so you don’t miss out.
- Also consider bringing fleece-lined leggings — I loved this pair I packed!
Favorite travel essentials
- I really recommend these compression packing cubes. They’re very thick and durable and allow you to pack more than you expect.
- I also love this travel backpack that opens like a suitcase, fits almost as much as a carry-on, and has tons of pockets as well as a strap to attach to your luggage handle. It makes traveling so much easier and more organized. It also fits nicely under the airplane seats.
- I bring this AirFly receiver for AirPods with me on long-haul flights, so I can connect to the plane’s video screen with my own AirPods.
- I no longer hop on a flight without wearing my Sockwell compression socks because they really do help relieve/prevent leg cramps from sitting so long in one place. I have the lotus pattern, but there are other patterns to choose from, such as this cat pattern or this flower pattern. See all sock patterns in the Sockwell storefront.
Other Posts to Help You Plan Your Trip to Scotland
Edinburgh
- 11 Hidden Closes on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile (with Map!)
- 3 Day Edinburgh Itinerary: Ultimate Guide for First Timers
- Create Your Own Harris Tweed Bag in the Islander Edinburgh Workshop
- 17 Best Things to Do in Edinburgh For Free
- 20 Best Places to Visit in New Town Edinburgh
- 10 Best Places for Afternoon Tea in Edinburgh (I Tried 4!)
- Complete Guide to Joining the Edinburgh Torchlight Procession during Hogmanay
- Is a Day Trip to the Scottish Highlands from Edinburgh Worth It?
Inverness