The verdict
Twelve tours, one evening, and a decision that most people make from a listing page that hides the only thing that matters. This page ranks all twelve for one purpose — booking the right one — and gives a straight answer at the end rather than a shortlist.
Quick answer
The verdict. Book the standard underground vaults tour at $25. It is the cheapest way into the chambers under the South Bridge, it runs an hour, and it carries 12,500 reviews — more than any other tour in this city. If you want history rather than fright, book the Real Mary King’s Close at $36. If somebody in your group will not go underground, book the Darkside walk at $28, which is the best-rated substantial tour here at 4.8.
How this is judged
Access first, then how much evidence the rating rests on.
Almost every "best ghost tour" list ranks on atmosphere, which is unmeasurable and which every operator in this city can produce on demand. These are the four things that actually vary.
1. Access. Does the ticket open a door you cannot otherwise open? The South Bridge chambers, the Real Mary King’s Close and the Covenanters’ Prison at Greyfriars are all locked to the public. Everything else on these tours is a public street. This is the single biggest differentiator and it is not a field on any listing.
2. Review weight, not review score. A 5.0 from 72 people tells you much less than a 4.6 from 7,277. Both appear on this page and both are honestly reported, but they are not the same evidence.
3. Cost per hour. A twenty-dollar ninety-minute walk and a twenty-five-dollar sixty-minute vault tour are not the same purchase, and the per-hour column in the table below makes that visible.
4. Who it fails. A tour that is perfect for four people and impossible for the fifth is not the right booking for a group of five. This gets more weight here than it usually does.
Every trip, current fare
Underground is the column no listing gives you. Cost per hour is the column that shows the two-hour walks are the value end of this market.
| Tour | Length | Price | Underground | Cost per hour | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dark History Walking TourThe cheapest walk, and it is a good one | 1.5 h | $20 | No | $13.33 | 5.0 · 72 |
| Ghosts, Mysteries & WitchesKirkyards, closes and the witch trials | 2 h | $22 | No | $11.00 | 4.9 · 32 |
| Old Town History & TalesThe Old Town explained, best-rated walk here | 2 h | $23 | No | $11.50 | 4.8 · 2,796 |
| Evening Underground Ghost TourInto the vaults after dark | 75 min | $24 | Yes, the vaults | $19.20 | 4.4 · 4,063 |
| Underground Vaults TourThe standard vaults tour, most reviewed in the city | 1 h | $25 | Yes, the vaults | $25.00 | 4.5 · 12,500 |
| Dark Secrets of the Old TownCanongate, the plague and the body snatchers | 2 h | $25 | No | $12.50 | 4.6 · 2,456 |
| Comedy Horror Ghost Bus TourA comedy show on a vintage double-decker | 75 min | $27 | No | $21.60 | 4.5 · 4,546 |
| Late-Night Vaults Terror TourThe late slot, run harder | 75 min | $27 | Yes, the vaults | $21.60 | 4.6 · 4,571 |
| Haunted Vaults & Graveyard TourGreyfriars and the vaults in one evening | 1.5 h | $27 | Yes, the vaults | $18.00 | 4.6 · 7,277 |
| Darkside Ghost TourTwo hours with a licensed local guide | 2 h | $28 | No | $14.00 | 4.8 · 1,497 |
| Multi-Sensory Haunted UndergroundThe original Blair Street vaults tour | 75 min | $34 | Yes, Blair Street | $27.20 | 4.5 · 2,754 |
| Real Mary King's CloseA street the city built over in 1753 | 1 h | $36 | Yes, the close | $36.00 | 4.7 · 4,405 |
The ranking
This is a single ordering, not a set of categories. Where a tour is only right for a specific person, it says so.
The default answer and the correct one for most people. An hour in the South Bridge chambers, the cheapest way in, and 12,500 reviews at 4.5. It is a big-group tour in high season and that is its one real weakness.
Ninety minutes, above ground and below, 7,277 reviews at 4.6. For somebody with one free evening in Edinburgh this is arguably the most complete purchase on the page — two dollars more than the vaults alone for half an hour more and a kirkyard.
The best-rated substantial tour here: 4.8 from 1,497. Two hours, licensed local guide, all above ground. If the underground is not for you, this is not a consolation prize, it is a better tour than most of the ones that go down.
The dearest ticket and the most historically careful hour in the city. A street the city built over in 1753 and which was lived in until 1902. Book this if you want to understand Edinburgh rather than be startled by it.
The same underground, run harder and later. 4,571 reviews at 4.6. Book it if being frightened is genuinely the objective, and not otherwise.
The best-reviewed walk on this page at 4.8 from 2,796, and barely a ghost tour at all. Two hours of real Old Town history. If somebody in your group rolls their eyes at ghosts, this is the booking that wins them over.
Seventy-five minutes, seated, warm, funny, and nothing enclosed. It solves more problems than any other tour here and it is honest about what it is.
The cheapest tour in the city and a perfect 5.0 — from 72 reviews, which is a small sample. Greyfriars, the Covenanters’ Prison and the Grassmarket in ninety minutes.
Two hours, Canongate Kirkyard, the plague and the body-snatching years. 2,456 reviews at 4.6. Solid, broad, above ground.
Rated 4.9, but from 32 reviews. Two hours at night through kirkyards and closes, and the most focused treatment of the witch trials on this page. Worth a look if that is your interest.
The Blair Street vaults with sound and smell added. 2,754 reviews at 4.5. It is nine dollars more than the standard vaults tour for the same bridge, and the extra buys production rather than access.
The lowest rating on this page at 4.4 across 4,063 reviews, and it costs a dollar less than the standard vaults tour. There is no version of this decision where the dollar is worth it.
If you are still deciding between the vaults and the buried close, they are two completely different sites and no ticket covers both.
The vaults, explained→The answer
One evening, no particular constraints: the standard vaults tour at $25. It is the cheapest access to the only genuinely inaccessible thing in this niche, and twelve and a half thousand people have rated it.
One evening, and you would rather learn something: the Real Mary King’s Close at $36. Eleven dollars more and the best hour of history you can buy here.
Somebody will not go underground: the Darkside walk at $28. Best rating on the page from a sample worth trusting.
Two evenings and you want them different: the vaults and Greyfriars combination at $27 on one night, and the ghost bus at $27 on the other. Underground and above, on foot and seated, history and comedy. Nothing repeats.
Book direct
Live prices and ratings. Free cancellation up to 24 hours before, on all of them.
★ 5.0 · 72 reviews
★ 4.9 · 32 reviews
★ 4.8 · 2,796 reviews
★ 4.4 · 4,063 reviews
★ 4.5 · 12,500 reviews
★ 4.6 · 2,456 reviews
★ 4.5 · 4,546 reviews
★ 4.6 · 4,571 reviews
★ 4.6 · 7,277 reviews
★ 4.8 · 1,497 reviews
★ 4.5 · 2,754 reviews
★ 4.7 · 4,405 reviews
Common questions
The standard underground vaults tour at $25. It is the cheapest way into the South Bridge chambers, runs an hour, and holds 12,500 reviews at 4.5 — more than any other tour in the city.
On a sample worth trusting, the Darkside walk at $28 — 4.8 across 1,497 reviews. Two tours here rate higher (4.9 and 5.0) but from 32 and 72 reviews respectively, which is not the same evidence.
The vaults and Greyfriars Kirkyard tour at $27: ninety minutes, both above ground and below, 7,277 reviews at 4.6. On a cost-per-hour basis the two-hour walks are cheaper still.
We would not book the evening underground tour: it holds the lowest rating on this page at 4.4, and it saves exactly one dollar against the standard vaults tour, which is rated higher and reviewed three times as often.
Not for most people. The Real Mary King’s Close at $36 is the dearest and is genuinely excellent, but it is a history tour rather than a ghost tour. If atmosphere is what you came for, it is not the right eleven dollars.
Only if they are different in kind. Two vault tours in two nights is the same evening twice. The vaults one night and the bus or the buried close the next is two genuinely different things.
Generally yes, and that is most of the explanation. The 4.9 and 5.0 tours here are small walking tours; the 4.4 and 4.5 tours run several times a night with large groups in high season. Group size is the strongest predictor of a bad review in this niche.
For the buried close, yes. For the multi-sensory vault tour at $34, probably not — it is nine dollars more than the standard tour into the same bridge, and the difference is production, not access.
The rating trap
A 5.0 from 72 people and a 4.5 from 12,500 are not the same claim.
Two tours on this page rate higher than anything else here: a 5.0 and a 4.9. Neither is our recommendation, and the reason is worth spelling out because it applies to every booking platform you will ever use.
The 5.0 rests on 72 reviews. The 4.9 rests on 32. Our top pick rests on 12,500 at 4.5, and the runner-up on 7,277 at 4.6. A perfect score from a few dozen people tells you that a small tour with a small following has not yet had a bad night; a 4.5 from twelve and a half thousand tells you what happens across every season, every group size and every guide on the rota.
There is a second effect underneath it. Small tours cap their groups, and group size is the strongest single predictor of a poor review in this niche. So the high-rated tours are partly high-rated because they are small — which is a real advantage, and is exactly why the Darkside walk at $28 with 1,497 reviews at 4.8 is the interesting case here. It is the only tour on this page that is both small enough to be good and reviewed enough to prove it.
If you only have one evening
The most common question we get is not "which is best" but "which is best for me". These are the four situations that actually come up.
The vaults and Greyfriars tour at $27. Ninety minutes, above ground and below, and it covers both halves of the Old Town rather than one.
The Real Mary King’s Close at $36. Completely different site, completely different register, and the best history on the page.
The comedy ghost bus at $27. Nobody vetoes it, nothing is enclosed, and seventy-five minutes is short enough that a sceptic stays cheerful.
The Old Town History and Tales walk at $23. Two hours, 4.8 from 2,796 reviews, and the lowest cost per hour of anything here that is rated above 4.7.
Go deeper
Twelve tours compared on price, length and which underground each one enters.
UndergroundAbout 120 rooms inside a bridge, abandoned by 1795 and lost for a century.
The closeA street built over in 1753 and lived in until 1902 — and the legend it did not earn.
The busSeventy-five minutes of comedy horror from a seat, and who it is really for.
KirkyardThe most-visited kirkyard in Scotland, and what the tours do there after dark.
WitchesWhat the trials actually were, and which tours tell it straight.
