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Edinburgh Blair Street Historical Underground Vaults Tour

Instant confirmation E-Voucher

Activity Schedule

  • When does it run?

    Daily

  • Duration

    Approx. 1 hour 15 mins

  • Start time

    Historic Underground Tour –  2 pm/ 4:30 pm

    Tour with ghost-themed storytelling – 1 pm / 4 pm / 5 pm 

  • Meeting Point

    The tour starts at Mercat Cross, High Street

    Please report at the meeting point 15 minutes before the start time. This is mandatory to allow time for pre-departure briefing.

  • Ending Point

    The tour ends at Blair Street Underground Vaults, Blair Street, off Hunter's Square

Key Highlights

  • Discover Edinburgh’s darkest secret on this tour of the Blair Street Underground Vaults
  • Navigate your way through one of the most breathtaking histories of modern society
  • Dig into the sinister stories of Burke and Hare, the serial killers who are believed to have preyed on quite a few people inside the vaults
  • Admire an array of 19th century artefacts and enjoy a fascinating presentation in the Discovery Room
  • Upgrade to include spine-chilling ghost-themed story-telling
  • Both smartphone and printed and vouchers accepted!

Overview

Discover Edinburgh’s darkest secret on this fantastic historical tour that takes you to a surreal exploration of the Blair Street Underground Vaults - the deepest, largest and most extensive in the city. While the Blair Street Vaults are notorious for their paranormal occurrences and tons of ghost stories that are attributed to it, this tour will get you up close with their incredible history - most of which is quite tragic.

A dark, damp world unchanged since the 18th century, the vaults originated as storage space for the taverns, cobblers, and other tradesmen that were prospering during the industrial revolution. However, when the businesses abandoned the space, the poorest citizens of Edinburgh populated the dark, damp spaces of the vaults making Slums, brothels, and salubrious pubs a commonplace affair. In fact, crimes including robbery and murder soon started plaguing the vaults. The infamous serial killer duo Burke and Hare, who sold corpses to medical schools, are rumored to have hunted for victims in the vaults and even stored some of the bodies there.

Upgrade the tour to include riveting commentary by a cloaked Mercat Tours storyteller through the shadowy closes of Edinburgh’s Old Town. Explore the city’s most haunted vaults and listen to the dark and sinister events which took place over the years. Torture. Murder. Hangings. Brace yourself for chills galore.

Inclusions

  • Walking tour of Edinburgh Vaults 
  • Ghost-themed storytelling (if option selected)

Exclusions

  • Hotel pick-up and drop-off
  • Food and drinks

Please note

Voucher information: You can show your voucher on your smartphone (But if you’d rather print a copy – that’s fine too!)

To avoid any last minute rush, please reach meeting point 10 minutes prior to the departure time.

'Concession' ticket option £18.00 (for students aged 16+ with valid student ID and seniors aged 60+)

Customer Reviews

  • Kimberley sayani

    Very exciting tour , lot of information given by guide , which we would never know otherwise.

    03/16/2020
  • J Martin

    Entertaining and informative

    United Kingdom 02/18/2019
  • Ms H Elizabeth
    Excellent Tour and Guide

    Very informative, interesting and well worth doing while in Edinburgh. Loved this tour....

    United Kingdom 12/08/2015

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