Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
double-decker open-top motor coaches pass many of the major sights along the Royal
Mile, the Grassmarket, Princes Street, and George Street. Three tours—Edinburgh
Tour (green buses), City Sightseeing (red buses), and Mac Tours (vintage buses)—all
cover roughly the same ground in Old Town and New Town. The Majestic Tour
makes shorter work of the city center but includes Leith. Tickets can be used for 24
hours, and you can hop on and hop off the bus at designated stops.
Waverley Bridge.
&
0131/220-0770.
www.edinburghtour.com. Daily 9:30am-5:30pm (later in sum-
mer) mid-Mar-Oct £12 adults; £11 seniors and students; £5 children 5-15; £28 families.
Edinburgh Literary Pub Tour
Trace the footsteps of such literary greats as
Robert Burns and Robert Louis Stevenson on this tour, which goes into the city's
taverns, highlighting the tales of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and the erotic love poetry
of Burns. They leave nightly at 7:30pm from the Beehive Inn on the Grassmarket
from May to September (7:45pm in August only); Thursday to Sunday in March,
April, and October; and just on Friday from November to February. Tickets can be
purchased at the Beehive on the evening or in advance on the website, which has
information on Literary Bus Tours and Makars' Court literary performances outside
the Writers Museum.
97b West Bow.
&
0131/226-6665.
www.edinburghliterarypubtour.co.uk. Reservations recommended
in high season. Tickets £8.50.
Mercat Tours
This well-established company conducts six different walking tours
of the city, covering a range of interests from “Secrets of the Royal Mile” to “Ghosts
& Ghouls,” which takes place only in the evenings. The tours leave from the Mercat
Cross, outside of St. Giles' Cathedral on the Royal Mile.
Mercat House, 28 Blair St.
&
0131/255-5443.
www.mercattours.com. Reservations recommended.
Tickets from £8.50 adults, £5 children.
The Witchery Tours
Edinburgh's history is filled with tales of ghosts, gore, and
witchcraft, and this tour is enlivened by characters who leap out of seemingly
nowhere when you least expect it. Two tours—the 90-minute “Ghost & Gore” and
the 75-minute “Murder & Mystery”—overlap in parts. Scenes of horrific torture,
murder, and supernatural occurrence in Old Town are visited, under the cloak of
darkness. The ghost tour (May-Sept) departs nightly at 7 and 7:30pm, with the
murder tour (year-round) leaving at 8:30, 9, and 9:30pm, all from the outside of the
Witchery restaurant on Castlehill.
84 West Bow.
&
0131/225-6745.
www.witcherytours.com. Reservations required. Tickets £7.50 adults,
£5 children.
8
SPECIAL EVENTS & FESTIVALS
Burns Night
Not an occasion limited to Edinburgh, on January 25, Scots the
world over gather to consume the traditional supper of haggis,
neeps
(swede or tur-
nips), and tatties (potatoes), accompanied by a dram of whisky, while listening to
recitals of the works of Scotland's Bard, Robert “Rabbie” Burns, whose birthday is
being celebrated. Burns suppers are held all over town.
