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Edinburgh: Old Town

Europe » UK & Ireland » Edinburgh

Tour Creator

Robert is uniquely qualified to create Edinburgh and Scotland tours having been a tour guide in Edinburgh for over two decades. He has an encyclopaedic knowledge of Edinburgh and Scotland’s…Read More Bio »

Tour Type:

Historical

Urban

Edinburgh

GPS-directed

Remote Tour Included

1.5hrs

1.5km

Welcome to Edinburgh, widely regarded as one of the most beautiful cities in the world and this tour will show you why. This is Scotland’s Capital City, the nation’s seat of government and the largest UNESCO urban world heritage site since 1995.

On our tour, we will journey through the main street of Edinburgh’s Old Town: the Royal Mile. This street is so called as it links two buildings with royal connections, Holyrood Palace and Edinburgh Castle.

Avoid the Crowds

Allows you to explore without having to be shoulder-to-shoulder in a large tour group

Created by an exceptional local tour guide

Written by an Edinburgh tour guide with over two decades of experience

GPS Directions

Easy-to-follow GPS directions to get you from one point to the next on your tour

Highlights include:

Lady Stairs House, St Giles High Kirk, and Palace of Holyroodhouse

Remote Tour Included

As with all our tours, a remote tour is included that can be enjoyed from home

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Itinerary

Edinburgh – Old Town

Edinburgh Castle - The most famous, largest and strategically placed of Scotland’s ancient fortresses. Hear how it all started. We'll learn of the fortress’s interior, its treasures, its royal residents and its moving War Memorial.
Gladstone’s Land - We'll visit this perfectly preserved merchant's home of the early 17^th and how it housed all strata’s of Edinburgh society.
Lady Stairs House - An aristocrat’s townhouse constructed in 1622 with a very interesting early anti-theft feature. Now, the Writers Museum and if that’s not enough to tempt you, its free to enter.
A Statue of David Home - The philosopher of the Scottish Enlightenment and an equally accomplished historian, economist, too clever by half. Hear of the times when a good day out was attending a public hanging and the last, alas, of these gala days.
St Giles High Kirk - The original church of the city founded in 1124. Listen to a time when people power meant not throwing in the towel but throwing your stool at the preacher. Hear how big business in the mediaeval period was the trade in assorted body parts of saints.
Tron Kirk - Christ’s Kirk at the Tron, the second church of Edinburgh where our New Year’s celebrations were a bit haphazard. Hear about how in the past we measured trader’s wares and the local penalty for, short measuring.
John Knox/Moubary House - These two houses, although both have been re-fronted at a later date, were built eleven years apart, the former in 1488 the latter in 1477. Hear of protestant reformer and misogynist and an English man of letters turned spy.
Moray House - Dating to 1625, at which time the Canongate had become the in place for the aristocracy to build their townhouses. In addition; find out who was the creator of a magical world that was educated here.
Canongate Kirk - Completed in 1691, by the master mason James Smith a pioneer of the Palladian style in Scotland, and the place of recent Royal betrothals. We'll learn of the tales of the literary great and the good, that lie in their ‘Narrow Houses’ for eternity. What could be described as a Scottish, ‘Dead Poet’s Society’.
A Palace of Holyrood House - This is the official residence of the Royal Family in Scotland, building work on the structure was started by one of Her Majesty’s own royal forbears King James IV in 1498. Hear the reason for an abbey’s construction and how a King was saved from being gored to death by an enormous white stag by a fabulous holy relic.

Check out a free sample of this tour!

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