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Welcome to Mercat Tours

Choose one of Mercat's Tours because they are

  • the most widely acclaimed
  • historically accurate
  • researched by historians, delivered by historians
  • led by highly trained guides with a flair for dramatic storytelling
  • run all the year round
  • and have exclusive access to the most extensive vaults beneath the South Bridge

Here is a summary of all the tours we run, every day, all year round

Secrets of the Royal Mile
Secrets of the Royal Mile
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  • Explore the narrow closes and wynds of the Old Town
  • Discover Scotland’s first Parliament building
  • Meet the celebrated author of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
  • Learn how Half-Hangit Maggie got her name…
Writers By The Mile
Writers By The Mile
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  • Walk the Mile with Scott, Burns & Stevenson
  • Find out which celebrated Scottish play was 400 years between performances!
  • Discover who was the original Sherlock Holmes
  • Learn how the city has inspired Rankin & Rowling
The Vaults Tour
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  • Visit authentic 18th century vaults beneath the South Bridge
  • Find out why they were created
  • See the unaltered conditions in which real people lived and worked
  • Learn the origin of the Scottish ‘midden’
  • Discover links with the city’s notorious Bodysnatchers
Haunted Underground Experience

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  • Descend into the 18th century Blair St vaults beneath the South Bridge
  • Explore the nature of ghosts and the different ways they manifest themselves
  • Focus on the paranormal experiences of visitors since 1994
  • Reflect on the findings of The Edinburgh Ghost Project 2001
  • Possibly discover psychic gifts of your own!
Ghosts & Ghouls
The Ghosts & Ghouls Tour
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  • Mercat Tour’s original and most popular tour
  • A light-hearted journey into Edinburgh's dark past
  • A heady mix of dramatic story-telling, gruesome history and haunted underground vaults
  • Option of extending the tour with further stories and a ‘wee refreshment’ in an historic tavern.
Ghosthunter Trail
Ghosthunter Trail
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  • Explore the murky depths of Edinburgh’s horrific past
  • Hear the anguished whispers of those doomed to walk the earth for evermore
  • Watch the shadows dance in candlelit vaults
  • Venture deep into a necropolis where bones lie a-mouldering