Two National Trust properties, two centuries and two towns: Old and New. We team up with the National Trust for Scotland on this private tour, combining exceptional storytelling with perfectly preserved houses from the 16th and 19th centuries.

We’ll begin at the Mercat Cross, where your private guide will reveal the stories behind the Old Town – a maze of closes and wynds, and a place of chronic overcrowding, where buildings once reached 14 storeys high.

We’ll weave our way up to Gladstone’s Land on Lawnmarket for a tour of the traditional 16th century tenement house – where you’ll hear of its unique story amongst the cramped conditions and terrible poverty surrounding it in the Old Town by the 18th Century.

From cramped tenements to expansive town houses

Then we’ll head for the New Town, and a tour of the Georgian House – the National Trust for Scotland’s beautifully preserved example of 19th century living. The contrast is marked: spacious interiors, period furniture, a glint of silver and glass.

Please note National Trust for Scotland properties may have seasonal opening hours effecting tours Nov-Feb.