Mercat Walking Tours

Fantastic company that do great tours would recomend to anyone.

Some friends of mine were visiting Edinburgh and I decided to join them on the Mercat Ghost tour. Unfortunately for us it was a particularly chilly night and so the group stood chittering for most of the time.
Our tour guide was very professional but the over-​dramatisation of it all wasn’t for me. Some of the acting was laughable (sorry!) and it made me cringe on several occasions. I felt the tour would have been more appropriate for children.
The vaults were impressive but having just been to The Caves nightclub the week before, I didn’t feel it was that different. Except at The Caves, there was really good music and alcohol.

We also picked a Mercat Tour, on the hunt for Ghosts & Gauls, which started on street level and ending going through the vaults.
The nice part of the tour is that we all ended up in a tavern in the vaults and a drink having a very good laugh. You needn’t believe in anything that is being said it’s all about having some fun and a little bit of history thrown in for extra.
I think the group was a little on the big side, controlling a group of ²⁵⁄₃₀ must distract from the overall fun of the tour. Very enjoyable and very silly.

I’ve been on several Mercat walks, the first over five years ago & the most recent, last month, & they have always been consistent in terms of the high quality entertainment that they offer & the wonderful staff that deliver the tours.
The walks, which normally promise some sort of gruesome terror, cover the area around the Royal Mile & the older part of the city, as well as the Edinburgh vaults, & are interspersed with snippets of historical information & ghost stories. Normally told with great enthusiasm, the stories & renditions are perhaps more amusing than they are scary & are often supported with mock demonstrations of torture on volunteers (or the volunteered) to the delight of other onlookers.
Some parts of the walks can be very atmospheric, the vaults for one always manage to be unnerving & I’m sure some people find them thoroughly scary, either way they’re definitely worth a visit!