The Real Mary King'S Close

The Chesney family lived on the close for three generations and worked only a few yards from their home. Their workshop was in use right up until the early 20th century but do you know what trade the Chesney family were in?
A. Wigmakers B. Engravers C. Sawmakers
Let us know your guesses below and we'll reveal all on Friday!

Hello October! It's a new week and a brand new month filled with anticipation for what we have in store for Halloween season.
Our late night Condemned tour is back this month. It delves into Edinburgh’s tumultuous yet fascinating past with witches and witchcraft, telling the stories of its infamous accomplices and most ardent opponents.
Will you dare cross the threshold and confront the unknown this October?
... https://bit.ly/2PUjWCM
See More

On this day back in 1482, James III was freed from the Castle after a siege by Edinburgh burgesses.

We are delighted to announce that The Real Mary King's Close has been shortlisted as a Regional Finalist for not just one but two VisitScotland #ThistleAwards! In Best Visitor Attraction and Best Heritage Tourism Experience categories this year!

We asked you on Monday, what materials you thought people used back in 17th Century Edinburgh to create plaster and you came back with some very interesting guesses! It was traditionally made with a mixture of sand, lime, water, and horse hair!

October is fast approaching and we're getting excited for Halloween season!
Condemed is back after it's sell out run last year. Come join us as we travel back to a time when fear and suspicion lurked around every corner. Learn about Edinburgh’s infamous witch trials, how Mary King’s Close residents were implicated, and the fate that befell them.
Will you dare to cross the threshold and confront the unknown?
... Book your tickets now! https://bit.ly/2PUjWCM
See More

In 17th century Edinburgh, do you know what local residents might have used to plaster their walls?
Let us know your guesses below and we'll reveal all on Friday!

There's a wee bit of a nip in the air, so why not come and enjoy the warm delights of locally brewed Brodies Coffee ...straight from our shiny new coffee machine. Yum!

The historic closes of Edinburgh were made of rough hewn stone. Each close was built narrow, steep and dark, with the buildings towering over the streets below. Did you know that Mary King's Close is one of the widest of these closes at 7 feet? Still remarkably small compared to today's modern streets.

Well blow me down (or not as the case may be!) Storm Ali has finally gone and doesn't Edinburgh look beautiful?!

This morning we asked you when the first outbreak of plague was in Edinburgh. Well done to everyone who got that right: the first recorded outbreak of the plague in Edinburgh (Originally called the “English Disease” or “English Plague”) was in 1349. However the first known outbreak in Scotland was in 669, this appeared to have been very contained as it affected only the Lothians.

Happy Monday all! Let's get our brains working with some Monday morning trivia: does anyone know when the first outbreak of the plague was in Edinburgh?

Night-time in Edinburgh's Old Town could be dank and dangerous, with robbers and cutpurses lurking to waylay the unwary. So in the winter of 1554, the Burgh Council issues a regulation 'for eschewing of evil doings of various vagabonds and others'. This required trades people and those who dwelt in the closes, to ensure that 'there be nightly from this day forth, lanterns and street lamps set forth at 5 o'clock in the evening and remain until 9 o'clock'.

This is a cruise lamp, which would have been used to light the poorer homes in 17th century Edinburgh....but what would they burn?
A) Beeswax B) Paraffin oil C) Fish oil or animal fat... D) Wax candles, obviously
Give us your guesses, and we will be back on Sunday with the fact!
See More

These rooms off Allan's Close are a remarkable survival and contain rich evidence of their time as part of a 17th century house,the earliest features dating back from around 1640.

Did you know that in the original designs of the Royal Exchange they included three different coffee houses? The construction of the Royal Exchange (now the city chambers) began in 1754 and concluded in 1756. Our coffee house is situated in the beautiful Old Burgh Courtroom, make sure you visit while you're in Edinburgh!

Can you guess which room on the tour this is? This photograph was taken when the site was used as an air raid shelter during world war two!

Andrew Chesney was very proud of his 'thunder box', so much so he would leave his front door open and wave at passers by while he was using it!

Today is national radio day. Who remembers when we tested Boogie at Forth 1 for witchcraft? He was guilty by the way 🧙‍♂️

Went a few weeks ago and they got me on one of the tours early as I couldn't stay till the next one which was later and needed to get back to Newcastle at the time, all the staff are friendly and very helpful too,in Cafe, shop and musuem, so I'd say go for a visit it's well worth the tour and money. ���

Very interesting tour. Our guide Mark was fantastic and really made the tour! He was informative and friendly and got the tone just right. Keeping it interesting but adding humour as well. Fabulous to get a feel for what Edinburgh would have been like in the 17th century and before and to hear a couple of very personal stories connected to the close really brought the history alive. Thank you Mark.

Very good tour had Claire as our guide who was very informative and funny. Will recommend this tour to anyone that comes this way. This is my second time I have been here and I will come again as I found more out about it than last time I was here. Well done keep up the good work.

Very fun and educational. Courtney from Australia did our tour, and what a fabulous job she did! She knew the place inside out, and was even confident giving the finest details in answer to our questions. You can tell she is passionate about her job and loves working with people, which made the tour even better! Thank you!

Very entertaining and fun way to learn the history of Edinburgh.

Our guide/actor was very interactive and the entire tour was quite interesting!

You are taken through what a 'close' would have looked like in the past, from the poorest of people right up to the elite status. There are many character stories to help tell tales from old town Edinburgh.



Please note:

You are NOT allowed to take pictures or film while you are on the tour. I wished I had looked that up as I did this tour to get content/photos for my blog.

They DO take a photo of you that you can purchase afterwards, but it wasn't the kind of candid content I was looking for.



Otherwise super interesting for anyone who enjoys history!!

Glad we did it!



Adults are 15.50 pounds, hours change depending on season so be sure to check the website. Tours last 1 hour and they do have handheld translators for anyone who doesn't speak English.

The visit is very interesting and impressive, they throw you back in time and you can really get a glimpse of how people lived then. The guide was funny, enthusiastic and knowledgeable.

Such a unique experience you can only get in Edinburgh! Very creepy and spooky down in the close, I loved it! The tour guide was a fantastic character; witty and knowledgeable. Definitely worth a tour.

Really good and a brilliant tour our guide Fiona was really good and informative !! Made the history come alive !!! Also to Lynne in the shop was very informative about the products we were buying our family crest of arms !!

My wife and I visited here today. We were greated by three smiling, very welcoming lovely ladies and were on the first tour of the morning with Aaron (not John as this is a good review not a bad one!). A difficult mixed nationality group to start the day for Aaron but he fantastically took it in his stride while telling us all the stories of life, death and the difficulties of living in the closes especially Mary King's Close brilliantly. We will definitely come back in the hopefully near future and will be recommending a visit if any of our friends or family visit Edinburgh in the future!

My wife and I did the tour today it was fantastic. Our guide Mark was excellent full of interesting facts that kept us enthralled throughout. We also bought the photo at the end as a memento of our day. Would absolutely recommend this to anyone visiting Edinburgh.

Loved every minute of our tour. It was very interesting to hear the facts about what the close would've been like. Our host was brilliant too and quite funny at times. Would recommend to anybody wanting to "step back into time" for an hour or so.

I visited many years ago with my family, we went on the evening tour my sons were the only children there that evening. We had some strange things happen

(bulbs flickering and mr chesneys door moving on its own when no one was near, you were not allowed in the room) I thought at the time this was part of the tour although the guide did seem a bit uneasy which I thought strange. AT the end of the tour we were in a corridor standing as a group to have our photo taken at which point something happened which I can't explain. The bag I had on my shoulder started to shake a little I assumed it was the lady next to me moving her leg back and forth and thought no more of it, as we turned around to leave she tapped me on the shoulder & told me laughing that my son had tried to hold her hand probably thinking it was me whilst we were standing there, I was a little shocked as I knew that my son and his brother were with their dad on the other side of the group nowhere near me !!! to this day I am not sure why my bag was moving and why did the lady think my son had held her hand when he was nowhere near us and the only one of two children in the group ? What is unusual is I don't seem to see anyone else having similar experiences in any posts so this may be taken down as it may put some people off from visiting..? I certainly want to go back just to see if anything happens like that again. By the way, I put the account in the visitor's book as this was available at the time, not sure if it is now it was around 7 years ago. All I can say is I enjoyed the tour and would go again

I highly recommend that if you ever travel to Edinburgh, you save one hour of your time to visit The Real Mary King's Close at the Royal Mile. Worth of your time and money! Especially if you get "Ernest The Dutchman" as your tour guide. :D He scared the sh*t out of us few times (in a good way of course)! Thank you for the experience!

Had a great experience on our visit last month. Chris was a great storyteller and a hoot of a tour guide. It was a fun and interactive way to learn about the history of Old Edinburgh. Highly recommend!

Fun, Factual, Amazing way to learn about history and to walk underground and see how people once survived. Shocking.

Our guide was so charming and funny - very captivating. A must if you visit Edinburgh.

Finally i can tick this of my bucket list.It was just fab so interesting.Tour guide was great and funny.

Was really looking forward to trying the coffee shop. However, the staff were surly after having their gossiping interrupted, laying across the counter and talking rather than paying attention to the customers and the barista messed up our basic coffee order because she was too busy discussing other staff members front of house. Only higher rating because of positive experience on The Close itself

We did the tour this morning at 11.15 am and we were really disappointed. The tour started with a delay of 15 minutes. That didn't matter because we were informed in time. But it was not ok that the guide was in such a hurry that he spoke very fast and that he already started explaining when half of the group hadn't entered the room yet. Furthermore the group was far too big with 23 people! We couldn't get a real feeling of how the people were living at that time. Most of the rooms were nearly empty, only in the room with the sick people we get an impression of their life. Nearly £ 16 per person was far too much. We cannot recommend it to other visitors.

2nd visit after 12 years and very disappointed. There was more to the tour previously and the authenticity was lacking. whilst appreciating H&S rules the modern floors and bright lights were detracting from what should have been a great experience. The 10 min in the quarantine room with "ghostly" voices was boring. Expensive and certainly not 5 star. Been to much better historical sites.Dont waste your money

Went a few weeks ago and they got me on one of the tours early as I couldn't stay till the next one which was later and needed to get back to Newcastle at the time, all the staff are friendly and very helpful too,in Cafe, shop and musuem, so I'd say go for a visit it's well worth the tour and money. ���

Very interesting tour. Our guide Mark was fantastic and really made the tour! He was informative and friendly and got the tone just right. Keeping it interesting but adding humour as well. Fabulous to get a feel for what Edinburgh would have been like in the 17th century and before and to hear a couple of very personal stories connected to the close really brought the history alive. Thank you Mark.

Very good tour had Claire as our guide who was very informative and funny. Will recommend this tour to anyone that comes this way. This is my second time I have been here and I will come again as I found more out about it than last time I was here. Well done keep up the good work.

Very fun and educational. Courtney from Australia did our tour, and what a fabulous job she did! She knew the place inside out, and was even confident giving the finest details in answer to our questions. You can tell she is passionate about her job and loves working with people, which made the tour even better! Thank you!

Very entertaining and fun way to learn the history of Edinburgh.

Our guide/actor was very interactive and the entire tour was quite interesting!

You are taken through what a 'close' would have looked like in the past, from the poorest of people right up to the elite status. There are many character stories to help tell tales from old town Edinburgh.



Please note:

You are NOT allowed to take pictures or film while you are on the tour. I wished I had looked that up as I did this tour to get content/photos for my blog.

They DO take a photo of you that you can purchase afterwards, but it wasn't the kind of candid content I was looking for.



Otherwise super interesting for anyone who enjoys history!!

Glad we did it!



Adults are 15.50 pounds, hours change depending on season so be sure to check the website. Tours last 1 hour and they do have handheld translators for anyone who doesn't speak English.

The visit is very interesting and impressive, they throw you back in time and you can really get a glimpse of how people lived then. The guide was funny, enthusiastic and knowledgeable.

Such a unique experience you can only get in Edinburgh! Very creepy and spooky down in the close, I loved it! The tour guide was a fantastic character; witty and knowledgeable. Definitely worth a tour.

Really good and a brilliant tour our guide Fiona was really good and informative !! Made the history come alive !!! Also to Lynne in the shop was very informative about the products we were buying our family crest of arms !!

My wife and I visited here today. We were greated by three smiling, very welcoming lovely ladies and were on the first tour of the morning with Aaron (not John as this is a good review not a bad one!). A difficult mixed nationality group to start the day for Aaron but he fantastically took it in his stride while telling us all the stories of life, death and the difficulties of living in the closes especially Mary King's Close brilliantly. We will definitely come back in the hopefully near future and will be recommending a visit if any of our friends or family visit Edinburgh in the future!

My wife and I did the tour today it was fantastic. Our guide Mark was excellent full of interesting facts that kept us enthralled throughout. We also bought the photo at the end as a memento of our day. Would absolutely recommend this to anyone visiting Edinburgh.

Loved every minute of our tour. It was very interesting to hear the facts about what the close would've been like. Our host was brilliant too and quite funny at times. Would recommend to anybody wanting to "step back into time" for an hour or so.

I visited many years ago with my family, we went on the evening tour my sons were the only children there that evening. We had some strange things happen

(bulbs flickering and mr chesneys door moving on its own when no one was near, you were not allowed in the room) I thought at the time this was part of the tour although the guide did seem a bit uneasy which I thought strange. AT the end of the tour we were in a corridor standing as a group to have our photo taken at which point something happened which I can't explain. The bag I had on my shoulder started to shake a little I assumed it was the lady next to me moving her leg back and forth and thought no more of it, as we turned around to leave she tapped me on the shoulder & told me laughing that my son had tried to hold her hand probably thinking it was me whilst we were standing there, I was a little shocked as I knew that my son and his brother were with their dad on the other side of the group nowhere near me !!! to this day I am not sure why my bag was moving and why did the lady think my son had held her hand when he was nowhere near us and the only one of two children in the group ? What is unusual is I don't seem to see anyone else having similar experiences in any posts so this may be taken down as it may put some people off from visiting..? I certainly want to go back just to see if anything happens like that again. By the way, I put the account in the visitor's book as this was available at the time, not sure if it is now it was around 7 years ago. All I can say is I enjoyed the tour and would go again

I highly recommend that if you ever travel to Edinburgh, you save one hour of your time to visit The Real Mary King's Close at the Royal Mile. Worth of your time and money! Especially if you get "Ernest The Dutchman" as your tour guide. :D He scared the sh*t out of us few times (in a good way of course)! Thank you for the experience!

Had a great experience on our visit last month. Chris was a great storyteller and a hoot of a tour guide. It was a fun and interactive way to learn about the history of Old Edinburgh. Highly recommend!

Fun, Factual, Amazing way to learn about history and to walk underground and see how people once survived. Shocking.

Our guide was so charming and funny - very captivating. A must if you visit Edinburgh.

Finally i can tick this of my bucket list.It was just fab so interesting.Tour guide was great and funny.

Was really looking forward to trying the coffee shop. However, the staff were surly after having their gossiping interrupted, laying across the counter and talking rather than paying attention to the customers and the barista messed up our basic coffee order because she was too busy discussing other staff members front of house. Only higher rating because of positive experience on The Close itself

We did the tour this morning at 11.15 am and we were really disappointed. The tour started with a delay of 15 minutes. That didn't matter because we were informed in time. But it was not ok that the guide was in such a hurry that he spoke very fast and that he already started explaining when half of the group hadn't entered the room yet. Furthermore the group was far too big with 23 people! We couldn't get a real feeling of how the people were living at that time. Most of the rooms were nearly empty, only in the room with the sick people we get an impression of their life. Nearly £ 16 per person was far too much. We cannot recommend it to other visitors.

2nd visit after 12 years and very disappointed. There was more to the tour previously and the authenticity was lacking. whilst appreciating H&S rules the modern floors and bright lights were detracting from what should have been a great experience. The 10 min in the quarantine room with "ghostly" voices was boring. Expensive and certainly not 5 star. Been to much better historical sites.Dont waste your money

Went a few weeks ago and they got me on one of the tours early as I couldn't stay till the next one which was later and needed to get back to Newcastle at the time, all the staff are friendly and very helpful too,in Cafe, shop and musuem, so I'd say go for a visit it's well worth the tour and money. ���

Very interesting tour. Our guide Mark was fantastic and really made the tour! He was informative and friendly and got the tone just right. Keeping it interesting but adding humour as well. Fabulous to get a feel for what Edinburgh would have been like in the 17th century and before and to hear a couple of very personal stories connected to the close really brought the history alive. Thank you Mark.

Very good tour had Claire as our guide who was very informative and funny. Will recommend this tour to anyone that comes this way. This is my second time I have been here and I will come again as I found more out about it than last time I was here. Well done keep up the good work.

Very fun and educational. Courtney from Australia did our tour, and what a fabulous job she did! She knew the place inside out, and was even confident giving the finest details in answer to our questions. You can tell she is passionate about her job and loves working with people, which made the tour even better! Thank you!

Very entertaining and fun way to learn the history of Edinburgh.

Our guide/actor was very interactive and the entire tour was quite interesting!

You are taken through what a 'close' would have looked like in the past, from the poorest of people right up to the elite status. There are many character stories to help tell tales from old town Edinburgh.



Please note:

You are NOT allowed to take pictures or film while you are on the tour. I wished I had looked that up as I did this tour to get content/photos for my blog.

They DO take a photo of you that you can purchase afterwards, but it wasn't the kind of candid content I was looking for.



Otherwise super interesting for anyone who enjoys history!!

Glad we did it!



Adults are 15.50 pounds, hours change depending on season so be sure to check the website. Tours last 1 hour and they do have handheld translators for anyone who doesn't speak English.

The visit is very interesting and impressive, they throw you back in time and you can really get a glimpse of how people lived then. The guide was funny, enthusiastic and knowledgeable.

Such a unique experience you can only get in Edinburgh! Very creepy and spooky down in the close, I loved it! The tour guide was a fantastic character; witty and knowledgeable. Definitely worth a tour.

Really good and a brilliant tour our guide Fiona was really good and informative !! Made the history come alive !!! Also to Lynne in the shop was very informative about the products we were buying our family crest of arms !!

My wife and I visited here today. We were greated by three smiling, very welcoming lovely ladies and were on the first tour of the morning with Aaron (not John as this is a good review not a bad one!). A difficult mixed nationality group to start the day for Aaron but he fantastically took it in his stride while telling us all the stories of life, death and the difficulties of living in the closes especially Mary King's Close brilliantly. We will definitely come back in the hopefully near future and will be recommending a visit if any of our friends or family visit Edinburgh in the future!

My wife and I did the tour today it was fantastic. Our guide Mark was excellent full of interesting facts that kept us enthralled throughout. We also bought the photo at the end as a memento of our day. Would absolutely recommend this to anyone visiting Edinburgh.

Loved every minute of our tour. It was very interesting to hear the facts about what the close would've been like. Our host was brilliant too and quite funny at times. Would recommend to anybody wanting to "step back into time" for an hour or so.

I visited many years ago with my family, we went on the evening tour my sons were the only children there that evening. We had some strange things happen

(bulbs flickering and mr chesneys door moving on its own when no one was near, you were not allowed in the room) I thought at the time this was part of the tour although the guide did seem a bit uneasy which I thought strange. AT the end of the tour we were in a corridor standing as a group to have our photo taken at which point something happened which I can't explain. The bag I had on my shoulder started to shake a little I assumed it was the lady next to me moving her leg back and forth and thought no more of it, as we turned around to leave she tapped me on the shoulder & told me laughing that my son had tried to hold her hand probably thinking it was me whilst we were standing there, I was a little shocked as I knew that my son and his brother were with their dad on the other side of the group nowhere near me !!! to this day I am not sure why my bag was moving and why did the lady think my son had held her hand when he was nowhere near us and the only one of two children in the group ? What is unusual is I don't seem to see anyone else having similar experiences in any posts so this may be taken down as it may put some people off from visiting..? I certainly want to go back just to see if anything happens like that again. By the way, I put the account in the visitor's book as this was available at the time, not sure if it is now it was around 7 years ago. All I can say is I enjoyed the tour and would go again

I highly recommend that if you ever travel to Edinburgh, you save one hour of your time to visit The Real Mary King's Close at the Royal Mile. Worth of your time and money! Especially if you get "Ernest The Dutchman" as your tour guide. :D He scared the sh*t out of us few times (in a good way of course)! Thank you for the experience!

Had a great experience on our visit last month. Chris was a great storyteller and a hoot of a tour guide. It was a fun and interactive way to learn about the history of Old Edinburgh. Highly recommend!

Fun, Factual, Amazing way to learn about history and to walk underground and see how people once survived. Shocking.

Our guide was so charming and funny - very captivating. A must if you visit Edinburgh.

Finally i can tick this of my bucket list.It was just fab so interesting.Tour guide was great and funny.

Was really looking forward to trying the coffee shop. However, the staff were surly after having their gossiping interrupted, laying across the counter and talking rather than paying attention to the customers and the barista messed up our basic coffee order because she was too busy discussing other staff members front of house. Only higher rating because of positive experience on The Close itself

We did the tour this morning at 11.15 am and we were really disappointed. The tour started with a delay of 15 minutes. That didn't matter because we were informed in time. But it was not ok that the guide was in such a hurry that he spoke very fast and that he already started explaining when half of the group hadn't entered the room yet. Furthermore the group was far too big with 23 people! We couldn't get a real feeling of how the people were living at that time. Most of the rooms were nearly empty, only in the room with the sick people we get an impression of their life. Nearly £ 16 per person was far too much. We cannot recommend it to other visitors.

2nd visit after 12 years and very disappointed. There was more to the tour previously and the authenticity was lacking. whilst appreciating H&S rules the modern floors and bright lights were detracting from what should have been a great experience. The 10 min in the quarantine room with "ghostly" voices was boring. Expensive and certainly not 5 star. Been to much better historical sites.Dont waste your money

Went a few weeks ago and they got me on one of the tours early as I couldn't stay till the next one which was later and needed to get back to Newcastle at the time, all the staff are friendly and very helpful too,in Cafe, shop and musuem, so I'd say go for a visit it's well worth the tour and money. ���

Very interesting tour. Our guide Mark was fantastic and really made the tour! He was informative and friendly and got the tone just right. Keeping it interesting but adding humour as well. Fabulous to get a feel for what Edinburgh would have been like in the 17th century and before and to hear a couple of very personal stories connected to the close really brought the history alive. Thank you Mark.

Very good tour had Claire as our guide who was very informative and funny. Will recommend this tour to anyone that comes this way. This is my second time I have been here and I will come again as I found more out about it than last time I was here. Well done keep up the good work.

Very fun and educational. Courtney from Australia did our tour, and what a fabulous job she did! She knew the place inside out, and was even confident giving the finest details in answer to our questions. You can tell she is passionate about her job and loves working with people, which made the tour even better! Thank you!

Very entertaining and fun way to learn the history of Edinburgh.

Our guide/actor was very interactive and the entire tour was quite interesting!

You are taken through what a 'close' would have looked like in the past, from the poorest of people right up to the elite status. There are many character stories to help tell tales from old town Edinburgh.



Please note:

You are NOT allowed to take pictures or film while you are on the tour. I wished I had looked that up as I did this tour to get content/photos for my blog.

They DO take a photo of you that you can purchase afterwards, but it wasn't the kind of candid content I was looking for.



Otherwise super interesting for anyone who enjoys history!!

Glad we did it!



Adults are 15.50 pounds, hours change depending on season so be sure to check the website. Tours last 1 hour and they do have handheld translators for anyone who doesn't speak English.

The visit is very interesting and impressive, they throw you back in time and you can really get a glimpse of how people lived then. The guide was funny, enthusiastic and knowledgeable.

Such a unique experience you can only get in Edinburgh! Very creepy and spooky down in the close, I loved it! The tour guide was a fantastic character; witty and knowledgeable. Definitely worth a tour.

Really good and a brilliant tour our guide Fiona was really good and informative !! Made the history come alive !!! Also to Lynne in the shop was very informative about the products we were buying our family crest of arms !!

My wife and I visited here today. We were greated by three smiling, very welcoming lovely ladies and were on the first tour of the morning with Aaron (not John as this is a good review not a bad one!). A difficult mixed nationality group to start the day for Aaron but he fantastically took it in his stride while telling us all the stories of life, death and the difficulties of living in the closes especially Mary King's Close brilliantly. We will definitely come back in the hopefully near future and will be recommending a visit if any of our friends or family visit Edinburgh in the future!

My wife and I did the tour today it was fantastic. Our guide Mark was excellent full of interesting facts that kept us enthralled throughout. We also bought the photo at the end as a memento of our day. Would absolutely recommend this to anyone visiting Edinburgh.

Loved every minute of our tour. It was very interesting to hear the facts about what the close would've been like. Our host was brilliant too and quite funny at times. Would recommend to anybody wanting to "step back into time" for an hour or so.

I visited many years ago with my family, we went on the evening tour my sons were the only children there that evening. We had some strange things happen

(bulbs flickering and mr chesneys door moving on its own when no one was near, you were not allowed in the room) I thought at the time this was part of the tour although the guide did seem a bit uneasy which I thought strange. AT the end of the tour we were in a corridor standing as a group to have our photo taken at which point something happened which I can't explain. The bag I had on my shoulder started to shake a little I assumed it was the lady next to me moving her leg back and forth and thought no more of it, as we turned around to leave she tapped me on the shoulder & told me laughing that my son had tried to hold her hand probably thinking it was me whilst we were standing there, I was a little shocked as I knew that my son and his brother were with their dad on the other side of the group nowhere near me !!! to this day I am not sure why my bag was moving and why did the lady think my son had held her hand when he was nowhere near us and the only one of two children in the group ? What is unusual is I don't seem to see anyone else having similar experiences in any posts so this may be taken down as it may put some people off from visiting..? I certainly want to go back just to see if anything happens like that again. By the way, I put the account in the visitor's book as this was available at the time, not sure if it is now it was around 7 years ago. All I can say is I enjoyed the tour and would go again

I highly recommend that if you ever travel to Edinburgh, you save one hour of your time to visit The Real Mary King's Close at the Royal Mile. Worth of your time and money! Especially if you get "Ernest The Dutchman" as your tour guide. :D He scared the sh*t out of us few times (in a good way of course)! Thank you for the experience!

Had a great experience on our visit last month. Chris was a great storyteller and a hoot of a tour guide. It was a fun and interactive way to learn about the history of Old Edinburgh. Highly recommend!

Fun, Factual, Amazing way to learn about history and to walk underground and see how people once survived. Shocking.

Our guide was so charming and funny - very captivating. A must if you visit Edinburgh.

Finally i can tick this of my bucket list.It was just fab so interesting.Tour guide was great and funny.

Was really looking forward to trying the coffee shop. However, the staff were surly after having their gossiping interrupted, laying across the counter and talking rather than paying attention to the customers and the barista messed up our basic coffee order because she was too busy discussing other staff members front of house. Only higher rating because of positive experience on The Close itself

We did the tour this morning at 11.15 am and we were really disappointed. The tour started with a delay of 15 minutes. That didn't matter because we were informed in time. But it was not ok that the guide was in such a hurry that he spoke very fast and that he already started explaining when half of the group hadn't entered the room yet. Furthermore the group was far too big with 23 people! We couldn't get a real feeling of how the people were living at that time. Most of the rooms were nearly empty, only in the room with the sick people we get an impression of their life. Nearly £ 16 per person was far too much. We cannot recommend it to other visitors.

2nd visit after 12 years and very disappointed. There was more to the tour previously and the authenticity was lacking. whilst appreciating H&S rules the modern floors and bright lights were detracting from what should have been a great experience. The 10 min in the quarantine room with "ghostly" voices was boring. Expensive and certainly not 5 star. Been to much better historical sites.Dont waste your money