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All 344 Edinburgh Attractions »

Real Mary King's Close

2 Warriston's Close, Edinburgh EH1 1PG, Scotland
0845 070 6244
As featured in 3 days in Edinburgh
Ranked #31 of 163 attractions in Edinburgh
4.0 of 5 stars 647 Reviews
Type: Landmarks/ Points of Interest, Historic Sites
Activities: Group tours/walking tour
Fee: Yes
Traveler Description:   To experience Mary King's Close is to step back in time.  A Close means Alley way. The homes and apartments dating back to the plague, were used to... more »
Useful Information: Bathroom facilities
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647 reviews from our community

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Date Rating
2 reviews
Reviews in 2 cities Reviews in 2 cities
1 of 5 stars Reviewed May 25, 2012 NEW

Having read some reviews on this site we booked the gold tour that lasted two hours. We left after the first hour. It was cheesy, contained no more information & history than I'd already read in a guidebook and was mostly some audio/visual presentations on the walls. The service was poor - we weren't even told that that there was... More

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London, United Kingdom
Contributor
13 reviews 13 reviews
Reviews in 5 cities Reviews in 5 cities
5 helpful votes 5 helpful votes
3 of 5 stars Reviewed May 25, 2012 NEW

Good experience but quite commercial. The group as rather large and sometimes we didn’t all fit in areas. Because of the many people and other tours behind it felt a bit of a rush and I couldn’t see everything properly. It was quite dark and some details could just be seen when the guide used his flashlight... once he walked... More

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See 4 more reviews by KittyKipling for Edinburgh
Washington DC, District of Columbia
Senior Reviewer
7 reviews 7 reviews
Reviews in 2 cities Reviews in 2 cities
4 of 5 stars Reviewed May 22, 2012 NEW

The tour helps you see back into Edinburgh's past and is very informative. If you are looking for scary or creepy I would not say this falls in to those categories and would recommend a ghost tour that takes you in to the vaults. If you are chlostrophobic it may have affect but that would be it. I think the... More

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See 5 more reviews by Timothy K for Edinburgh
Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey
Top Contributor
50 reviews 50 reviews
Reviews in 20 cities Reviews in 20 cities
9 helpful votes 9 helpful votes
4 of 5 stars Reviewed May 22, 2012 NEW

Our tour guide, Robert, was lots of fun and knew a lot about the history behind the things we were viewing. I've been on many ghost tours etc and found that this one (happily) was not all about the supernatural and trying to commune with the haunted spirits. We enjoyed it and I would recommend it to families, as the... More

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See 17 more reviews by AdrienneGlobeTrotter for Edinburgh
New Delhi, India
Contributor
12 reviews 12 reviews
Reviews in 4 cities Reviews in 4 cities
1 helpful vote 1 helpful vote
5 of 5 stars Reviewed May 22, 2012 NEW

If you are in Edinburgh and tired of the museums, gardens and distinguished looking buildings & monuments, I strongly suggest you take a tour of the Mary King's close, preferably on a lazy edinburgh afternoon. I took a tour by the same name and it takes you all the way into the undercity of modern day edinburgh. Replete with stories,... More

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See 3 more reviews by Travelista99 for Edinburgh
Hitchin
Senior Reviewer
8 reviews 8 reviews
Reviews in 2 cities Reviews in 2 cities
2 helpful votes 2 helpful votes
4 of 5 stars Reviewed May 21, 2012 NEW
1
person found this review helpful

For those who don't know, the Real Mary King's Close is an underground tour of the basements of various buildings. The basements are much older than the buildings on top and used to be rooms in 16th and 17th century houses. The rooms belonged to houses that were built on a narrow alley called a "close". We paid 12 pounds... More

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See 5 more reviews by SnorkelPants for Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Contributor
20 reviews 20 reviews
Reviews in 5 cities Reviews in 5 cities
2 helpful votes 2 helpful votes
3 of 5 stars Reviewed May 20, 2012 NEW
1
person found this review helpful

I have been to this attraction a few times in the past, but on my recent visit I was quite disappointed. The basic idea to the tour is that you are taken underground by a guide who explains the history behind these old closes and how they were part of Edinburgh hundreds of years ago. Visitors are taken round by... More

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See 9 more reviews by V87 for Edinburgh
Sandefjord
Senior Reviewer
7 reviews 7 reviews
Reviews in 2 cities Reviews in 2 cities
4 helpful votes 4 helpful votes
3 of 5 stars Reviewed May 20, 2012 NEW

Expected a little bit more from this trip to the underground, the guide Marc was quite fun though and talked about the history of the close in an interesting and funny way. More

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See 5 more reviews by Mihaela M for Edinburgh
St. Neots, United Kingdom
2 reviews
1 of 5 stars Reviewed May 18, 2012

what should have been an interesting tour proved to be a boring, uninspiring walk around a number of vacant basement rooms. The tour lacks invention and proper investment to make it a memorable guided tour. The guide himself lacked the personality or desire to bring the subject alive and seemed to treat his unfortunate tour victims with disinterest and just... More

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Nigel Hosier, Manager at Real Mary King's Close, responded to this review
May 20, 2012

Dear clearpatter, I am very upset that you were so disappointed by your visit and shocked at what you had to say about your guide. Please, please let me know when you visited us and I can pass on your feedback to ensure this doesn't happen again. We want all our guests to enjoy their time at (what we think)... More

Cottingham
1 review
5 of 5 stars Reviewed May 18, 2012

A must see attraction if you're in Edinburgh. Our guide made our visit enjoyable, fun and brought it to life. Hard to believe people lived like this way back when but was great to experience it for a short while. Have and will continue to recommend this to everyone who mentions Scotland or Edinburgh. More

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