Underground City of the Dead Tour

Overview

Available languages

English

1 hour 20 minutes

Mobile ticket

Experience the most haunted section of Edinburgh’s legendary Underground City with this award-winning guided walking tour. Known as 'Damnation Alley' and forgotten for centuries, these tunnels were once 'home' to men, women and children living in utter misery.

Experience Edinburgh's dark past as you listen to stories about what really happened beneath the city's streets and what might have stayed behind ...

• 80 minute walking tour exploring Edinburgh's underground city, led by a local expert guide.

• Choice of day or night time tour.

PLEASE NOTE

During very busy times of the year tours are marked SOLD OUT when places are still available, in order to avoid over-booking. Contact us if the tour you want is marked SOLD OUT in case places are available.

Additional Info

Not recommended for pregnant travelers

Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health

Not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries

Public transportation options are available nearby

Suitable for all physical fitness levels

Children must be accompanied by an adult

Language: English only

Age: Minimum 12

Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

What‘s Included

Local, expert guide

Transportation to/from attractions

What To Expect

City of the Dead Tours

This tour ventures into the most haunted section of Edinburgh’s legendary Underground City, where a population once lived in utter misery. Black as Satan’s jammies, with a fascinating history to match, these vaults were forgotten for centuries and only recently unsealed. This part of the South Bridge Vaults is known as Damnation Alley. With good reason. These dark tunnels and are stalked by a malevolent presence known as the South Bridge Entity.

1 hour 20 minutes • Admission Included

Options

Vaults Tour (Winter)

Reviews

4.56

266 reviews

Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor

212

A fun and informative experience
Jim M,
Nov 14, 2025
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00
This was a fantastic way to see a hidden part of Edinburgh whilst learning more about the city's past history. The guide, Ben, was a really good storyteller and brought an added degree to the experience through his emphatic storytelling. We did this tour on a wet and windy day. Due to weather conditions the guide reduced the outaide part of the tour, with the group's agreement. However he spent more time in the vaults to compensate for this. I would thoroughly recommend taking this tour.
A fantastic wander through Edinburgh’s hidden vaults.
ewanmcm2021,
Nov 14, 2025
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00
It was a hellishly wet afternoon but our guide Ben rose to the challenge. To start the tour we had a relatively short walk in the rain and then entered the hidden world of ancient Edinburgh. Lots of history, gruesome anecdotes and many laughs along the the way.
Fantastic tour with Beth
Alex N,
Nov 11, 2025
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00
Great tour with an excellent tour guide, Beth. Very knowledgeable about the history and dealt with us really well. Very creepy tour and a lot of fun. Highly recommend!
Beware of the dark!
Passenger50739952964,
Nov 4, 2025
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00
Had a great time exploring the vaults and learning lots of little things! Got a little lost trying to find the meeting place but the group spotted us and called us over! Des was a great tour guide very bubbly and into the ghostly tellings!
What a gRRRRRRRRRRRRRReat experience!
Stumbledore,
Oct 28, 2025
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00
I will ALWAYS recommend this tour. Not only will you get some great history on the underbelly of Edinburgh, but the guides themselves are what really makes this tour awesome! Great job especially to our guide, Ryan. Aye!!!!!
Brilliant tour
Explorer10524828570,
Oct 27, 2025
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00
We did the city of the dead tour with the delightful Ben on Saturday 26th of October, he was a fountain of information, so theatrical and great fun. He interacted with everyone and gave us a brilliant tour of the underground vaults and grey friars graveyard. We had a brilliant evening with Ben and hope to take the same tour with him when we return!
Great tour guide
fionawO3418ET,
Oct 19, 2025
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00
Went on this tour with family and had the fantastic Rebecca as our tour guide. Truly inspirational story teller who had our entire family intrigued from start to finish. By far the best guide we’ve had on our holiday. Thank you Rebecca for making our trip to Edinburgh so memorable.
Not as expected
fionamowatt,
Oct 11, 2025
- Review from Tripadvisor
3.00
Done the underground vaults tour, Fiona was very informative and entertaining but didn't find it scary or spooky as imagined on a night tour. If you're hard of hearing it's not for you as talks start before the group regroup on the walk, if you're that bit slower and at the back it's pretty useless. We found it more of a history tour aimed at tourists. In the 1.5 hours we walked from the cathedral to the vaults and visited 3 vaults then the exit. It does state on tickets about mobility, footwear etc it is slippy in parts and lots of cobbles/uneven ground and very steep hills (thankfully downhill!) it is manageable though as it's a crowd that isn't racing to the next part. Cheap night and informative.
Fun and interesting tour.
beverlybG2278TH,
Oct 9, 2025
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00
We had a great time on this tour with Rebecca as our guide. She had a fun personality and made the experience both interesting and amusing.
Would recommend
jolenejoelle,
Oct 7, 2025
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00
The tour was filled with amazing stories about ghosts and also informative stories about what happened in these underground vaults. Our tour guide Des was amazing at telling these stories and could easily go from one story to the other. The tour didn’t feel rushed and time flew by. Would definitely recommend.