Edinburgh is one of my top 5 favorite cities in the world! This is definitely in part due to being one of the most haunted cities in Europe. It’s full of extremely interesting and dark history, plenty of activities, pubs and restaurants, and the very unique and cool Royal Mile. The Royal Mile is part of the Old Town and is why Edinburgh is worth visiting, but walking outside of it, the new areas are much more modern.
The first time I visited Edinburgh, I was 21 and it was the last stop of our spring break trip during my semester studying abroad. I was only there for two nights, absolutely loved the full day we had in the city, and hoped that I’d get to come back one day.
Lucky for me, I ended up moving to Scotland five years later. Not only did I get to visit Edinburgh again, I could catch a train down whenever I felt like it. I was living in Inverness, a few hours north of the capital, but ScotRail is a great train system (and BYOB!), and if you order your tickets over a month in advance, you can get them for as low as £11. We also knew people who lived in the city, so often we had a place to crash for free and friends to get drinks with.
Edinburgh History
On my first visit, Leah and I took a free walking tour departing on the Royal Mile in the morning, and it was one of the most fascinating tours I’ve ever taken. We stopped at the highlights around the old part of the city and were told the coolest stories about Edinburgh’s creepy history.
Jekyll & Hyde
The story of Jekyll & Hyde originates in Edinburgh with a real person from the 1700s named Deacon Brodie (you can find the Deacon Brodie pub on the Royal Mile if you’re interested). He was a town council member and tradesman who was well-respected and influential in the city during his time. He was also a locksmith, which he used to his advantage by making impressions of the keys he was given access to for his work. He used these keys to rob shops and houses during the night.
While he was seen as a thriving businessman during the day, he was leading a double-life burgling, thieving, drinking, gambling, and taking care of two mistresses and five children to them. He eventually banded together with three others, but they were caught when trying to break in and rob a revenue office in 1788. Brodie gave up the others and tried to flee, but he was caught and hanged at the Old Tolbooth.
The Grassmarket
Speaking of hangings, the citizens of Edinburgh sure loved a good hanging. The Grassmarket was a popular spot for public executions, and along with petty thieves and criminals, over 100 people were hanged here due to their faith.
The best story though is of a maid named Maggie Dickson who got knocked up by the inn keeper’s son where she worked. She hid her pregnancy, and the baby was born premature and weak. It died after a few days. She put the body in the river to avoid being caught, but when it washed up later that day, Maggie was tried and convicted of concealing her pregnancy and delivering a premature child (a crime worthy of death, apparently- although, to be fair, they accused her of actually murdering the baby). However, after her body had been taken down and was being transported in its casket, she woke up. Since the execution had already been carried out once and they saw it as an act of God that she had survived, she went on to live another 40 years, become a legend, and (of course) have a pub named after her.
Heart of Midlothian
Outside of St. Giles Cathedral, you'll see a pretty heart in stone on the path. It's actually not so cute as it marks the spot where public executions used to take place outside of the Old Tolbooth prison (now demolished). Go ahead and spit on the heart- it's tradition.
Burke & Hare
One of my other favorite stories is of two Irish immigrants who went on a killing spree for cash in the late 1820s. They were pals and neighbors, and Hare ran a boarding house. Back in those times, cadavers for medical research were hard to come by, and a doctor at the college, Dr. Knox, was willing to pay money for bodies. Bodysnatching became a popular activity which is one reason you’ll notice some graves covered by steel grates in Greyfriars Kirkyard and other cemeteries. Otherwise, family would have to watch over the grave until the body decomposed to deter criminals.
Burke and Hare found a more innovative approach to the cadaver market. One of Hare’s elderly tenants died one night still owing rent (£4!), so the two sold his body to Knox for money. This seemed like easy money, but they decided not to wait around for another convenient death and took to expediting the process. Another tenant was ill, so they got him drunk and then suffocated him. After this, their murdering career really took off, and they went after the poor and prostitutes, killing 16 victims in total (generally by luring them back to their lodge, getting them drunk, and suffocating them).
They were eventually caught when two of their lodgers discovered the body of a woman who had been murdered the night before underneath the bed. Burke and Hare tried to bribe the lodgers, but they went to the police. Burke was hanged at a very well-attended execution (and, appropriately, his body was then publicly dissected for medical science), Hare was released for testifying against Burke and escaped angry mobs by fleeing across the border where his fate is unknown, and Knox got off clean by claiming ignorance, but nobody really believed him and he had no choice but to resign from his position and leave for England.
Awesomely morbid stuff, right?! I love Edinburgh.
Accommodation
If possible, my main recommendation is to stay on the Royal Mile. It’s the most convenient location and in the middle of all the main attractions. On my first visit, we stayed at Royal Mile Backpackers, right on the mile up an almost hidden stairway about midway along the street. It had colorful dorms and was in prime location.
I’ve also stayed at a nice hostel down past Princes Street Gardens (so, a slight walk, but that’s ok) called The Phoenix. My friend Eileen and I stayed in what should have been a fairly crowded 14 bed dorm, but it actually felt really spacious. There were no bunk beds, all individual mattresses on the ground with their own lockers, big windows, a classy little dining area downstairs, and 24 hour reception.
Twice I have also stayed at the Edinburgh Jurys Inn due to my being an employee at the far less impressive Inverness location. I once won a two night stay in a raffle and they put me up in a really nice, recently renovated room on the 6th floor with a great view, and I was given a meal allowance for each day too. The second time I just used my employee discount for £20 rooms when my parents came to visit, and they definitely gave us some downgraded accommodation, but I’m not complaining at that price. The location was fantastic too. Out the front door, Waverley Station is only a 5 minute walk, and out the back door and through an alley, you’re right on the Royal Mile.
Food & Drink
There is so much to choose from in Edinburgh as far as dining and drinks, and I’ve probably only tried .0001% of it. However, there were some places I enjoyed that I’m happy to recommend.
The Royal McGregor on the Royal Mile is a small wooden pub with great food. I had a vegetarian haggis stack with delicious veggie haggis, neeps (turnip mash), and tatties (mashed potatoes).
A few doors down is the Burgers & Beer Grillhouse which a woman warned us against as we were going in, but I’m glad we didn’t listen, because I really liked it. They can do any of their Angus burgers as vegetarian using veggie haggis (I really do love veggie haggis- which is made with oats, in case you’re wondering), and I built my own which turned out great.
There are two other pubs further down the mile towards Holyrood that I also enjoy. The Mitre is polished looking with these massive booths in the back, and the World’s End is a crowded little historical pub so named because it is on the perimeter of the old city limits which used to be walled.
Viva Mexico down Cockburn off the Royal Mile does good Mexican food, but my main exotic food recommendation is Krua Khun Mae down a tiny narrow close (alleyway) off that street. They do fantastic Thai.
I did do a pub crawl on my first visit and we hit up some cool places, but I unfortunately do not remember the names of most. One that stood out was Whistle Binkies live music bar in the city’s underground which was built over after the Plague.
There is also a novelty horror bar called Frankenstein’s with cobwebs, dim lighting, candles, a large Frankenstein's monster, and shots in test tubes.
My favorite Scottish brewery though with bars throughout the UK is called Brewdog (which recently came to Ohio, so you may be familiar with it), and you should definitely hop into their Edinburgh bar and try their beers (or at least get some takeaways for the train!). The Punk IPA is the most popular (and definitely for good reason), but my personal favorites are the Cocoa Psycho porter and Arcade Nation black IPA. Mmm.
Edinburgh Castle
The most obvious tourist attraction is Edinburgh Castle perched at the top of the Royal Mile. The location is so scenic whether from the front with the cliffs dropping off on either side overlooking the city or down from Princes Street Gardens (my favorite view).
Inside, you can visit the the battlements, the little chapel which is the oldest building in Edinburgh, the great hall, the crown jewels, the royal apartments, the military prison, and the underground prisoner dungeons. It isn’t my favorite castle by any stretch, but it’s worth a visit.
Holyrood Palace
At the other end of the Royal Mile is Holyrood Palace, the Queen’s residence when she’s visiting Scotland. In fact, when my parents came to visit, she was actually in residence, so we weren’t able to do the tour (of all the weeks…). Eileen went with me when she visited though and we enjoyed it.
Outside you’ll see the royal car and the white horses, and then the inner courtyard through the front door. Upstairs you’ll see the dining room, living areas, and staterooms, plus the old bedrooms. The ceilings especially above the staircase were gorgeous. The rooms were understated but fancy and had paintings and tapestries and full floor rugs. The old throne room still had the thrones of the Queen's grandparents. I enjoyed the fact that the king's had a cushion on it because he was shorter than his wife but didn’t want to look it.
It was cool to see a palace that is still used today and picture the royal family all hanging out there. The best part was probably going upstairs and seeing the actual apartments of Mary Queen of Scots. They looked so old, wooden, and untouched. We went through her bedroom, heard about her Italian advisor being murdered by her husband right in that room, and saw all kinds of artifacts. After that area, we went back outside and then through an exhibit of dresses worn by the queen and royals throughout the century before coming out into the ruins of the old abbey.
The Royal Yacht Brittania
Speaking of the royals, the government decided to stop funding their lavish lifestyle (to an extent) when they decommissioned the yacht in 1997, which, according the panels I read on our tour, was highly traumatic to the royal family. Poor monarchs.
We were each given audio guides to carry around which were like huge phones. At each stop, you’d just punch in the number there and the guide would begin for that section.
You’ll see the communications room on deck, the lifeboats, the on-board station for the royal car, the officers' bedrooms and dining room, the main deck with the bell, the indoor sunroom overlooking the deck, and the Queen's bedroom, her husband's bedroom, and guest rooms.
Queen's bedroom
Above the deck is the café, and this is a good time to stop for lunch. If you’re looking for a proper British tea, this is the spot. We had a table in the wooden floored, sunlit room, and I had my own little teapot for myself and a scone with jam and cream. Amusingly, it was the 4th of July, so I felt like a traitor to my country celebrating with tea and scones on the English royal yacht.
There’s still plenty to see afterwards- the dining hall with the gigantically long table and gifts from various countries all over the wall, the spacious drawing room, the little cozy bar, more staff bunks (cramped quarters), the medical wing, the engine room, and more.
It took a few hours and I thought was worth checking out. It’s only a short bus ride from the city center.
Princes Street Gardens
If you leave the Royal Mile down the hill towards Princes Street, you’ll come to the Princes Street Gardens. It’s a nice little walk with trees and flowers to each side, but the best part is the golden fountain and the view you get up to the castle from there. It’s my pick for most photogenic spot in Edinburgh.
Greyfriars Kirkyard
To further explore cool stories from Edinburgh’s history, visit Greyfriars Kirkyard, the graveyard surrounding the church Greyfriars Kirk.
Greyfriars Bobby
To start, you will notice a bronze dog statue outside the gates as well as a pub called Greyfriars Bobby. As the story goes, there was once a Skye terrier owned by a night watchman in the 1800s. When the watchman died and was buried in the cemetery, the terrier, Bobby, sat in mourning by his grave each day. He became well known around the city and was cared for by the locals. When he finally died himself, he was buried right outside the gates (animals were not allowed to be buried in the cemetery itself) and there is a memorial stone in the graveyard as well. Some have tried to disprove this as a hoax (that it was actually a stray dog used by a local business to draw customers), but it’s a pretty adorable story, so who cares.
The Mackenzie Poltergeist
Also, the Greyfriars Kirkyard is meant to be one of the most haunted cemeteries in the world. To the left, you’ll see the very ominous Black Mausoleum, home to the Mackenzie poltergeist. George Mackenzie was a Lord Advocate in the 1600s who was a harsh persecutor of Covenanters (those religious dissenters that I mentioned being hanged in the Grassmarket). Just a bit further back from the mausoleum is the gated Covenanter’s Prison, where hundreds of Covenanters were locked up, tortured, and killed at the hands of Mackenzie. They’re buried there today.
When Mackenzie eventually died, he was laid to rest in the Black Mausoleum. However, in the late 1990s, a homeless man broke in for a place to sleep, supposedly awakening the ghost of Mackenzie, and he fell through the floor of the mausoleum before escaping and probably running like hell. Since then, Mackenzie is said to roam the area near his mausoleum, especially the Covenanter’s Prison. There are hundreds of accounts of people who have emerged from the area with bites or bruises, felt cold, or even passed out (a documented 450 attacks and 140 reports of people collapsing, actually, as of 2006). The Mackenzie poltergeist is meant to be very much active and hateful (and, I’ve heard, misogynistic).
The Black Mausoleum
It really is an eerie place. I’ve peeked in the Black Mausoleum, but it freaks me out a bit. On the City of the Dead tour that I will elaborate on soon, they took us into the Covenanter’s Prison (which is locked to the public) and locked us all in a mausoleum that the poltergeist supposedly frequents. Honestly, I was beyond anxious in there. Despite being in a sizable group, it was slightly terrifying. Of course, the stupid tour ended with someone jumping out at us which kind of killed the suspense, but it was still a creepy place.
Harry Potter
One final thing to note about Greyfriars Kirkyard is that, of course, JK Rowling wrote the first lines of Harry Potter in the very nearby Elephant House Café. There is a grave in Greyfriars of a man named Thomas Riddell which is meant to have inspired her naming of Tom Riddle. I’ve visited numerous times.
Camera Obscura
It looks like a tourist trap (and it is), but it’s a super fun one that is worth going to. You’ll find Camera Obscura right outside Edinburgh Castle, easy to spot because of its funhouse mirrors. It basically is just a five story funhouse. Here’s a little tip too: if you don’t care about the camera obscura itself (it shows a view of the city reflected onto a circular canvas by these mirrors on the roof), go when it’s starting to get dark and they may give you a discount- that’s what happened to us.
We started on the roof to check that out first while there was still some light, and you get some decent views of the Royal Mile from up there too. Working our way down afterwards, we got to play with colorful shadow walls, funhouse mirrors, optical illusions, computer stations where you could make yourself an anime character/old/young/etc (this was cooler in the days before Snapchat filters), an illusion room where one person looks huge and the other is tiny, and plasma lamps. There was also a beautiful infinity corridor with mirrors on both sides reflecting millions of colorful lights far into the distance.
The last floor was the best though. They had a fantastic mirror maze full of laser lights and it was so trippy. I could see four of Lewis and literally couldn’t tell which one was real. At one point, he was walking towards me and I was sure it was him until he came around a corner and appeared right in front of me. It was so much fun we went through twice. Then there was also a spinning tunnel that we enjoyed falling around a couple times.
Worthwhile afternoon distraction!
Haunted Tours
There are a few haunted night tours to take around Edinburgh, and it can be a bit confusing trying to choose one. They all congregate in the same area outside of St. Giles Cathedral for departure.
City of the Dead
Mercat and City of the Dead have a similar premise- walk around the city, visit some vaults, and hear creepy stories. With Mercat, they dress up as characters from the period, but we ended up on a City of the Dead tour since they had an earlier departure time that fit in better with plans. Well, I don’t know what I expected, but I wanted more from it. It was crowded with 30 people, and our guide set more of a comical mood than a scary one.
The vaults were cool, and they were what I had really wanted to see. They are chambers built beneath the South Bridge which were in use between the 1700s-1800s. Like just about everything in Edinburgh, they’re meant to be haunted. The first person who was meant to cross the bridge after its opening was the most elderly nearby resident, but she just so happened to die before that happened. Instead of making alternate plans, they sent her across it in a casket. Obviously, people thought the bridge was cursed.
They were first used by tradesmen for business and storage, but eventually, after losing appeal due to flooding and dampness, they became home to the poorest of Edinburgh’s residents. They were jam-packed slums with upwards of ten squatters in single rooms. There was no light, ventilation, or sanitation. Undoubtedly, people died in there.
Now they’re a great spot for ghost tours. They’re dimly lit with lanterns, and we walked through and were told some stories, but again, I wasn’t a huge fan of our guide who liked relying on cheap scares rather than the actual creepy history of the city. The main perk of City of the Dead was the access to the Covenanter’s Prison at the end, which I detailed already. I was mostly disappointed. Our guide even told us the Burke & Hare story at the end, one of my favorites, and it was such a letdown in comparison to how awesomely it had been told on my free walking tour years prior.
Mary King's Close
A tour that I DO highly recommend is the Mary King's Close tour. This one is a little different. It’s indoors, to start. You’ll find the office on the Royal Mile, and your tour group is led by a period character (we got stuck with a “rich Englishman,” but maybe you’ll get luckier). This tour company has exclusive access to their own vaults underneath the city, and you really are entering a long-since buried section of the city. It’s an underground set of chambers as well as an actual close (alleyway) that is totally preserved aside from the fact that a living city is now built above you.
This was actually a historical tour as well, and I think Edinburgh’s history stands strong enough on its own that there is really no need for fake ghost stories when there are so many real, dark facts about the city’s past. We walked through various rooms which had scenes set up to match the stories we were told about murders, class differences, and daily life.
One room lit in red depicted the Black Death sweeping the city and had models of sick and dying people in the bed next to a plague doctor.
Another room is meant to be haunted by a young girl named Annie who died from the plague in the 1600s. A psychic claimed to have spoken with her there in the early 90s. She says the girl told her that her family had abandoned her to die and she’d lost her doll, so the psychic went out to town, bought a doll, and brought it back for her. Now, loads of visitors bring dolls to leave for this little ghost girl, so the whole house is bare except for this huge pile of dolls you’ll see in her room.
At the end, you get to emerge onto Mary King’s Close itself. It looks just like the above ground closes in Edinburgh, but this one is entirely walled in. The close, like many in the city, is on an incline, since (you probably know this if you’ve studied up on medieval times) in order to dispose of human waste, people would dump their buckets out their window (“gardyloo” is the only verbal warning you would get) and let it flow downhill. There was actually the house of a rich man on this close, and although tours can no longer go in due to asbestos, we could look through the front door and see his toilet at the far end. He was one of the few people who could afford such a luxury, so he liked to leave his door wide open so people could see him using it from the street. What a flex.
This was such a cool and informative tour! If you’re going to take a haunted tour, it’s the one I recommend.
Other Activities
There is plenty more to do and see around Edinburgh. Arthur’s Seat overlooking Holyrood Palace is a popular hike with views of the city. Also across from Holyrood is the odd Parliament building with eclectic architecture (Lewis says the Scots think it’s an abomination).
Parliament with Arthur's Seat in the background
Also along the Royal Mile are the pretty St. Giles Cathedral, the Royal Mile Market with independent booths and a bar inside an old church, and some free museums like People of Edinburgh (loads of info about jobs and living conditions over the decades), the Toy Museum with old-fashioned toys through the years, and an art museum next to the gardens. I’ve also always wanted to visit the Edinburgh Dungeon (a tour with live shows acting out Edinburgh’s history), but haven’t yet managed.
St. Giles
Royal Mile Market
Edinburgh is full of festivals and activities all year long. They host a huge Hogmanay (New Year’s Eve) celebration with street concerts and ceilidhs, the famous Edinburgh Tattoo, and loads of art festivals. I visited once during the Fringe Festival, and while I didn’t have time to attend any of the free shows being put on, just walking down the Royal Mile was an experience. There were performers up and down the street handing out flyers and promoting their shows with the most creative gimmicks. We saw an all-male acapella group on a stage, a murder scene reenactment, zombie-like people staggering around with cloths over their eyes, and a group of people in old-timey clothes promoting a silent film by mutely yelling and exaggeratedly acting everything out.
Honestly, it’s just such a unique and amazing city! It combines my love of everything morbid with beautiful, dark, old architecture, history, fun, and endless options to keep you busy. Edinburgh is hands down the coolest and creepiest place I have been in the UK.
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