Edinburgh Underground City of the Dead Tour: Exploring Damnation Alley's Haunted Tunnels

Uncover the secrets of Edinburgh’s haunted underground city on this award-winning guided tour. Explore Damnation Alley’s haunted tunnels and hear chilling stories of the city’s dark past.

Duration: 1 hour, 20 minutes
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • 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…
What's Included
  • Local, expert guide
What's Not Included
  • Transportation to/from attractions
Additional Information

Join us on this award-winning guided stroll through the spookiest section of the historical Underground City in Edinburgh, often referred to as ‘Damnation Alley’. For centuries, this place lay forgotten, once acting as a ‘home’ to men, women, and children subjected to unbearable living conditions.
Delve into the grim history of Edinburgh below its city…

Location
St Giles' Cathedral
High Street
All tours leave from the "Tree of the Dead" outside St Giles Cathedral on the pavement facing the Royal Mile. Please arrive at the meeting point 15 minutes prior to departure.
Cancellation Policy

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

Customer Ratings
4.5
(219 Ratings)
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874fayef
Dec 2, 2024
Fantastic tour experience! - What a great experience. Ben was a great tour guide, very knowledgeable, passionate about the history and very engaging. Would definitely recommend this tour to see another side of Edinburgh and hear the history told in a fun and interesting way. Thanks Ben, from the group from Milton Keynes!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
279abigailj
Nov 24, 2024
Unreal ! - A great tour. Ben was an excellent guide. Comedic, spooky, and good fun. Really interesting to hear about Edinburghs history, Ben displayed a wealth of knowledge all while making it a really enjoyable experience. Highly recommend
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Madeleinece106oc
Nov 10, 2024
Spooky, insightful and enjoyable - Such an amazing tour. Our tour guide Beth was so fantastic and educational on the history, with some great spooky stories as well. Very much recommend!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Markohj3012ni
Nov 3, 2024
We had a great time - The guide was great. The vaults were atmospheric. Things got really spooky towards the end. Great experience altogether.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Thomassl8543ut
Oct 30, 2024
Highly recommend - Alistair was a fantastic tour guide knowledgeable about the city and its dark past, throughly enjoyed the full experience and would highly recommend
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Narveltuffnts
Oct 9, 2024
The edinburgh below your feet - This was a great tour. Fiona was informative and friendly. She guided us into the vaults beneath the Cowgate, where she told us the history of the vaults, told us some ghost stories and related paranormal experiences others have had in the vaults.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
B4007gtsamueln
Sep 24, 2024
Very interesting history and eerie personal experience in the vaults underground - We had an amazing time on the Underground tour at night, wasn't overly scary but the history we learnt was very interesting. As me and my cousin were in the last vault we kept hearing footsteps behind us and around the corner of one of the other vaults we had just came out of. Plus our tour guide Ben was hands down one of the best tour guides I've ever come across, he is very knowledgeable and friendly, this man deserves a raise.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Lytrell_b
Nov 27, 2024
Great Tour! - The underground vaults were very cool and creepy! The tour guide, Ben was very well versed in the history!
Review provided by Viator
Sarawestcork
Nov 3, 2024
Would not recommend - An over-priced, underwhelming experience. The guide - Sarah - was completely over the top and an annoyance from beginning to end. Effectively an hour and a half where we just had to listen to her theatrical, self-absorbed nonsense. I did a tour of these vaults twenty years ago which was far superior and genuinely felt eerie. This tour though was a waste of time and money.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Gs-explorer
Oct 3, 2024
NOT RECOMMENDED - Essentially we paid £38 to see 4 cellar rooms underneath local pubs. In each room (which had no mood lighting, candles or dressing of any kind), we stood for 15 minutes listening to an unrelated historical story about Edinburgh. Each story was repetitive and peppered with casual swearing. Not offended, just got a bit unnecessary and boring. Very disappointing. Don't waste your money.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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