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
(237 Ratings)
5 stars
4 stars
3 stars
2 stars
1 star
Suewl3066bh
Apr 26, 2025
Highly recommend - Excellent trip and Desiree was very entertaining, enthusiastic and knew her stuff. Took us back in time and to the underground to experience what it would be like to be the unknown living in Edinburgh at that time. Would highly recommend 👌
Review provided by Tripadvisor
869alidap
Apr 20, 2025
Ben - Ben our tourguide showed us around the underground & vaults where mysterious sightings has been seen of spirits … eeerie stories of the bad and ugly side of Edinburgh’s past. Stories from the infamous graveyard and stories kept the group entertained and often looking over their shoulders for something that might be lurking in the corner or staring from an open but dark corner…. Ben was informative, kind and funny!! We loved the tour and definitely recommend it if you fancy learning something about the business of the underground…
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Olli_s_muc
Apr 16, 2025
Very interesting, highly recommended! - Our guide Ben did a very interesting and varied tour in which he not only shared a lot of knowledge and interesting facts, he also cheered us up with some fun fun. Really a very interesting and absolutely recommendable guide to the catacombs, which you can not otherwise get into.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
S7651hlruim
Apr 16, 2025
Great experience - First time in Edinburgh. The tour is fantastic and brings you into the medieval times and the underground 'business' going on in these vaults. The tour guide (Ben) was very knowledgeable, funny and scary too 👻. Highly recommended.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
502juliam
Apr 14, 2025
Evening tour with Nat - Great tour with Nat. We learnt a lot about the history of Edinburgh and the underground vaults were very spooky! Definitely would recommend
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Boubakar
Apr 13, 2025
A Spooky Surprise That Turned Into an Unforgettable Night - Very nice experience! It begn at their "office" when we found the flyer of the tours. I entered to sk tmsoke more info and I did not expect to get frightened by a masked figure sitting on a couch! We booked the tour for the next day! It has been very nice, from the introduction to the walk to the underground, to the storytelling and the environment. It really had a progressive increase of chill and fear and spookyness that kept entertained and frightened! The guide (Beth) was really nice and funny, mysterious and scary, all at once! Especially during the last experience when the lights went all out. I definitely recommend this experience. Had I had more time I would have done the double tour but also the single one (Underground) was very nice. It can be easily fitted in the early evening after dinner and after the tour (1h30min) you can go to nearby pubs or spend the rest of the night somewhere else, also with people met during the tour! Very nice experience.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
212willk
Mar 24, 2025
Had a great time - Lou was a great tour guide! Loved the history and the ambience of the vaults and graveyard at night. My son knocked on Mackenzie’s door but unfortunately he wasn’t home.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Carter
Mar 23, 2025
Even if you’re not into ghosts, you should still do this tour. - This tour is awesome! I spent a week in Edinburgh, and this was one my favorite things that I did. Our tour guide, Alistair, knew so much about the history of Edinburgh and was himself very spooky. If you want to learn more about how ordinary people lived in Edinburgh (not just the famous historical figures), I would highly recommend this tour. This tour is also great for anyone who’s into paranormal stuff (obviously). I would recommend going at night for max creepiness. I was thoroughly creeped out by the end, but my friends and I had so much fun!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Paul
Apr 26, 2025
Wasted Evening - We met the guide as planned who done little or nothing to install a feeling of a spooky evening ahead. Seemed more content to tell jokes and joviality. When entering the vaults there was extremely loud music from the pub next door. No eerie ghost stories except told as a joke and not enhanced by the occasion. Due to the music and non funny jokes (no one laughed just looked ahead) there was no spooky atmosphere. Overall a disappointing evening. The company needs to have some monitoring and quality control of their guides, not just employ part time students looking for money and tips.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jameslclarke
Apr 3, 2025
Very disappointing. Lots of hype but little to see. - My Grandson and I were disappointed with what was billed as being very exciting. Essentially, the tour entailed our very nice and friendly guide telling us some gruesome stories near St Giles Church and then taking us down below ground to view some vacant storage areas that are now no longer used. He tried to make it scary by telling us that “others had seen mysterious lights” during previous tours - but we experienced nothing other than seeing empty vaults that had been used in the past. In our final vault we saw preserved in a plexiglass box - the skeleton of a small dog. While the stories were interesting - I felt like it was mostly about someone monetizing a few underground empty storage vaults and nothing more. Quite disappointing.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
From $27
up to 4 guests
1 - Adult
Cancellation: Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start of your experience (local time).