Mercat Tours Helps You Escape from COVID, into the Past

Mercat Tours offers to take you away from the present doom and gloom this winter and back to the past, where you can explore stories and people from long ago.  Many things have changed, our history and city hasn’t.

We’re still trying to reconnect with families and friends in this unfamiliar time, and with limited hospitality venues open, Mercat’s tours, are an ideal way to reconnect, stay safe, and be a visitor in your own city.

Kat Brogan, managing director of Mercat Tours and second-generation MD of the family business, said: “We’re starting to see more people from across Edinburgh come on our tours with another household, as it’s one of the safest ways to explore the city within current guidelines and to create lasting memories, during one of the strangest moments in time.”

Halloween

In addition to the regular tours, Mercat Tours has confirmed two additional tours for Halloween, from Thursday, 29 October until Sunday, 1 November. Tickets are on sale now.

Take part in the ancient pagan storytelling custom – recall those who have past before us, and what they may have left behind…

• Hangman’s Haunts

Murderers. Witches. Vagabonds. Edinburgh’s gallows had no shortage of candidates – and you’ll meet some of them on this Halloween tour of Edinburgh.

Meet your expert guide at the Mercat Cross – they’ll be in the full costume of Edinburgh’s most ghoulish figures from times past. You’ll stand in the exact spot of the former gallows and learn of the many people who met their fate with a rope around their neck.

You’ll feel the anticipation, excitement and horror of the gallows crowd. Your guide will bring the stories to life – from death-cheating Deacon Brodie to Maggie Dickson, who sprang back to life. Then you’ll tread the stones once worn smooth by the body wagon as you head for the Canongate kirkyard. There, you’ll listen for the soft tread of spirits, watching for graves freshly vacated by their restless inhabitants.

• Delve into the gore of Edinburgh’s worst punishments
• Explore the Canongate graveyard on Halloween
• Hear of crime, punishment and bloody history of the Old Town

TICKETS:

Adult; £19

Concession £17

(No children)

• Halloween Underground

A Halloween underground ghost tour of Edinburgh’s most haunted vaults.

A seasonal Halloween tour of Edinburgh’s most haunted vaults – this descent will take you eerily close to the spirit world. 

Unsettling at the best of times, the vaults are even more so around All Hallow’s Eve: the feeble candlelight barely touching the darkness, a movement in the shadows, the cling of cobwebs on a goose pimpled arm.

Prepare for the fright

You’ll meet at the Mercat Cross, where the city’s undead will have gathered. One of them will be your tour guide, dressed in full costume. First, you’ll tread the quieter closes and wynds of Edinburgh’s Old Town, full of ghoulish tales.

And then we move underground. Descending into the Blair Street Underground Vaults, you’ll hear of the city’s most sinister side: body snatchers, torture, murder, hangings. Listen hard enough in the dark silence of the vaults, and you may even hear a faint echo of a centuries-old scream.

Experience a Halloween ghost tour…

• Get up close to Edinburgh’s haunted past, at the spookiest time of year
• Explore the Blair Street Underground Vaults
• Learn about torturers, murderers, and witches

TICKETS:

Adult; £17

Concession; £15

Child; £12