Camera Obscura Reviews

So Fun! Absolutely loved the vortex, haven't laughed so hard in my life! Amazing!

Fun attraction full of illusions, top-building views of Edinburgh, mazes, and the famous camera obscura. Great place for families!

Loved it, it was awesome. The camera obscura was amazing and very interesting.

Ross was really funny and kind! (Aplogies if that's not his name, I'm terrible at remembering names.)

Been here every time I've been to Edinburgh. Love sharing the experience with my friends.

Lots of fun! It is definitely worth a visit. Big thanks to Javier, really nice and thoughtful guy

Very interactive place to fool your vision and mind, yet still learning things. A nice place for kids and adults alike. Something different than the great history of Edinburgh.

Long opening hours and fun for all ages. Simon was a great guide!

Great variety of optical illusions and cool things to see and do. Deceptively big - kept two adults thoroughly entertained for a few hours.

Lovely team of people, very educational and engaging, and some amazing attractions and obscurities

Such a fun experience with so many photo opportunities. We spent a lot of time in here!

So interesting and fun! Great place for kids and adults! Highly recommend a visit!

Fun unique venue. Great performance as we saw the actual camera obscura. The rest of the attraction was good, with the vortex tunnel as a highlight.

Very fun and the little kid that wouldn't wanna stop talking made it even so more funny

Well worth a wee look, tons of interesting stuff. The kids will really like it.

Cool views at the top! must visit, very fun place, it takes around an hour to finish.

Nearly all the exhibits are interactive, lots of fun for the young at heart.

Pretty good museum / experience, love the tunnel and the mirrors. The way they do the bookings though I don t really get, they limit the times you can go because of coronavirus but then send you all off all at once which kinda defeats the point of distancing. But definitely worth visiting.

Hours of entertainment for all ages. Bit expensive for a big family (2 adults, 4 kids) as there is no family discount.

Visited this place during the Fringe Festival it was super busy but still amazing. The queues can be quite big so its recommended you buy your tickets in advance. There are 6 floors of exhibits and they are all really great fun. My friends and I spent about 2 hours in here in total and took hundreds of photos. Hard to pick a favourite bit but the rotating tunnel (which really messes with your mind) is a must do! Great fun for both kids and adults some really clever and fun things to see and interact with!

Very very rude staff, went to watch the show at an earlier time than we were allocated and the lady at the door went to check if there was space and even though we could see there was space she didn't let us in saying sorry this show is full. Then right away, before closing the doors, she shouted out 'anybody else for the show' clearly proving there was space and she didn't want to let us in. Never ever would recommend to anyone after such an experience. No where near a 'customer first' attitude, seems like she forgot that without customers she would not have a job. Also in my opinion very over rated, I wouldn't say it is value for money. Look elsewhere, plenty of other great attractions in Edinburgh to enjoy!

A lot of strange (but interesting) stuff. Very much amazed by the old, simple device at the top!

Fantastic experience, great fun with friends and family. Some things will blow your mind. Great idea for day out.

Great place loads of interactive things to do, highly recommended buying ticket online to skip q though.

Was told this was great for Sensory autistic children but my child wouldn't go into any of the exhibits since the rooms they were dark and her autism conditions also include s fear of dark place s so ended up paying and seeing nothing, would not recommend to parents of children who fear dark places.

So much fun, a great way to spend a few hours if it's raining. Kids will love it and there's lots of interesting things to keep you entertained as an adult

A little expensive but a great place to visit... especially if it rains. Which it almost never does in Edinburgh.....

A fascinating little museum of optical illusions and curiosities! Our host of the actual camera obscura (I believe her name was Stacey) was such a delight. Humourous and informative. Worth coming early though as natural daylight illuminates it best. The views you get from the top floor are truly amazing. You can practically see all of Edinburgh. The other floors of curiosities are great and interactive. Fun for a group of friends. Also, having hand sanitizer available for such hands-on, public features truly is a plus!

Camera Obscura was alot more enjoyable than I thought it would be, except for the singing mice/rats. The 3D sharks in the playing cards were hard to see, look at the image, but relax your mind and the image appears. Walking through the Vortex tunnel makes me think of losing my balance. Stairs leading to their gift shop plays musical notes. Come early at 0900 to avoid crowds.

Bring a friend and enjoy the fun activities and explore interesting optical illusions together, with the camera obscura at the top as the name giving historical highlight. This site offers good opening hours and fills perfectly a rainy late afternoon before going to dinner.

Brilliant exhibits and knowledgeable staff, answered any questions our 6 year old could think up (some were a bit obscure!) The mirror maze and the camera obscura itself were firm favourites.

Great way to spend an hour or two goofing around with your friends. It was worth it to go through the motion sickness tunnel and see the obscura spying glass.

Fun things to do & see here right next to the castle I highly recommend it

One could easily spend 2+ hours here. So many interactive exhibits.

A fun place for all ages! Don't skip it if your in Edinburgh. The tickets are valid for whole day with unlimited visits throughout the day.

Good laugh, but over priced for what it was. 5 floors of experience areas, but not all of them are great. The mirror and illusion floor is good fun and is quite entertaining. However, the floor with animatronics and hologram photos was a bit of a let down. They also have a section where you can control 4 cameras connected to the building; through these cameras you can zoom onto people in the streets and look into Windows of buildings. Slightly creepy. I'd recommend going if the price was cheaper.

very fun place to visit even during Covid. the view at the top is worth the price by itself!

A great place filled with great optical illusions and other fun stuff! A must visit if you're in Edinburgh for a few days. It's right next to the castle so you won't be going out of your way either!

Came here when visiting Edinburgh. My daughter & I loved it & had lots of fun on all the floors. It was easy to get around however very busy which is to be expected here. Loved the show at the end, very interesting.

Interesting. I loved mirror room. It's close to Edinburgh Castle.

Interesting place, often very busy! Marvellous panoramic views of Edinburgh.

What you see is not what you get with this place. Optical illusion, mirror maze ( trust me it's not easy ) camera obscura and more. Fun for kids of all ages.

A great place to spend some time when you're in Edinburgh. Perfect rainy day activity but the roof terrace and 360 degree camera also means it can be enjoyed on the brightest days too. I'm sure this is a fab place for kids and families, I've been a couple of times now and would always recommend to visitors.

It's a whole lot of fun with prizes to be won (ok no actual prizes to be won but it is kinda like a giant FunHouse). My gf and I really enjoyed it!

Fun place. And the camera obscura itself is pretty interesting. Guide Lauren was fun, but too bad they all make the same joke...if you don't like the tour my name is....;(

Very very good. Excellent experience. Great to go with kids.

Good day out for the family and a historic building and observatory based in Edinburgh. Did the whole experience being in a 5 floor building only attempt this if you are able to handle these number of stairs or your children are.

Fun illusions, but go on a clear day for the best experience for the camera obscura!!

Extra fun place, for grown ups and children. You learn some things here and there about visual illusions. The camera obscura is decent, not that extraordinary though.

Great fun for all the family. Pricey but good fun for all.

Brilliant place. Kids had so much fun (as did the adults!). Highly recommended.

Lots of interesting illusions to look at and interact with- a fun couple of hours and a great location next to the castle.

Great place to visit with family. There are lots of places for kids. I had a conversation with robots , it was amazing!

Best museum I have ever been in my life never tried that kind of experience before so when I tried in this museum I was kinda amazed and surprised for sure if I visit Scotland again I'm gonna try .. advice if u would like to have fun with us girlfriend, friends or family u should visit in this museum promise me u 'll get unforgettable time with good memories

If you have a chance, go for it. We had a lot of fun in the light tunnel. There's a lot of things to see and to play with !!

Really good place to spend a few hours, good fun for all ages, Not disabled friendly due to the age of the building.

Brilliant place for all ages. Kids love it.
Not that expensive entry but well worth admission fees anyway.
Great views grom top floor.
Would recommened if visiting the castle.

Great fun for all ages. Polite and funny staff for the camera obscura. A must visit place in Edinburgh.

This place is amazing! I really really didn't expect it to be as fun as it was, but holy crap. Go here. Also, the staff are so lovely!

Absolutely adored every second.....informative,fun and loved that we could be BIG KIDS......smashing time.

Amazing value for money half/full day experience. I went in for around 3-4 hours but could have spent longer. So many interesting illusions and the obscura itself is really interesting. Not only that, but the staff are lovely. I actually More

This place blow my mind, 6 floor with everything you can imagine, it is perfect to have fun and to go with friends, you will spend around 2 hours to see everything inside, literally inside haha.
I had a really good time there.

It's very good and there is lots of interactive things to do. I went in February 2020 before the lockdown.

Really worth a visit if your in the city.so much fun, every floor is something different, my two kids (6 and 7) loved it

I liked the place. Its main focus is on optical illusions. If you have ever been to a science themed attraction before, this is very similar. The biggest difference is the focus on the optical aspect.
There is a decent amount if things to see and they have interactive exhibitions as well.
A good place to take kids, probably up to the age of 14 or so.
For adults much of what is exhibited has probably been seen before, but there is definitely something which you haven't seen before.
If you want a good experience with the main attraction, the camera obscura, you should visit on a sunny day.

A must, great for all ages and the staff were exceptional

Very interesting and science students must visit.
Sam

Interesting place to visit. Old and still relevant.

A really enjoyable experience for all ages. We had a day in Edinburgh and it was recommended to visit here. We were a group of 5; a 2 year old, 4 year old and 3 adults. We were all entertained so I Can honestly say its a great family outing, lots to see and do. We spent around 1.5 hours in there. I was worried it might be a bit too "grown up" for my 2 young children, but they both thoroughly enjoyed it, from the holograms (my 2 year old loved trying to get the sweets from the pile of Allsorts!) to the Escher display (my 4 year old could have spent all day doing the floor tessellation puzzles - do you sell these??). The mirror maze was a treat, as was the Vortex, and there wasn't a floor the children didn't enjoy! The camera at the top was brilliant and I recommend that to the adults to make sure they get to do it (the children can also interact with the presentation so it is suitable for all). Great views of Edinburgh and photo opportunities at the top too!

Great place for kids, lots of interesting, interactive exhibits in a great location. Fab that young kids are free too. We went in 3 minutes prior to our allocated time and were asked to go back outside, I felt this was unnecessary, especially as there was noone there. A large group then entered 2 minutes later and we had to stand behind them with a bunch of strangers for 10-15 minutes as only one person was on the till and it seemed to take a long time to process them. I understand why you wouldn't want a lot of people hanging about, but that is exactly what happened anyway.

What a laugh we've had here this evening! Would definitely recommend it. Xx.

Really amazing optical paraphernalia. Kept the kids excited and entertained throughout

This all needs updating.. all this stuff is 25 yr old.

Super fun and entertaining. You can spend a long time in here.

Older kid might not like it because it is base at younger kids