Mercat Tours Ltd Review

Entertaining but too little time spent in the vaults to warrant the hefty price

We had an absolutely phenomenal time touring with Mercer! We went on the Secrets of the Royal Mile with Linda, which I highly recommend. It was interesting and answered all my questions about the fascinating history of Old Town Edinburgh. I loved that the tour guide had an audio system with individual earphones Linda didn t need to shout to be heard and we didn t miss a thing! Linda was extraordinarily knowledgeable, and was able to answer questions about histories in Scotland with so much detail. I was so impressed!

We also took the Evenings of Ghosts and Ghouls Tour, and I cannot recommend it enough to anyone who enjoys the darker side of history. Our guide, Ana, really brought the stories to life we didn t just learn about these tales, it felt like we lived them! She was dramatic, funny, informative, and struck just the right tone of spookiness. It has been the highlight of the trip, and I whole-heartedly recommend this tour to anyone interested in ghosts, murders, and the history of torture and punishment in the city! Thank you Ana for a wonderful evening of thrills and chills!

Atmospheric, learned a lot. Excellent tour guide who really made the experience amazing.

We visit the underground city with Mercat Tours. Although the guides try to interpret the story, it does get long and a bit boring. I do not recommend it to visit with children.

We had an absolute blast on our Mercat tour: 'An evening of ghosts and ghouls'. Margaret-Anne was absolutely wonderful. Not only is she a fantastic story teller but she also was enthusiastic to answer questions from a writer/history geek, she truly made our tour a memorable experience of our visit to Edinburgh. Highly recommend!

Evening of ghost and ghouls tour.

The tour was poorly told by a guide with no concept of how to pace a story. When we got to the vaults it wasn t scary in the slightest as all I could hear was loud music from night clubs above. When we got to the bar at the end of the vaults I looked around to see 2 people falling asleep.... the stories were told like they were being read and with no skill, failed to engage anyone. I was actually glad the tour had finished when we left.

Avoid as the price is high too.

Martin was the best tour guide!! My husband and I absolutely loved the tour of the Royal Mile plus Edinburg Castle!

Not happy with how this tour was organised. We were booked on a tour from a different company. This tour commenced from directly outside the office of the other company at the exact same time. They then waited until the halfway point to check our tickets to then tell us we were on the wrong one. If they'd have checked at the start we'd have time to get to our actual tour.

I'd be happy to accept it if I felt we were at fault though we weren't the only ones to be on the wrong tour. And I'm not exaggerating when I say we were in arms reach of the entrance to the other tour's office. They wouldn't even let us pay to carry on with the tour we'd seen half of as it had sold out...

Ghost tour was very interesting and the guide was knowledgeable and entertaining.

Martin K was an excellent guide ! Great historical knowledge told in a theatrical entertaining way ! Very informative , interesting and entertaining. (Hidden and haunted tour)

The history tours are always a pleasure, staff are always professional and knowledgeable, lose the ghost rubbish though... Still 5 starts because there are few other ways you get access to such awesome places...

Really nice tour with a good atmosphere. I had the guide Martin, and he really made the tour amazing!

We booked the tour "Secrets of the Royal Mile" with entry to the castle.
Conclusion: to understand well with normal knowledge of English, through the audio system clearly and clearly, as a group, we were then quickly in the castle.
Extra praise for our guide William, the super competent, friendly and with humor also by the scramble in the streets has passed.
We can recommend Mercat Tours 100%.

Tour guide, Margaret-Ann, was very knowledgeable and passionate at her job

The tour was really neat, don't expect an intense lesson in history, but if you want some entertainment and some off color information about Edinburgh, highly recommended.

Saturday 23 July 130pm Royal Mile Tour 130pm. Absolute joy. I have lived in Edinburgh most of my life however I learned a few things on this tour I never knew before. I can thoroughly recommend Mercat Tours and might even venture on a ghost tour with them.

Excellent time spent with Fred. A person who clearly loves his work and tells stories with passion and fervor. And the visit of the vaults ends with a small apero. Just perfect.

Arwin was super fun. Had times where she scared me completely and I was intimidated, but at the same time her jokes and enthusiasm was inviting allowing the "scared"to able to ask questions. Would do other tours with her as my guide.

Informative and interesting tour of Edinburgh below the South Bridge. Great tour guide.

Did walking tour of Castle /Secrets of the Royal Mile excellent. Guide Simon.
Also Historic Underground with Margaret-Ann Excellent

Great for morbid history lovers! We chose the Doomed, dead and buried tour and had Samuel as our guide who was animated, passionate and attentive. Would have loved to have taken all the tours - if you visit edinburgh go on a Mercat tour!!

The Mile to the Museum tour is fantastic! If you love history, this tour is for you. The Museum is huge and so it was wonderful to have my talented guide, William, give me a tour of the highlights! William has so much knowledge and tells the history of Scotland in a engaging lively manner. Highly recommend!

Lady Primrose was our guide for the evening...she was outstanding. Really got into the role and set the atmosphere. One of our highlights of our week in Edinburgh.

Fantastic tour. We did the Historic underground tour with our guide Anna. She was a great tour guide. Very informative and knowledgeable about the history of the city and delivered in a light hearted way. Was very interesting to hear what went on underground all those years ago..!!. Would definitely recommend the tour to others.

We went on the Royal Mile and Castle tour, Vanessa was our tour guide and we really enjoyed. Vanessa was very knowledgeable and made the tour informative and entertaining (even in the freezing conditions! ). We would definitely recommend. Thank you.

Half of the tour is interesting information, the other half is stories about ghosts (fiction, not historical) and trying to create a tunnel of terror like event. The "catacombs" have less history than I thought.

Had so much fun. Would highly recommend the Edinburgh Underground tour.

I booked the German tour "Hidden Stories" for me, my mother and my girlfriend. Our tour guide ARWEN greeted us on time and we made our way. Many stories, scary and with wit and charm Arwen could tell us ... And the tour guests are included. And then it went underground. And then the horror started ... Arwen has in her own way
cast a spell over every visitor .... She was just great.

I have to say a big thank you to the ENTIRE team. Only thanks to your help, the day could be so special ... After all, it was the birthday of my girlfriend .... And she will NEVER forget this more. Many thanks to the team and to Arwen from MercatTours

Guide had loads of historical information. It's 2 hour tour with the first hour walking through Edinburgh and the second half for actual tasting. You learn the basics of whisky tasting.

My husband and I booked a tour with Mercat just this week whilst visiting my sister in Edinburgh.
What a great tour!! Lots of historical facts and ghost stories, our guide was Edgar ! Great guy, very informative and lots of fun ! I'd recommend to anyone . Great job.

Most haunted vaults in Edinburgh available only with them.

Great wee tour and very informative . A mixture of history and ghost stories mixed with humour. Guide was excellent.

I love!!!! The buenisimas excursions and guides the best

Enjoyed our underground tour in Edinburgh. Our guide, Rachel, was very knowledgeable. The tour starts above ground to put the underground tour into context. We took a history tour, as opposed to a ghost tour which made it accessible for children. You also get 10% off another tour with your ticket. From a mobility perspective, as you would expect the floors are uneven so you do need to be careful, however, all stairs have handrails.

Had a great tour with the LEGEND Steve, made the whole tour worth while with his 20 years of experience a real credit to the company ! Made everyone feel welcome and enjoy the trip, we did the 9:30pm (13/02/2020) tour of hidden and haunted and couldn t fault it, very informative and great way to learn about the dark history, Steve very kindly waiting around well after the tour finished to answer any questions, even recommended great places to visit, honestly Steve could not have been more awesome !

Also Corinne, who gave us all our tickets was there early and got everyone sorted quickly and got us in the spirit.
Overall great tour and great staff well worth the money !

Will G

A big thank you Ana for a thrilling, fascinating and sensational tour last night. The vaults were creepy and haunting and the walk across Edinburgh was chilling. Highly recommend a night's walk with Marcat Tour!!

Really enjoyed Ghosts & Ghouls tour with Arwen tonight. Very enjoyable, theatrical and authentic without being cheesy. Always enjoy the history and seeing the vaults and great to finish with a whisky!

Great tour thanks to Niome who was very entertaining,

Very good visit with our guide Alex .... We go back to Edinburgh in the 18 th century. To do !

Really good interesting tour that last just under 2 hours. The tour guide Mark was quite funny and took us around Edinburgh village and into the vaults. it was all really good and fairly priced would 100% recommend doing this while in Edinburgh

I did a tour with Helena today and it was absolutely brilliant. The way she told the stories was so intriguing that I could not pay attention to anything else besides her. There's a bit of acting necessary when doing such tours and Helena absolutely excelled. Although I new some of the stories above ground from other tours etc, it was still interesting, and the vaults were also interesting and a bit spooky. I would definitely recommend this tour and Helena as a guide :)

Awesome guides and really interesting content.
The vaults that Mercat runs their tours through has great history and is in very good condition. A brilliant insight into Edinburghs history. Would certainly recommend

The only tour company with access to the vaults under the south bridge. I did the standard tour, not the ghost one, and the guide provided a lot of interesting information about how people lived at the time the vaults were built and used.

Went on the
Evening Of Ghosts & Ghouls tour and our guide was Edgar whom was brilliant and very knowledgeable.

Outstanding tour. We were able to get in at the last minute for the underground tour on Christmas Eve, and we were so glad we did this. Our guide was polished and absolutely PACKED in fascinating history every step of the way. He was a great story teller and genuinely scared both my husband and I (which is not an easy feat). The vault and graveyard were extremely creepy, but our guide was what made the difference (we had done a free tour with another company the day before and were disappointed). HIGHLY recommend!

Thumbs up to our guide Miriam,who made our tour both thrilling and funny!Just love the stories!bought a handbook after the tour!

Mercat put on a great ghost tour! Our guide was excellent at telling the stories and making it interactive. The vaults were particularly cool. Would definitely do another tour with them in the future!

Much shorter than it used to be which is disappointing.

We had a very interesting Tour with Sam (our Guide). The most Hidden and Haunted tour was spooky but also a bit funny, he made the best out of the possibilities he had.
Our tour was rather interactive, the only thing that would have made it better would have been a few more stories to be told :)

We had our Historic Underground tour at 12pm which was great as there was only a small group. Nicky spent 15 minutes above ground explaining some of the history and architecture of the time and how and why the Blair Street Vaults were built before we went down. Once we were in the vaults Nicky took us through each area explaining what it originally was and how the function of the vaults changed over time. I found our speaker to be engaging and natural with a good sense of humour. The tour was well timed at 1 hour, 15 minutes and we didn't stand in each area of the vault for too long.

A fun and interesting way to learn about the history of the city. Just the right amount of scary considering we had our son with us. Our tour guide Ruth did a great job!

We took the Secrets of the Royal Mile tour on a weekday morning with Margaret-Ann and it was so much fun! We learned a lot about the city and the castle's history. It was a good amount of walking but very easy.
Highly, highly recommend this tour. Especially if you can get it with Margaret-Ann. She was funny and very knowledgeable.

The 2 hour ghost tour is excellent. Mark was a fantastic storyteller. The tour was informative, chilling, and humorous. It's all you could hope for. Access to the vaults below Edinburgh are a unique glimpse into history. The whiskey and storytelling at the end is a nice bonus too! I'd highly recommend it.

Amazing tour of the Blair street Vaults led by Fred !! She is an awesome guide really drawing you in with her tales of what went on in and around the Vaults in Edinburgh.
Would 100% recommend you use these guys above the others shared just a few pics from out Tour

I did the ghost underground tour and I expected to see more of the underground city. We only visited a couple of rooms and the guide lost a lot of time talking. Honestly I waste 15 pounds and I don't recommend it :)

The guide Fred managed to make us live an unforgettable experience in these cellars with his stories of ghosts told by the candle.
A good atmosphere accompanied by a guide who gives the smile, the experience could only be good.
We learn the history of the South Bridge with anecdotes about the ghosts of these cellars.
It all ended with a little tasting of Whiskey (a whiskey choice would have been nice but it is not the heart of the visit).

I recommend to anyone who still hesitates to go there.

Mathys

Really good tour's I had a positive experience learning about Edinburgh and it's history the spooky side of things seemed a little bit tagged on but fun all the same. I'd highly recommend Mercat tours and I'd return and try a different tour next time.

Yesterday did the underground tour with MargaretAnn who was a fantastic guide full of knowledge which she delivered with wit and humour. Worth every penny.

The historic tour of our guide Linda was great! It adorns the corridors, rooms and sights with exciting stories from the past! She speaks clearly and is great to understand. We would come back anytime !!

Thank you for visiting Mercat organization in French, and above all a BIG THANK YOU to Alexander for the discovery of Edinburgh by a passionate and exciting guide.

Did the "ghost & ghouls" tour. It's a rip-off for the price ! Bad explanations about the closes, it's all about visiting 2 or 3 cellars and being told about 2 or 3 stories, even if the guide was cool and good actor. For the same price, you shoud totally consider The Mary Kings Close experience, worth it, much much better experience for the same price !

Myself and some family members did the Dead, Doomed, and Buried night tour during a trip to Scotland in September. We used the tour to end our day in Edinburgh, which worked out nicely. The tour itself was informative and interesting, but our guide [Ella] made it a 5 star rating. She was wonderful, funny and intelligent with an amazing ability to deliver just about everything she said in exactly the right way. When I go back again, I will likely just ask when Ella will be doing a tour and pick it that way. I'm sure the other tour guides are good as well, but why mess with perfection

Great tour. Really need cup holders but that's really insignificant. Take the tour, it's the only one that you can experience so much in 1 day! Kenny was a GREAT driver and guide!!

Margaret Ann our guide was fabulous knowledgeable and fun at the same time heartily recommend this underground tour

We had Emma on the underground history tour and she was great. Spoke really well and kept everyone engaged. My complaint really is just the overall attraction. It s boring and you only get to see 6 rooms or so that are all pretty much the same. Neat but not something worth an hour of your time. And it s not something super historical but just some hidden rooms where some poor buggers had to live because conditions sucked in the 1700 s.

I had been on a similar tour to this prior but this one blew it out of the water! The tour guide Mark was amazing, so good at maintaining his character, and had lots of information to offer up during the tour. He definitely amplified the already eerie atmosphere of the vaults and made something I'm sure I'll remember for a long time.

Rather disappointing tour. The underground vaults are really small, just a couple of basement rooms inside the bridge. Overhyped attraction.

My family and I throughly enjoyed our tour of Edinburgh. My kids are 15 and 12 and they both stayed engaged during the whole tour. Our guide was funny and certainly made the tour worthwhile.

Took a daytime tour with Charles and had a lovely time with my family. He did a great job of adding just enough of the "darker" side for the adults in the group while keeping it light enough for the children.

Great way to tour and learn about the history of Edinburgh. Took the ghost tour and it was alot of fun.

Absolutely fantastic tour by Rachel, really enjoyed the experience, she was very theatrical and made the experience feel real. She is a credit to the mercat team! Thanks Rachel!!

We did a walking tour of Edinburgh, the Royal Mile area, on Wednesday10th May. Laura was the tour leader and was first rate. The experience was informative, entertaining and atmospheric. Laura brought the area to life. Thank you.

Well worth the money, very interesting and amusing too

Thanks to Irene our excellent guide for visiting "story gravedigger". It tells both the history of the city on the surface and the different activities under the "South bridge". All this funny way and, in the basement, with stories of ghosts.

Entertaining and informative. Our tour guide was great and getting tickets was quick and easy online

We did the Doomed, Dead and Buried Tour. It was simply superb. Really informative, funny and some really creepy stories as well. Our guide was Alex, he did an excellent job of frightening us all, as well as making us laugh. Definitely would recommend doing this tour.

Due to time constraints my husband and I were unable to go on a night time tour of Edinburgh so instead we booked on to the 3pm ghost tour and it was great! The tour started at the Mercat cross and then we went down in to the vaults. The vaults are very dark and the guide used a candle on the tour which added to the atmosphere. Our guide was brilliant at setting the scene, telling the stories and making us jump with dramatic screams and sound effects. I would highly recommend this tour if you like spooky things. I ended up being quite glad that we weren't able to make a night tour - the day time one was scary enough! I wouldn't recommend if you are very easily scared or are very claustrophobic as the majority of the tour is in the dark underground!

Great tour of the ghosts & ghouls & stories of Edinburgh's history.