In this guide
💡 The Short Version: For a first food walk, book the Edinburgh Walking Food Tour with 5 Tastings, Haggis & Scotchad: from £95.50, 3 hours, 550 reviews. Secret Food Tours sells its Old Town tour at £89.99 on its own site, and EatWalk Tours runs a 3-hour tour with a full meal at four venues daily from outside 26 St Giles’ Street. A cheaper walk is the Royal Mile History Walking Tour with food Tastingsad from £38 for 2 hours. For an evening, the Scottish Dinner and Folk Music Experiencead is from £89. Prices are GetYourGuide’s lowest “from” prices and move with the date.
The tours, compared
| Experience | Length | Price | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edinburgh Walking Food Tour with 5 Tastings, Haggis & Scotchad | 3 hours | From £95.50 | The Old Town, five tastings |
| Edinburgh Premium Food & Drink Tourad | 3 hours | From £105 | A full meal at four venues |
| Eating Edinburgh: Old Town Food & Walking Tour with Drinksad | 3 hours | From £104 | Haggis, cullen skink, Scottish bakes and ale |
| Devour Edinburgh Like a Localad | 3 hours | From £49.92 | A food walk |
| Royal Mile History Walking Tour with food Tastingsad | 2 hours | From £38 | Three venues on the Royal Mile |
| Scottish Tasting Platter at The Tolbooth Tavernad | 1 hour | From £26.25 | Haggis, mushrooms and fish and chips in a pub |
| Scottish Dinner and Folk Music Experiencead | 3 hours | From £89 | Three courses and folk music |
| Spirit of Scotland Show with 4-Course Dinnerad | Dinner show | From £95 | Scottish music, dance and storytelling |
| Secret Food Tours: Edinburgh (own site) | 3 to 3½ hours | £89.99 | 5 stops, up to 10 to 12 people |
| EatWalk Tours: Edinburgh Food & Drink Tour (own site) | 3 hours | Booked on its site | A full meal at four pubs and restaurants |
| The Scotch Whisky Experiencead | 50 to 75 minutes | From £25; £25 on its own site | The Silver tour |
Food walks
Edinburgh Walking Food Tour with 5 Tastings, Haggis & Scotch
From £95.50 · 550 reviews · 4.9 stars · 3 hours
Edinburgh Walking Food Tour with 5 Tastings, Haggis & Scotchad goes through the Old Town and describes itself as a Secret Food Tour: five tastings of Scottish cooking, with haggis and Scotch. Secret Food Tours sells its own Old Town tour, with five stops, at £89.99 on its site.
Restaurants with tables outside on the Grassmarket. Photo: Ermell, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Edinburgh Premium Food & Drink Tour
From £105 · 52 reviews · 4.8 stars · 3 hours
Edinburgh Premium Food & Drink Tourad visits four venues for a full meal and locally produced drinks, with history and sightseeing along the way. It is the same format as EatWalk Tours’ own Premium Food & Drink Tour, which meets outside 26 St Giles’ Street.
Eating Edinburgh: Old Town Food & Walking Tour with Drinks
From £104 · 47 reviews · 4.8 stars · 3 hours
Eating Edinburgh: Old Town Food & Walking Tour with Drinksad is a small-group walk through the Old and New Towns with haggis, cullen skink, Scottish bakes, pub favourites and local ale, in tastings the listing says add up to a full meal.
Devour Edinburgh Like a Local
From £49.92 · 8 reviews · 5.0 stars · 3 hours
Edinburgh: Food Tour – Devour Edinburgh Like a Localad is a 3-hour food walk to what the listing calls hidden spots to eat in the city. It is the cheapest 3-hour food walk here, and has few reviews.
Royal Mile History Walking Tour with food Tastings
From £38 · 5 reviews · 5.0 stars · 2 hours
Edinburgh Royal Mile History Walking Tour with food Tastingsad walks the Royal Mile and visits three local venues for Scottish bites, with the history, culture and cuisine of the street.
Pub plates and dinner
Scottish Tasting Platter at The Tolbooth Tavern
From £26.25 · 137 reviews · 4.6 stars · 1 hour
Edinburgh: Scottish Tasting Platter at The Tolbooth Tavernad is a platter of haggis, wild mushrooms and fish and chips in a pub on the Royal Mile.
The Tolbooth Tavern on the Canongate, the lower end of the Royal Mile. Photo: Jeff Reuben, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Scottish Dinner and Folk Music Experience
From £89 · 379 reviews · 4.7 stars · 3 hours
Edinburgh: Scottish Dinner and Folk Music Experiencead is a three-course meal with a drink and an account of the roots of Scottish folk music, in the heart of the city.
Spirit of Scotland Show with 4-Course Dinner
From £95 · 106 reviews · 4.1 stars
Edinburgh: Spirit of Scotland Show with 4-Course Dinnerad is a traditional Scottish show of music, dance and storytelling with a four-course dinner.
Booking direct
Two operators sell tours on their own sites. Their tours are not necessarily the ones above under the same name.
Secret Food Tours
£89.99 · 3 to 3½ hours · 5 stops · up to 10 to 12 people
An Old Town tour that the operator says takes in authentic haggis, Lowland single malt whisky and Scottish desserts and cheeses (secretfoodtours.com).
EatWalk Tours
3 hours · from outside 26 St Giles’ Street · eatwalktours.co.uk
A full meal across four local pubs and restaurants, with a standard drinks option of three alcoholic drinks and one alcohol-free, an alcohol-free option of two alcohol-free drinks, and a whisky upgrade. From April to September it runs brunch and lunch tours starting at 10:30, 11:45 and 14:00, and dinner tours at 16:00 on Friday and Saturday and 16:30 and 17:30 from Sunday to Thursday. From October to March tours start at 11:45 and 16:00 daily. The meeting point is a minute from the Royal Mile and six minutes from Waverley station.
Whisky tastings
The Scotch Whisky Experience sells a Silver tour at £25, a Gold tour at £39.75 and A Taste of Scotland at £95, and the GetYourGuide listingad is from £25, the Silver price (scotchwhiskyexperience.co.uk). Whisky Tasting with History and Storytellingad is from £36 for 2 hours, and The Johnnie Walker Signature Experiencead from £25 for 1.5 hours. Tours are compared in Edinburgh whisky tours, and the bars in where to eat in Edinburgh.
A shelf of Scotch whisky bottles. Photo: Emi1824, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
How to choose
- The cheapest walk: the Royal Mile History Walking Tour with food Tastings, from £38 for 2 hours.
- Haggis and Scotch on a walk: the 5 Tastings walk, from £95.50, or Secret Food Tours at £89.99 direct.
- A full meal on a walk: the Premium Food & Drink Tour, from £105, or EatWalk Tours’ own tour.
- A pub plate: the Tolbooth Tavern platter, from £26.25.
- An evening: the Scottish Dinner and Folk Music Experience, from £89.
- Whisky: the Scotch Whisky Experience, from £25.
To fit a tour into a trip, see Edinburgh in one or two days, the Royal Mile walk and Edinburgh walking tours. Where to eat in Edinburgh names the restaurants, haggis pubs and whisky bars, and afternoon tea in Edinburgh compares the tea rooms. Where to stay in Edinburgh compares the areas, hotels near the Royal Mile lists the hotels round the Old Town tours, and the best time to visit Edinburgh gives the weather by month.
Common questions
How much is a food tour in Edinburgh?
From £38 for a 2-hour Royal Mile walk with food tastings and £49.92 for a 3-hour food walk, up to £95.50 for the 3-hour walk with five tastings, haggis and Scotch, £104 for the Eating Edinburgh Old Town walk and £105 for a 3-hour tour with a full meal at four venues. Secret Food Tours charges £89.99 on its own site.
Which Edinburgh food tour has the most reviews?
The Edinburgh Walking Food Tour with 5 Tastings, Haggis & Scotch, from £95.50 for 3 hours, with 550 reviews and 4.9 stars on GetYourGuide. Among dinners, the Scottish Dinner and Folk Music Experience has 379.
Is it cheaper to book an Edinburgh food tour direct?
Not clearly. Secret Food Tours sells its Old Town tour at £89.99 for 3 to 3½ hours and 5 stops, against £95.50 for the GetYourGuide walk that describes itself as a Secret Food Tour. EatWalk Tours runs 3-hour tours daily.
Do Edinburgh food tours include haggis?
Yes. The 5 Tastings, Haggis & Scotch walk (from £95.50), the Eating Edinburgh walk (from £104), which lists haggis, cullen skink and local ale, and the Tolbooth Tavern tasting platter (from £26.25) all include it.
Where does the EatWalk tour start?
Outside 26 St Giles' Street, a minute from the Royal Mile and six minutes from Waverley station. From April to September there are brunch, lunch and dinner starts; from October to March the tours start at 11:45 and 16:00.
Can I do a whisky tasting instead?
Yes. The Scotch Whisky Experience is from £25 for its Silver tour, which is the operator's own price, and tastings with storytelling are from £36. See Edinburgh whisky tours.
