In this guide
💡 The Short Version: The Scotch Whisky Experience, beside the castle on the Royal Mile, is the one that teaches the regions: Silver £25 (50 minutes, one dram) or Gold £39.75 (75 minutes, five drams). The Johnnie Walker Experience on Princes Street is £25 for 1½ hours and three drinks. Holyrood Distillery shows a working distillery from £25 for an hour. For a guided tasting with no tour, a storytelling evening is £36 for four whiskies. Bring photographic ID. The Scotch Whisky Experience Silver Tourad is £25 on GetYourGuide, the operator’s own price (GetYourGuide).
The experiences compared
Prices are the operators’ own for one adult, except where marked GetYourGuide.
| Experience | Where | Length | From | What you drink | Ages |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scotch Whisky Experience, Silver | 354 Castlehill, Royal Mile | 50 minutes | £25 | One dram, or a soft drink | Families welcome |
| Scotch Whisky Experience, Gold | 354 Castlehill | 75 minutes | £39.75 | Five whiskies | Photographic ID |
| Scotch Whisky Experience, Taste of Scotland | 354 Castlehill | 3 hours | £95 | Six whiskies and a three-course meal | 18 and over |
| Johnnie Walker Signature Experiencead | 145 Princes Street | 1½ hours | £25 (GetYourGuide) | Three personalised drinks, non-alcoholic available | Not under 8 |
| Holyrood Distillery tour | Beside Holyrood Park | 1 hour | £25 | Samples of gin and whisky | Ages 8 and over |
| Whisky Tasting with History and Storytellingad | Off the Royal Mile | 2 hours | £36 (GetYourGuide) | Four single malts | 18 and over |
| The Lost Close Underground Scotch Whisky Tastingad | Parliament Square | 1½ hours | £52 (GetYourGuide) | Four whiskies | 18 and over |
Scotch Whisky Experience
354 Castlehill, beside Edinburgh Castle · tours from 10:00, last tour 19:00 · audio guide in 21 languages
The Silver Tour is an immersive show on how whisky is made and matured, with a viewing of the Experience’s collection of Scotch whisky, which it calls one of the world’s largest. The audio guide comes in 21 languages, but the tasting is in English only. Book at scotchwhiskyexperience.co.uk or on GetYourGuide at the same price.
The Scotch Whisky Experience, in the former Castlehill School. Photo: Enchufla Con Clave, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Silver Tour
£25 · 50 minutes · one whisky or a soft drink
A guided tour plus a nosing and tasting of one single malt or blended whisky, which you choose. It includes a crystal tasting glass for adults. It is the tour the operator recommends for first-timers and families, and the GetYourGuide listingad (6,880 reviews) sells it at £25.
Gold Tour
£39.75 · 75 minutes · five whiskies
The Silver Tour followed by a tasting tray of four contrasting regional single malts, with notes, which lets you compare the regions. It adds a year’s membership of the Scotch Whisky Appreciation Society, with 10% off the bar’s whiskies and £2 off 70cl bottles. Bring physical photographic ID.
Highland single malts on display at the Scotch Whisky Experience. Photo: Ank Kumar, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Taste of Scotland
£95 · 3 hours · six whiskies and a three-course meal · four times a day · 18 and over
The Gold Tour, then a seven-dish tasting menu in the Amber Restaurant with the dessert matched to a dram. Reschedule up to 48 hours before. The restaurant and whisky bar are open from noon to 21:00, and you can visit them without a tour.
In October
The Real Mary King’s Close and the Scotch Whisky Experience run a joint evening from 2 to 31 October 2026: the Close’s Lantern Led Tour, then the Taste of Scotland dinner, booked through the Close. Halloween Tasting Tales on 16, 17 and 18 October 2026 at 15:30 is £55 for 60 minutes with four whiskies and canapés.
Johnnie Walker Experience
£25 on GetYourGuide · 1½ hours · 145 Princes Street · 3,226 reviews
Edinburgh: The Johnnie Walker Signature Experiencead is sold on GetYourGuide by the Johnnie Walker Experience itself. A flavour quiz sets your taste profile, the 90-minute tour mixes projections and live performance, and you finish with three drinks matched to your profile, with non-alcoholic options. It is not suitable for under-8s. Entry does not include a table at the 1820 rooftop bar, which looks across to the castle: reserve one on the Experience’s website. It is a 15-minute walk from Haymarket and Waverley.
Holyrood Distillery
From £25 · 1 hour · below Salisbury Crags · GetYourGuide £27ad
Holyrood Distillery says it is the city’s first single malt producer in almost 100 years and makes Height of Arrows gin. The signature tour walks through both production areas with tastings. holyrooddistillery.co.uk lists it from £25, and the Journey to Whisky tour from £30. GetYourGuide’s listing of the whisky and gin tour (1,095 reviews) starts at £27 and includes a welcome cocktail. Children aged 8 to 17 may join the signature tour only; every other tour is for over-18s. It is a 15-minute walk from the Royal Mile, and Lothian bus 14 stops on Rankeillor Street, two minutes from the door.
Tastings without a tour
Whisky Tasting with History and Storytelling
From £36 · 2 hours · 2,601 reviews · Little Fish Tours · over-18s
Edinburgh: Whisky Tasting with History and Storytellingad meets by the Adam Smith statue on the Royal Mile at 16:45 for check-in. You sit in a private lounge and taste four single malts, one from each of four regions, while the guide tells stories of kings, smugglers and outlaws. Tasting notes are provided, and other drinks are available if you do not drink whisky.
The Lost Close
From £52 · 1½ hours · 599 reviews · over-18s
Edinburgh: The Lost Close Underground Scotch Whisky Tastingad meets at John’s Coffee House & Tavern in Parliament Square and goes into a newly uncovered underground venue. The base ticket is four whiskies from four distilleries, and an upgrade adds rarer or older whiskies. Pregnant women and wheelchair users are advised against it.
Gin and other distilleries
All are over-18s except where marked.
- Edinburgh Gin Distillery tour and tastingad: from £28, 75 minutes, six gins and gin liqueurs in a glass-fronted distillery in the Old Town, then a rooftop bar. 241 reviews.
- South Loch Distillery gin tourad: from £23.96, 1½ hours, three gins and a gin and tonic at 56 North. 446 reviews.
- Port of Leith Distillery tour and tastingad: from £30, 1½ hours, in a vertical distillery in Leith, with a miniature bottle of new-make spirit. Not suitable for under-7s. 275 reviews.
- Glenkinchie Distillery tour and tastingad: from £21, 1½ hours, three whiskies at a working distillery in East Lothian, listed by the Johnnie Walker Experience. Not suitable for under-8s. The Rosslyn Chapel and Borders tour stops there, and a 5-hour tour with a coach transfer from St Andrew Squaread is from £55.
The Edinburgh Gin distillery, with distilling equipment visible through the glass front. Photo: Drnoble, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Which to book
- Learning the regions, with a view of the castle: the Scotch Whisky Experience Gold Tour, £39.75.
- A cheaper first look, or with children: the Silver Tour, £25.
- A showpiece tour with cocktails and a rooftop bar: Johnnie Walker, £25.
- Seeing stills and washbacks: Holyrood Distillery, from £25.
- A seated tasting with stories: the £36 storytelling evening.
- Whisky with a meal: Taste of Scotland, £95.
What to book before you go to Edinburgh lists the sights that need tickets. The Edinburgh City Pass includes a Holyrood Distillery tour, and Edinburgh ghost tours covers the underground tours that pair with an evening dram. Edinburgh public transport has the bus fares to the distillery and Princes Street, where to stay in Edinburgh compares the areas, and hotels near the Royal Mile are a short walk from Castlehill.
Common questions
Which whisky tour should I book in Edinburgh?
It depends on what you want to do. The Scotch Whisky Experience beside the castle is the one for learning the regions: the Silver Tour is £25 for 50 minutes and one dram, the Gold Tour £39.75 for 75 minutes and five. The Johnnie Walker Experience on Princes Street is £25 for 1½ hours and three drinks, and Holyrood Distillery is from £25 for a tour of a working distillery.
How much is the Scotch Whisky Experience?
£25 for the Silver Tour (50 minutes, one whisky), £39.75 for the Gold Tour (75 minutes, five whiskies and a year's membership of its appreciation society) and £95 for Taste of Scotland (3 hours, a three-course meal and six whiskies). Photographic ID is required.
Can children go on a whisky tour in Edinburgh?
On some. The Scotch Whisky Experience's Silver Tour has a soft drink option and is meant for families, but Taste of Scotland is strictly 18 and over. Holyrood Distillery admits ages 8 to 17 on its signature tour only. The Johnnie Walker Signature Experience is not suitable for under-8s.
Are there distilleries I can visit outside Edinburgh?
Glenkinchie Distillery in East Lothian offers a tour and three-whisky tasting from £21 on GetYourGuide, or £55 with a 5-hour coach transfer from St Andrew Square. It is also on the Rosslyn Chapel and Borders day tour.
Do I need to bring ID to a whisky tour?
At the Scotch Whisky Experience, yes: it asks for physical photographic ID, and applies a Challenge 25 policy, so anyone who looks under 25 is asked for proof of age.
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