Real Mary King's Close tickets: from £28.50 Standard, £25 Essential, and how it differs from the vaults

💡 The Short Version: The one-hour Signature Guided Tour is from £28.50 with a Standard ticket (free changes up to 4 hours before) or from £25 with an Essential ticket (a £15 fee to change). Book ahead: the Close says it frequently sells out, and tours run about every 10 minutes. It is 58 steps underground, no photography, fully cashless (no American Express), and children under 5 are not admitted. It is a preserved 17th-century street, not the South Bridge Vaults or the Edinburgh Dungeon. Open seven days; 9.00 to 22.30 with last entry 21.00 in October 2026. Buy from the Close at realmarykingsclose.com. Or book: GetYourGuide’s guided tourad is from £28.50, sold by the Close (4.7 stars from 4,541 reviews).

The tickets, compared

Prices are the adult rate from the Close’s tickets page. The Close is at 2 Warriston’s Close, off the Royal Mile.

• From 1 June to 31 August only Standard tickets are sold.
• Bookings are non-refundable, whichever ticket you hold.
• Audio guides in French, German, Italian, Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Dutch, Polish, Hungarian and Portuguese are free through a web app, and British Sign Language and International Sign guides are available. Tours are in English. Bring headphones.

Which ticket to buy

• Buy Standard if your plans might move. It is £3.50 more than Essential and lets you change the day and time as often as you like until 4 hours before.
• Buy Essential if the date is fixed. One change costs £15, which is more than the £3.50 you saved.
• Choose a Lantern Led Tour if you are here in October. It is the Signature tour after dark by lantern, in English only. The Close calls it a historical tour, not a horror experience.
• Add Closes & Coffee or Above & Beyond for The Lost Close, a close sealed off for nearly 200 years. They cost £40 and £49.
• A vaults tour is a different booking. Edinburgh ghost tours and vaults compares the South Bridge Vaults, the Blair Street Vaults and the Close.

Tours worth paying for

The Close’s own tour is the one that goes through the preserved street. Prices are GetYourGuide’s lowest “from” prices, per person.

Guided tour sold by the Close

From £28.50 · 1 hour · 4,541 reviews

Edinburgh: Real Mary King’s Close Guided Tourad is the Close’s own ticket on GetYourGuide, at the same £28.50 as its Standard ticket.

South Bridge Vaults tour, from Auld Reekie Tours

From £24 · 1 hour · 12,634 reviews

Edinburgh: Underground Vaults Tourad goes into the vaults under the South Bridge. They are arches, not a street where people lived, and it is a separate booking from the Close.

What to see

The tour starts at the Admissions Office on the Royal Mile and goes down into the closes. Edinburgh’s tenements rose 10 to 12 storeys in the 17th century, and the Close’s last resident left to make way for the Royal Exchange building. A costumed guide plays a former resident.

1. The 17th-century streets and houses. You walk through former homes and shops on streets that run under the Royal Mile.
2. The plague. In 1645 Edinburgh had the worst outbreak of plague in its history, and the tour covers how the closes’ crowded conditions spread it.
3. Annie’s Room. A 17th-century room off Allan’s Close where visitors have left dolls and toys since a Japanese psychic, Aiko Gibo, said in a film that she sensed a child’s spirit there. The Close says it has found no record of a child named Annie.

What to skip: the extras above, unless their theme appeals; the Signature tour covers the street. The gift shop and café are open to everyone, including children under 5, and the shop is through Writers’ Court.

Hours, rules and getting there

• Hours: open seven days, 9.00 to 22.30 with last entry 21.00 through October 2026. The site opens half an hour before the first tour, and hours change through the year; the booking page lists current tour times.
• Arrive 10 minutes early and check in with the Admissions Team.
• Lockers: more than 20 in the courtyard, opened by QR code, in different sizes.
• No food or drink on the tour.
• Dogs: not suitable; contact the Close in advance about a guide dog.
• Where: across from St Giles’ Cathedral and the Mercat Cross, next to the City Chambers. From Waverley station it is 10 minutes’ walk: up Cockburn Street to the Royal Mile and turn right, or climb the 100 steps at the foot of Warriston’s Close.

The steps of Warriston’s Close, climbing from Cockburn Street towards the Royal Mile. Photo: Ronnie Macdonald, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

St Giles’ Cathedral is opposite, and Camera Obscura and Edinburgh Castle are at the top of the Royal Mile. The Royal Mile walk puts the Close in order. What to book before you go to Edinburgh has the closed days for every sight. To stay close, see hotels near the Royal Mile.