- Most Popular!
- 3 Hours
- Walking Tour
The tour focuses on the historical, cultural, and architectural heritage of Edinburgh.
We now offer virtual tours of Edinburgh where our guide can link up to the client, using zoom or similar technology, whilst the guide walks and/or drives around the city giving a commentary as he/she does so. We have now done this, very successfully, for educational establishments, companies and private individuals. If you wish to book a virtual tour, or simply wish to know more, please contact us by using our contact form on our contact page, saying what you have in mind.
Our Walking Tour
Start your holiday with us and let us give you inside knowledge on what to see, where to go, and things to do.
The Walks focus on the historical, cultural, and architectural heritage of Edinburgh. Most of the major historical sites of interest are covered, including the world-famous Royal Mile in the Old Town.
On our Group Walking Tours, we have an absolute maximum of 12 walkers to ensure you have a first-class experience. We feel strongly that tours of 30, 40 or 50 more, just cannot give you the same experience.
And where better to start those walks than the Usher Hall, Scotland’s premier concert hall, donated to the city in 1896 by Andrew Usher.
Alternatively, our Private Walking Tours allow you to see even more landmarks and sights around Edinburgh both in the Old and New towns and can even be altered to suit your personal tastes/interests, as you will be the only walkers on the tour.
Our guides are very carefully hand-picked for their historical knowledge and they share our love of history and the city.
Edinburgh Guided Tour is currently ranked number 8 out of 470 Edinburgh tours on Trip Advisor; an exceptional performance for our small tour company.
And, even better, in 2019 TripAdvisor’s Travellers’ Choice Awards had us ranked at #5 in the world for cultural experiences!
You can book your tour with us with confidence. If your plans change, you can always cancel the booking and get a full refund (apart from cancellations made with less than 24 hours to go).
Our Guides
Father and son team, Stuart and Richard Usher, started Edinburgh Guided Tour in 2012 with one clear vision; to provide an intimate walking tour of Edinburgh’s Old Town and Royal Mile that would enthuse their guests with its amazing history, its famous characters and its magnificently varied architecture.
Simply put, they want their guests to fall in love with Edinburgh!
Introducing Dr Alison Duncan: Alison is a Scottish history expert and a professional historian and she can make the wonders of Scottish History come alive, in front of your eyes, as she takes you on tour.
Alison was recently interviewed by Channel Four’s Professor Alice Roberts as part of their episode covering Edinburgh, on the hit TV series, ‘Britain’s Most Historic Towns’. Please see the video on the right.
Introducing David Forsyth: David is a professional historian and, prior to his recent retirement after 25 years with the National Museum of Scotland, David acted as ‘Keeper’ (Manager) of the Museum’s Scottish History & Art & Design Departments. David will absolutely delight you with his stories about the city and its history.
David was recently featured on BBC’s ‘Art that made us’ and is shown here talking to the BBC’s Shaun Leane. Please see the video on the right.
Introducing Douglas Graham BD (Hons) MSt (Oxon.) DipPTP: After training for three years as a stage actor, Douglas read Theology at the universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Oxford. He is a keen student of History and a gifted storyteller. Douglas is a great addition to our team.
How do you pronounce EDINBURGH? Here is Stuart Usher, our senior guide, on Scottish TV’s news programme, giving the definitive and CORRECT answer.
Father and son team, Stuart and Richard Usher, started Edinburgh Guided Tour in 2012 with one clear vision; to provide an intimate walking tour of Edinburgh’s Old Town and Royal Mile that would enthuse their guests with its amazing history, its famous characters and its magnificently varied architecture.
Simply put, they want their guests to fall in love with Edinburgh!
Introducing Dr Alison Duncan: Alison is a Scottish history expert and a professional historian and she can make the wonders of Scottish History come alive, in front of your eyes, as she takes you on tour.
Alison was recently interviewed by Channel Four’s Professor Alice Roberts as part of their episode covering Edinburgh, on the hit TV series, ‘Britain’s Most Historic Towns’. Please see the video on the right.
Introducing David Forsyth: David is a professional historian and, prior to his recent retirement after 25 years with the National Museum of Scotland, David acted as ‘Keeper’ (Manager) of the Museum’s Scottish History & Art & Design Departments. David will absolutely delight you with his stories about the city and its history.
David was recently featured on BBC’s ‘Art that made us’ and is shown here talking to the BBC’s Shaun Leane. Please see the video on the right.
Introducing Douglas Graham BD (Hons) MSt (Oxon.) DipPTP: After training for three years as a stage actor, Douglas read Theology at the universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Oxford. He is a keen student of History and a gifted storyteller. Douglas is a great addition to our team.
How do you pronounce EDINBURGH? Here is Stuart Usher, our senior guide, on Scottish TV’s news programme, giving the definitive and CORRECT answer.
Edinburgh Guided Tour Recognised Among Best In The World!
- Edinburgh Guided Tour are extremely proud to announce that our Guided Group Walking Tour has won the 2023 Viator Experience Award! It rates us among the Top Twenty Viator attractions in all of Northern Europe.
- Viator is the world’s largest travel experiences marketplace with more than 300,000 bookable tours, activities, and excursions.
- Our Guided Group Walking Tour is our most popular, best-selling tour and it is the original experience that started us off over 10 years ago!
- This longstanding tour, focuses on the most important streets in Edinburgh and covers the most seminal people, buildings and events from Scotland’s history, and has grown from strength to strength and stood the test of time.
Other Plaudits for Edinburgh Guided Tour
- In 2019, Edinburgh Guided Tour was ranked #5 in the World for Cultural Experiences in the 2019 TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice Awards. An outstanding achievement!
- In 2016 we were selected as being one of Edinburgh’s Top Ten walks by the Guardian newspaper.
- In 2019 we were selected as one of Edinburgh’s 7 best walking tours by The Scotsman newspaper
The Ushers of Edinburgh
Stuart and Richard’s family roots are steeped in the history of both Edinburgh and Scotland. Stuart’s great-grandfather, Sir John Usher Bt., and his great-great uncle, Andrew Usher, introduced blended whisky to the world. In fact, Andrew in particular is widely acknowledged as the Father of the Blended Scotch Whisky Industry. From the Usher Hall by Edinburgh Castle and the Usher Institute at the University of Edinburgh Medical School, to the Usher created North British Distillery near the city centre, the Ushers are as intertwined with Scotland’s Capital City as bagpipes and tartan are with this outstandingly beautiful country.
Andrew Usher, father of the modern Scottish whisky industry