Mary King's Close visitor guide — everything you need to know before visiting

At a glance

Address

2 Warriston's Close, Royal Mile, Edinburgh EH1 1PG

Open

Daily; hours change by month and weekday

Closed

25 December

Tours

About every 10 minutes, about 1 hour each

Ages

5 and over; 5 to 15 with an adult

Steps

58 down and 38 up, with handrails

Photos

Not allowed below ground

Where the close is

Mary King's Close lies under the City Chambers, the large stone building on the north side of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh's Old Town. You go in at 2 Warriston's Close, EH1 1PG, opposite St Giles' Cathedral and the Mercat Cross. Look for the flags and arches of the City Chambers: the entrance is right next door. The gift shop is reached through Writer's Court at the end of the courtyard.

A close is one of the narrow lanes that drop away from the Royal Mile on either side of its rocky ridge. People lived along them in tall tenements. When the Royal Exchange was built here from 1753, the upper parts of several closes were taken down and the lower floors were left underneath. That buried street and its rooms are what the tour shows you. It is a separate place from the South Bridge vaults, which are run by other tour companies.

Opening hours and closed days

The close opens every day of the year except 25 December, but the hours change month by month and from weekday to weekend. The site and gift shop open half an hour before the first tour, and the shop closes 90 minutes after the last tour has gone down.

In late October 2026 tours run from 09:30 to 21:00 every day. In November and December most weekdays run from 10:30 to 17:00, Fridays to 18:00 and weekends to 19:30, with a few exceptions. Christmas Eve finishes early, with the last tour at 15:00. Boxing Day runs from 11:30 to 19:00, the days from 27 to 30 December are long, and the last tour on Hogmanay is at 18:00.

The attraction publishes its calendar month by month and releases tours according to demand, so when you book with us the times you can choose are the ones the close is running on your date.

How the tours run

Every visit is a guided tour. A group goes down about every ten minutes, from the first tour of the day to the last, and each tour lasts around an hour. You book a date and an exact tour time, and that time is printed on your e-ticket.

Your guide is in costume and plays someone who really lived, worked and died in the Old Town: a household maid of 1535, a plague doctor or one of the foul clengers who cleaned infected houses in 1645, the poet Robert Fergusson in 1771, or Andrew Chesney, the last resident, in 1897. The facts are real, the delivery is theatrical, and no two tours are quite the same.

Because each group has a fixed start, the tour time matters. The attraction asks you to arrive at least 10 minutes early and check in at Admissions, and it may refuse entry to anyone who turns up after their group has gone down.

Fares and ages

The attraction sells two categories for the guided tour, adult and child, and our two fares match them. Children's tickets cover ages 5 to 15, and every child must be with an adult. From 16, visitors pay the adult fare. There is no separate student or senior category.

Children under 5 aren't admitted to the historic site for safety reasons, so they can't come on the tour at any price. They are welcome in the gift shop and at the coffee cart upstairs, which helps if one adult waits with a toddler while the others go down.

A carer goes free with each visitor who needs assistance during the visit. Tell us when you book and we add the carer's place at no charge. On the day the carer shows proof, such as a Blue Badge, or a letter for Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payment or Carer's Allowance.

Arriving, lockers and the audio app

Aim to reach the Admissions Office on the Royal Mile at least 10 minutes before your tour time, with your e-ticket on your phone or on paper. Staff check you in and point you to the waiting area for your group.

If you have a suitcase or a large bag, the courtyard has more than 20 lockers in different sizes. They open with a QR code on your phone, so give yourself a few extra minutes in case of a signal problem. Food and drink stay upstairs: they aren't allowed on the close during the tour.

Guides speak English. If someone in your party prefers another language, the free web app carries the tour in French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Dutch, Hungarian, Mandarin and Cantonese, with British and International Sign Language versions too. Bring headphones, which are compulsory for the audio. Without them you can still read the translation on your phone.

What you see below

From Admissions you go down into the closes under the City Chambers. The route runs through preserved streets and rooms of the 17th century, from the steep lane of Mary King's Close itself to the former homes and shops along it.

Your guide covers the life of the closes: the cry of "Gardyloo!" before slops went out of the windows at night, the trades and households of the Old Town, and Mary King, the cloth merchant who gave the close its name in the 1630s. A large part of the hour is the plague of 1645, the worst outbreak in Edinburgh's history, and the people who treated the sick and cleaned their homes.

The tour also visits Annie's room in a 17th-century house off Allan's Close, where visitors from around the world have left a growing pile of dolls and toys. Near the end your group has a souvenir photo taken at the close.

A short history

The closes off the High Street were busy long before the 17th century. One of the guides plays Agnes Chambers, a maid in the house of a merchant burgess on Craig's Close in 1535. By the 1600s the tenements rose ten to twelve storeys inside the town wall, and little daylight reached the lanes below.

Mary King, a widowed cloth merchant, arrived in 1635, when the lane was still known as King's Close or Alexander King's Close. She died late in 1644, the year before the plague. In 1753 the town commissioned the Royal Exchange, designed by John Adam and opened in 1760. It sat partly on top of the truncated closes, which were later sealed off. In 1811 the Town Council took over the building as the City Chambers. Andrew Chesney, the last resident, had to leave in 1897.

Read the full guide: The history of Mary King's Close →

The story of Annie's room

The best-known story here dates from the 1990s, when the Japanese psychic Aiko Gibo visited while making a film about haunted places in Britain. In a room off Allan's Close, she said, she felt a little girl clutching her trouser leg. The girl, Annie, had lost her doll. Gibo bought one on the Royal Mile and left it by the fireplace.

Since then visitors have brought dolls, toys and even police and fire badges from all over the world, and the pile in Annie's room keeps growing. The first doll vanished in April 2019 and was never found.

The attraction's own research has found no record of a child called Annie. The nearest link is the unnamed daughter of Jean McKenzie, recorded during the plague in Allan's Close. Treat it as a story, told in the room where it began.

Read the full guide: The history of Mary King's Close →

Photos, phones and behaviour

Photography and filming aren't allowed during the tour. That covers phones, cameras, GoPros, smart glasses and any other recording device. The rule protects the historic site and keeps the groups moving, so keep your phone in your pocket below ground.

Near the end of the tour a souvenir photo is taken of your group at the close, using a bright flash. You can buy it afterwards. If anyone in your party is sensitive to flashing light or has photosensitive epilepsy, tell the staff before the tour starts.

The attraction can remove anyone who disrupts the tour, appears to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or doesn't respect the historic site. Food and drink stay upstairs.

Steps and accessibility

The tour involves 58 steps down and 38 back up, across several floors, with uneven surfaces, steep inclines and some confined spaces. There is a handrail on every staircase and along Mary King's Close itself. Sturdy shoes help.

Wheelchairs can't be used on the close, which is a listed site too steep and narrow for them. Visitors who can transfer or walk with support are welcome, and support chairs can be arranged in advance. The ground-floor toilets and the Burgh Courtroom gift shop are accessible.

Many areas are dimly lit, and the enclosed spaces can bring on claustrophobia, vertigo or motion sickness in some people. Guides carry radios and can have someone take you back upstairs at any time. Parts of the close are dusty; air quality is tested regularly, but bring an inhaler if you use one. Assistance dogs are welcome by arrangement; other dogs are not. A printed script is available for visitors with hearing loss on request.

Getting there

From Waverley station it's about a 10-minute walk. The quickest way is up the 100 steps at the foot of Warriston's Close: from Waverley Bridge walk to the mini-roundabout, cross to the bottom of Cockburn Street and look for the Warriston's Close sign on your right. The entrance is at the top of the steps on your left.

For a step-free route, carry on up Cockburn Street to the Royal Mile, turn right and walk along until the entrance appears on your right. Lothian Buses that stop on Princes Street, near the High Street or on North or South Bridge all leave you within a few minutes' walk.

Parking in the Old Town is very limited and fills up early, so a car is the hardest way to arrive. Taxis can drop you at the door, and there are cycle racks just outside the entrance.

Frequently asked questions