Where is the entrance to the Edinburgh Vaults?
The four meeting points, in plain terms
- 300 Lawnmarket — the uphill, castle end of the Royal Mile. Look for the tourist information booth and the red phone box, opposite Deacon Brodie’s Tavern. Both the one-hour flagship tour and the graveyard tour start here.
- The Mercat Cross — the stone cross beside St Giles’ Cathedral, roughly the middle of the Royal Mile. The two Blair Street tours start here.
- Caffè Nero on the Royal Mile — near St Giles’, opposite the Mercat Cross. The witches and history walk starts here.
- The police box — the boxy kiosk on the Royal Mile. The extreme paranormal tour starts here, after dark, and it is strictly 18+.
Getting to the Royal Mile
From Waverley station it is a short uphill walk, and every route up is stairs or a steep ramp, because the station sits in the valley the Old Town looks down on. From the airport, the tram and the bus both run into the city centre and leave you a few minutes’ walk from the Mile. If your tour is at the Lawnmarket end, keep climbing past St Giles’ until you see the phone box; if it is the Mercat Cross, stop at the cathedral.
What the actual vault doors look like
Nothing. That is the honest answer, and it is why nobody finds them alone. The South Bridge doors sit in closes and stairwells off Niddry Street, five minutes downhill from the Lawnmarket, and they look like a back door to a stockroom, which is roughly what they were. There is a step of about two feet at the threshold and a spiral staircase behind it. The Blair Street doors are similar and equally unmarked. No signage, no lit frontage, nothing that photographs.
The one piece of the structure you can find on your own is the arch over the Cowgate: the only one of the 19 still visible, because tenements were built along the other 18. Stand under it and the scale of what is buried makes sense. More on what you can see without booking.
Why the meeting point is not the entrance
Every one of the six tours gathers on the Royal Mile and walks you somewhere else, and that is deliberate. The vault doors sit in closes and cellars on working streets, with no pavement to spare and neighbours who would rather not have thirty people assembling outside their stair at nine in the evening. The Mile is wide, lit and easy to describe over the phone, so that is where the lists get checked. It also means that if you turn up at what you believe is the entrance, there will be nobody there to meet you and nothing to look at. Go to the meeting point printed on your voucher, not to the address of the vaults, which is not published anywhere for exactly this reason. The booking page covers what the guide checks when you arrive.
Arrive at the meeting point ten minutes early and look for the guide rather than a sign. On the Lawnmarket the crowd around the phone box will be three tours deep in August, so listen for the tour name being called rather than joining the nearest cluster.
How far you walk before you go down
Not far, but it is downhill and it is cobbled. The South Bridge tours cross to Niddry Street; the Blair Street tours take a route along the Royal Mile before turning down. The graveyard tour goes further afield, south to Greyfriars Kirkyard off Candlemaker Row, before it goes underground. If cobbles and steep closes are a problem, read accessibility first.
Book the one that meets at the Lawnmarket
The most-booked tour of the six starts at 300 Lawnmarket and runs an hour, daytime and evening. Booking mechanics here.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get into the Edinburgh Vaults?
You book a tour, meet the guide on the Royal Mile and walk down with the group — the guide unlocks the door. There is no way in on your own; see visiting without a tour.
Where do the Edinburgh Vaults tours meet?
At 300 Lawnmarket for the South Bridge tours, the Mercat Cross for the Blair Street tours, Caffè Nero for the witches walk and the police box for the extreme tour — all on the Royal Mile, within about five minutes of each other.
How long is the walk from Waverley station?
A short uphill walk, all of it stairs or steep pavement, so allow more time than the distance suggests. Arrive ten minutes before your slot — the voucher is checked at the meeting point.