Continuum Charity Support

At The Real Mary King’s Close, we welcome people from all walks to life to help them learn the truth about Edinburgh’s history. We even help others get a head start with a career in hospitality through our modern apprenticeship programme so we were thrilled when we heard our parent company Continuum have developed a brand new partnership with The Dame Kelly Holmes Trust. Because Continuum are one of the United Kingdom’s most-prevalent attraction hosts, with more than thirty years' experience in creating memorable moments, it seemed only fitting that they should team up with such a great trust.

Image courtesy of Dame Kelly Holmes Trust

Loads to See and Loads of Reasons to Help

Because The Real Mary King's Close is under the Continuum umbrella, we are greatly involved with everything that the charity will be doing. And, because they own a series of countrywide attractions, you are never far from an attraction that can help support our charity partner.

The Dame Kelly Holmes Trust works with people between the ages of 16 and 25 and gives them opportunities for personal development. This is achieved through the Olympics, Paralympics and other great athletes who club together to help out when needed. They offer mentorship, support, training and other efforts to help people overcome their diversities.

Making your Own Memories

It’s great to have somewhere you can go for a fond memory and we at The Real Mary King’s Close can offer you tours, private parties and some fun and frightening experiences. Our tour can also be excellent for supporting your own youth group so why not bring them along? We take great pride in maintaining our exceptionally high standards and will ensure everyone has a fantastic break away.

Experience Old Edinburgh

Whilst, sadly the 2014 Commonwealth Games are over, Scotland showed once again that we can keep up with the best of them by taking 19 gold, 15 silver and 19 bronze medals, landing in fourth place overall.

We at The Real Mary King’s Close had some fantastic visitors this year, who came along to share The Real Mary King’s Close experience in-between watching their chosen events during the Games. We had visitors from many of the Commonwealth countries, and they had a great time as we took them on a historical and spooky trip through the underbelly of Edinburgh life in 1600's.

All about the Dark Truth

We offer a number of bespoke tours that takes guests on an one-hour experience with an interesting spin on all the ‘true' stories of the history of darkest deepest Edinburgh. Normal groups are about twenty in size, but we do also offer private tours for those wishing to experience the close alone. The ‘Dark Truth' tour ran as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe  throughout August, therefore those who stayed after the Commonwealth Games could spend time learning about the darker Edinburgh history. However, despite the gruesomeness of some stories, we’ve been told that many of our foreign visitors went away extremely happy and satisfied with their experience!

Meet Dr. George

You will hear stories about a number of different residents of the close including Dr. George Rae who kept people safe from the plague. You will also meet the Craig family, who were not so lucky, but hey, what are a few sores and warts among family, eh?  Dr. George and his faithful assistant the Foul Clenger will protect our guests from the Black Death that awaited the people of 1600 Edinburgh and see them out safely in the end. Check out our Trip Advisor reviews to see what our summer guests thought and then come along and enjoy the fun for yourself – we’re open all year round!

Fear with a Twist of Murder

The picturesque skyline of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh does plenty to hide the gruesome underbelly of what goes on beneath the dark streets of the historic city. Watch your step when you stroll along the ancient walkway because you could easily take a slip and fall into Mary King's Close where you will find the—not so secret—underground city waiting for you. The Real Mary King's Close has been welcoming tourists from many a different country for some time now, and the purpose is to show people how life was around the 1600's.

Take the Tour

Many a dark story and tale has been uncovered—albeit by accident—by researchers looking to learn about the history of the city. The murky past of Edinburgh kind of leaves you reeling in shock. You might not expect such gruesome and grotesque stories of murder and plague to come out of a city like Edinburgh, but come they do, and you can see them for real.

For the 2014 Festival Fringe, The Real Mary King's Close opened up to festival fans with The Dark Truth Tour. How about seeing some of the dirty deeds that happened during the 1600's and right up to the early 1900's? Then you have until Sunday 24th August to experience our special performance! The Dark Truth Tour has a special twist this year and, of course; we can't reveal it. However, we can tell you that it is grittier and scarier than ever, and all based in truth, the dark truth.  We have the ‘witch pricker’ and the ‘pillywinks’ test during our show and you will see some gruesome contraptions used as torture devices.

Spooky and Eerie Backdrops

The spooky backdrop of this unearthly story revolve around—among other things—Maggie Dickson, known as Half hang-it Maggie, of whose story you may have heard, but wait….you get the whole story on our tour. Join us for spooky stories and bitter twists to finish your festival experience.  Tickets can be purchased here for just £17.50.