Private experiences
Our tours
Every tour is private, arranged around your interests and pace. Our guides are STGA qualified — trained, accredited and insured throughout Scotland. All tours can be combined into a longer itinerary.
Your guide meets you at the esplanade and sets the scene before you step through the gate. You explore the Great Hall, the Crown Jewels and the Royal Palace at your own pace — with a private audio guide in your ear — then meet again for an hour of storytelling that draws the threads together. The tour continues down the Royal Mile.
Best for
First-time visitors; history enthusiasts; couples and small groups
Possible focus
Scottish monarchy; Jacobite history; military history; the Honours of Scotland
Duration
Approx. half day
Pricing
Please enquire — castle entrance not included
Your guide walks you through the closes and courtyards where plague, revolution and genius existed within yards of each other — the tenements, the coffee houses, the Enlightenment argued into being on a street that looks like a tourist strip.
Best for
Walkers; social history enthusiasts; those returning to Edinburgh
Possible focus
The Enlightenment; urban history; Burke and Hare; medieval Edinburgh
Duration
Approx. 2.5–3 hours
Pricing
Please enquire
Georgian Edinburgh — rational, elegant, ambitious — and Dean Village, a mill settlement tucked into the Water of Leith that most visitors never find. The tour reads the architecture for what it reveals about the people who built it.
Best for
Architecture lovers; those with a second day in Edinburgh
Possible focus
Georgian architecture; the Scottish Enlightenment; literary Edinburgh
Duration
Approx. half day
Pricing
Please enquire
Your guide selects a thread through the collection — Scottish portraiture, the Romantic landscape, the Dutch masters — and follows it without rushing. You leave knowing a few things well, rather than everything superficially.
Best for
Art lovers; those with limited time in the gallery; rainy days
Possible focus
Scottish portraiture; European masters; Impressionist collection
Duration
Approx. 2 hours
Pricing
Please enquire — gallery entry is free
Two or three of Edinburgh's oldest pubs, each one the setting for a chapter of Scottish history — Jacobites, Enlightenment philosophers, Victorian reformers. Drinks are your own; the history is included.
Best for
Evening visits; groups of two to six; those who want a relaxed format
Possible focus
Jacobite era; Enlightenment figures; Victorian social history; whisky culture
Duration
Approx. 2.5 hours
Pricing
Please enquire — drinks not included
The tour follows the route Glasgow's working families took every summer — by train down to the Firth of Clyde, along a coastline of faded grandeur and real beauty. One of the least-known great day trips in Scotland.
Best for
Those based in Glasgow; visitors with a full day free; lovers of social history
Possible focus
Victorian leisure; Clyde shipbuilding; the Scottish seaside; Glasgow history
Duration
Full day
Pricing
Please enquire — transport not included
Stirling Castle, the Wallace Monument, Bannockburn — not separate attractions but chapters in the same argument about who Scotland chose to become. Your guide holds the thread. Can be combined with a ceilidh evening.
Best for
Those interested in Scottish independence and medieval history; day-trippers from Edinburgh
Possible focus
Wars of Independence; Mary Queen of Scots; the Renaissance court; Wallace and Bruce
Duration
Approx. half day — can combine with ceilidh evening
Pricing
Please enquire — castle entrance not included
Louder, warmer and more surprising than Edinburgh — the Merchant City, the West End, the Clyde. Scotland's second story, told on its own terms.
Best for
Those with two or more days in Scotland; Mackintosh enthusiasts; art lovers
Possible focus
Charles Rennie Mackintosh; the Clyde and shipbuilding; Victorian Glasgow; Kelvingrove
Duration
Full day — can be arranged as a day trip from Edinburgh
Pricing
Please enquire
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