I’ve lived in Edinburgh for nigh on seven years now, but there’s still a whole raft of guide book attractions here that I’ve never experienced.  When visiting friends ask me for recommendations I’m stumped.  I could happily reel you off a list of the best cake joints, cycle routes and places to catch a good sunset, but talk of all that commercial touristy stuff usually leaves me looking at my shoes and muttering something about straying from the beaten track.  To give you just some idea of the scale of my ignorance, I’ve never been into the castle (although if there was a prize for gazing at it I’d win, hands down), I haven’t been to the Dynamic Earth science centre and I’ve never even set foot in the National Gallery of Modern Art.

And, until last night, I hadn’t been on one of the city’s infamous ghost tours (well, not since I was 12 and came here on a school trip, which I’m almost certain doesn’t count).  The ghost tours are a rite of passage for most visitors to the capital but, if I’m honest, I’m prone to rolling my eyes at the very mention of them.  I’m forever seeing groups of jaded-looking tourists clutching Rough Guides while being herded up and down the Royal Mile by a loudmouthed guide dressed in an ankle length cape and Doc Marten boots.  And to be perfectly frank?  It’s just never looked like that much fun.

But let me just say this: I was wrong.

Edinburgh ghost tours are fun.  And interesting.  And downright eerie at times too.  Besides visiting the city vaults** and taking a peek at the torture museum, we were told some pretty gruesome tales about witch trials, body snatching and the sewerage systems in the city circa the 1700s (otherwise known as a bucket and a window).  I enjoyed it immensely, and would highly recommend it to visitors in future (besides my favourite cakes places, bike rides and sunset spots, of course).  Our tickets were around £10 and we got a free drink at the end of it which I can tell you now you will need!

So.  Ghost tours.  Do one sometime.  I bet you’ll enjoy it.

Do you ever go touristing at home?  What are your recommendations to people visiting your city?

**There’s an entire network of these running underneath Edinburgh’s centre, some of which are completely blocked up and have been for hundreds of years.  Something to think about should you ever find yourself sipping a chai latte in an old town Starbucks, no?

Image above from Flickr – sunstarr.