The Edinburgh Ghost Bus Tour, and How It Compares

Book the ghost bus if you want the stories without the walking. The Comedy Horror Ghost Bus Tour is 75 minutes on a vintage double-decker painted black, with a live guide playing a character, through the Old Town and the New Town past Edinburgh Castle, the Grassmarket, Greyfriars Kirk, Holyrood Palace and the Royal Mile. It is run by The Ghost Bus Tours, costs from $28 per person, and is rated 4.5 from 4,891 reviews (checked October 2026). It is the easiest Edinburgh ghost tour to take children on: you stay seated, there are no vault steps, and the jokes come as fast as the frights.

Check ghost bus dates

Where the ghost bus picks you up

The bus leaves from 7-9 George IV Bridge, EH1 1EG, just outside Edinburgh Central Library, a minute’s walk from the Royal Mile. Be early: the tour cannot wait for late arrivals and nobody is let on once the show has started. Tours run in English. Bottled water is fine, but eating, drinking anything else and smoking are not allowed on board.

What happens on board

It is a show more than a tour. Reviewers name their guides by character (“Tommy Terror” turns up more than once), and one singles out the driver for his jokes too. The stories are the city’s darkest: the grave robbers, the plague, the Burke and Hare murders and the hundreds of women drowned or burned as witches, told at the places they happened. The bus itself is part of the act, with lamps and curtains inside, and it comes with a made-up history of its own that the guide tells with a straight face. Treat that part as theatre.

Is the ghost bus scary?

Not very. It is billed as comedy horror and the reviews mostly talk about laughing, so it suits families and anyone who wants the history with the edge taken off. If you want to be properly frightened, go underground instead: the South Bridge vaults tours run late at night and one is for adults only. The underground tours page sorts them out.

Ghost bus or a ghost walk?

Prices from GetYourGuide, checked October 2026.

The bus covers more ground: the New Town and Holyrood as well as the Old Town, which a two-hour walk does not reach. A walk goes where a bus cannot, down the closes and into the kirkyards, and the guide can stop and point. The ghost tour, ghost walk or ghost bus guide goes through the three formats in more depth.

Which one to book

Book whichever fits your evening:

Prices, ratings and review counts from GetYourGuide, checked October 2026.

Tickets, times and discounts

Ghost bus tickets are sold for a set departure, and the calendar above shows the times for each date. The price is per person and the free cancellation runs up to 24 hours before. We do not have discount codes, and the price you see is the GetYourGuide price; with free cancellation, booking as soon as you know your evening costs you nothing if plans change.