Listing Underground Unlocked

Underground Unlocked

  • 1st Oct 2026
  • Entry times 19.00 | 19.10 | 19.20 | 19.30 | 19.40 | 19.50
  • 2 hours
  • £40 per adult
  • No under 5 year olds
  • This experience is in English and Audio guides are not available

Book now

1 October 2026

For one unforgettable evening, step beyond the surface and experience The Real Mary King’s Close as it once was. Beneath the Royal Mile, the streets stir with life once more… voices echo, footsteps linger, and history unfolds around you.

A one-night-only immersive journey

This is not a guided tour.

Instead, you are free to roam the Close at your own pace, just as residents once did in the 1600s. Wander through narrow streets alive with activity, where merchants trade, poets recite, and plague doctors move silently through shadow.

Step inside homes and businesses, preserved in time yet filled once more with the people who lived and worked here. Around every corner, a story waits to be discovered.

Raw, real and strikingly human, this is your chance to experience history as it might have been.

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What to expect

What to expect

  • Explore the underground streets freely for up to 2 hours
  • Encounter up to 15 historical residents, each with their own story to tell
  • Step inside preserved homes and workplaces
  • Experience a fully immersive, living environment beneath the Royal Mile
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Who will you meet?

Who will you meet?

As you wander, you may encounter:

  • Patrick Byrne, the leather tanner, demonstrating his craft
  • Euphame MacCalzean, reclaiming her voice after the North Berwick Witch Trials
  • Mary King, running her bustling market stall
  • Deacon Brodie, lurking in the shadows of his double life
  • John Craig, anxiously awaiting the plague doctor
  • Dr John Paulitious, battling the Foul Pestilence
  • Lang Meg and the Foul Clengers, tasked with cleansing the city
  • Marie Maitland, sharing poetry hidden for centuries
  • Jonet Nymmo, offering a glimpse into daily life
  • Janet and Andrew Chesney, recalling the Close’s final days

No two journeys are the same. Each visit reveals different encounters, different voices, different moments in time.

A fleeting moment in time

The Close will not stay this way for long.

For one evening only, the past returns in full voice and colour. Then, just as quickly, it fades back into silence.

Will you step inside before it disappears?

Book now

This is an exclusive, limited event and tickets are expected to sell quickly.
Secure your place and experience The Real Mary King’s Close like never before.

Frequently Asked Questions about Underground Unlocked

Underground Unlocked is a one-night-only immersive experience at The Real Mary King's Close. Unlike our regular tours, there is no guide leading your journey. Instead, you're free to explore the preserved underground streets at your own pace, discovering stories, characters and moments from Edinburgh's past as they unfold around you.

No. This is not a guided tour. You'll have the freedom to wander through the Close, choosing where to go and which characters to meet, creating a different experience for every visitor.

You can explore Underground Unlocked for up to 2 hours. Arrive at your chosen entry time and enjoy discovering the Close at your own pace.

Yes. During Underground Unlocked, you'll have the freedom to move through the underground streets, visit preserved homes and businesses, and choose which conversations and stories you'd like to experience.

Yes. The residents bring the Close to life through conversations, demonstrations and performances. While each interaction is unique, you'll have the opportunity to engage with the characters as you explore.

Absolutely. Underground Unlocked offers a completely different way to experience the Close. Instead of following a guided route, you'll explore freely and uncover stories in your own way, making it an ideal experience for returning visitors.

No. While the atmosphere is evocative and some stories explore difficult moments in Edinburgh's history, the experience is not designed as a horror attraction. Instead, it offers a vivid and immersive glimpse into life beneath the Royal Mile.

The experience is suitable for children aged 5 and over, although it has been designed primarily with older children and adults in mind due to its immersive storytelling and historical themes. Children under 5 are not permitted.

No. Audio guides are not available for Underground Unlocked. The experience is entirely live and unfolds through interactions with the historical residents you encounter.

Unlike traditional guided tours, Underground Unlocked gives you the freedom to explore an authentic preserved 17th-century street beneath Edinburgh's Royal Mile at your own pace. With historical characters throughout the Close and no set route, every visit is different.

Yes. For one evening only, you'll experience The Real Mary King's Close as a living underground community, where history unfolds around you through immersive storytelling, live performances and authentic historic surroundings.

No. There is no prescribed route through Underground Unlocked. You're free to wander, linger with characters who capture your interest and revisit spaces throughout your two-hour experience.

For one evening only, the streets beneath Edinburgh's Royal Mile become a living community once again. Rather than following a guide, you'll step into a world where history surrounds you, conversations happen naturally and every doorway could reveal a new story. It's The Real Mary King's Close as you've never experienced it before.

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