Edinburgh Festival Voluntary Guides

10/06/2025

The Fringe Brochure has now been published, our dates are Sunday 3 August to Sunday 24 August inclusive. The tours start from the Courtyard of the City Chambers opposite St Giles Cathedral every day at 10.30 and 14.00, and last about 90 minutes.
Booking may be made via the Fringe website. One tip to find our tours quickly amongst the vast selection of things in the brochure is that we are the only event taking place at venue 199. So you can search for that venue and it will produce only our Tours, or you can just click on the link below.
See you in August!

Join us for our genuinely free, small group walking tours of Edinburgh's historic Old Town and enjoy stories of the many colourful characters who lived here. Since Edinburgh's first festival in 1947, our trained local guides, all volunteers who love their city, have shared their knowledge with visit...

15/07/2024

Where are we based? We have had new fliers printed with our precise location within the City Chambers Courtyard identified
It is ///harp.wacky.risks
That may not mean anything to you, and it only makes sense in relation to the What3Words app, but it will take you to EXACTLY the correct place if you either use the map on a PC or download and use the app.
I have only recently discovered this and it is quite extraordinary, try it out here, remember to use three slashes before the words and separate each with a dot as above.
It can get very crowded around our base and we hope this will help people to find us.

Every 3 metre square has a unique 3 word address.

03/07/2024

Each year, Tripadvisor recognises travellers' favourite businesses around the world, based on reviews and ratings collected over 12 months. We again scored a spot at the top thanks to our customers' reviews.
Many thanks to all who contributed to this award.

14/04/2024

07/04/2024

The Edinburgh Festival Voluntary Guides (EFVGA) has collaborated with Museums & Galleries Edinburgh to provide some of their Lectures in Lauriston Castle. These are
The Porteous Riot: An Illustrated Talk (https://www.edinburghmuseums.org.uk/whats-on/porteous-riot-illustrated-talk) on July 12.
John Kay: Recording the Golden Age in Edinburgh (https://www.edinburghmuseums.org.uk/whats-on/john-kay-recording-golden-age-edinburgh) on 20th August.
Both of these will be delivered by our Secretary Eric Melvin, an extremely knowledgeable and entertaining speaker.
The full range of talks can be seen at https://www.edinburghmuseums.org.uk/whats-on/lectures

23/02/2024

Edinburgh Festival Voluntary Guides now live in the Fringe Brochure 2024. Book early to avoid disappointment:
Come and join us for the original free walking tour of Edinburgh’s historic Old Town and enjoy the stories of the many colourful characters who lived here. Since Edinburgh’s first festival in 1947, our trained local guides, all volunteers who love their city, have shared their knowledge with visitors from all over the world.
From Sunday 4th to Sunday 25th August inclusive our tours will leave from the City Chambers on the High Street at 10.30am and 2.00pm and last about 90 minutes. Step with us into Scotland’s rich history. Tripadvisor awarded us the Travellers' Choice award in 2020, 2022 and 2023.

Official website of Edinburgh Festival Fringe, one of the greatest celebrations of arts and culture in the world. Find everything you need, whether you want to take part or book tickets.

07/02/2024

Greyfriars Kirkyard is one of Edinburgh’s most iconic spaces. However, its multiple roles as a burial site, tourist destination, heritage site, green space, and more, mean that its management is becoming increasingly complex. Recognising the need for a new strategy Edinburgh World Heritage and the City of Edinburgh Council have commissioned Kirkyard Consulting to develop a new graveyard Conservation Management Plan.
To have your say about your experiences of Greyfriars, and how you would like to see it managed in the future, please complete the following short survey.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/R/GREYFRIARS-CMP

03/11/2023

Walking tours of Edinburgh's historic Royal Mile run by expert local guides. During the Edinburgh International Festival and Fringe, tours run twice per day and are completely free with no need to book in advance. The times given for tours relate to this period, in 2023 Sunday 6 August- Sunday 27 August inclusive. Tours can also be arranged at other times of the year for a small fee. Small groups (typically 6 - 8 people per tour).

24/07/2022

Our August programme of free tours will run again in August 2022 with a full programme of tours.
We'll show you not only many of the most famous historic sites in the city but also the out-of-the way corners and hidden places - closes and courtyards, pends and wynds - which you might never discover on your own.
Our guides are all local people with a great enthusiasm for our city and its history, and who love to share their knowledge.
Unlike some other tours, ours are genuinely free. Our guides do not solicit tips nor do we waste your time by taking you into gift shops or tourist outlets.
Tours leave from in front of the City Chambers in the Royal Mile. The 2022 programme runs from Sunday 7th-Sunday 28th August inclusive at 10:30 and 14:00. If you wish to book then follow this link https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on =%22edinburgh%20festival%20voluntary%20guides%20association%22 which will lead you to our listing in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival Brochure website. (This will open in a new window) You may make a booking in this way (for which the Fringe Society makes a small charge), but you do not have to.

Official website of Edinburgh Festival Fringe, one of the greatest celebrations of arts and culture in the world. Find everything you need, whether you want to take part or book tickets.

03/08/2021

Return of our Tours for 2021
The details of our Walking Tours of Edinburgh's Old Town have just been listed. We are delighted to be back, we did operate some tours during the 2020 Edinburgh Festival Fringe but we are operating a fuller programme this year. All our tours are compliant with COVID-19 restrictions.
We'll show you not only many of the most famous historic sites in the city but also the out-of-the way corners and hidden places - closes and courtyards, pends and wynds - which you might never discover on your own.
You do not have to book these tours, just turn up at the times advertised. Unlike some other tours, ours are genuinely free. Our guides do not solicit tips nor do we waste your time by taking you into gift shops or tourist outlets.
If you prefer to book you can do so via the Edinburgh Fringe website
https://www.edfringe.com/
Choose the 'Find Shows' tab and then just enter 199 in the Venue Box and that will bring up the information.

15/09/2020

We were very pleased recently to be awarded a Tripadvisor Travellers Choice Award for 2020. This recognises the very high quatity visitor experience that our Tours provide. Despite the fact that there was no Edinburgh Festival this year, we still managed to run a reduced programme of tours and got a number of 5-star reviews on Tripadvisor. We are very grateful for this. You can see the reviews by following this link.

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g186525-d6725641-Reviews-Edinburgh_Festival_Voluntary_Guides_Association-Edinburgh_Scotland.html

28/07/2020

Free walking tours - August 2020
Despite the cancellation of the 2020 Edinburgh Festival and Fringe, we are still running a programme of free tours during August. Tours run twice a week, and are subject to new health & safety measures intended to help keep you safe. http://www.edinburghfestivalguides.org/covid-safety.html?LMCL=g6OVoF

We'll show you not only many of the most famous historic sites in the city but also the out-of-the way corners and hidden places - closes and courtyards, pends and wynds - which you might never discover on your own.
Our guides are all local people with a great enthusiasm for our city and its history, and who love to share their knowledge.
Unlike some other tours, ours are genuinely free. Our guides do not solicit tips nor do we waste your time by taking you into gift shops or tourist outlets.
In order to maintain physical distancing, we are currently limiting the size of our tour groups, in accordance with current government guidelines. We always have several guides available so that we can split tours into small groups where necessary.

Tours leave from in front of the City Chambers in the Royal Mile There are no formalities. Just turn up at one of the times shown below.

Tours start at 2 pm every Wednesday and Saturday during August.
There is no need to book in advance.
Tours last one hour.