• The Burns Monument - This tribute to the national Bard resembles an ancient Greek temple and marks the beginning of the tour.
• The Balmoral Spa - A renowned Edinburgh hotel, known for its clock set three minutes fast to assist rail passengers, and where J.K. Rowling finished the ‘Harry Potter’ series.
• Scott Monument - The largest literary memorial globally, dedicated to Sir Walter Scott, the ‘Man who invented Scotland’ and a celebrated romantic author.
• St Andrew Square - A grand 18th-century square, one of the central points of Edinburgh’s ‘New Town’, featuring a statue of Henry Dundas, the ‘uncrowned king of Scotland’.
• New Town - The tour continues along the elegant George Street, introducing a young man who found literary success in Canada, and passing the site of Edinburgh’s significant religious split, the Disruption of 1843. Turning into Hanover Street, the tour passes the Royal Society of Edinburgh, where James Hutton’s groundbreaking paper on the earth’s age was presented, and Milne’s Bar, a hub of the 1950s poetry scene.
• Old Town - Climbing the Mound and crossing the Old Town, the tour introduces Edinburgh’s most infamous criminal and its greatest philosopher, visits the cafe where Harry Potter was ‘born’, and the site of the ill-fated Darien Scheme of the 1690s.
• Bristo Place - The tour passes Edinburgh’s esteemed Medical School, sharing stories of notable alumni from various fields, and George Heriot’s school, the inspiration for Hogwarts and the site of Scotland’s first hot air balloon flight. In East Fountainbridge, the tour hears of a nightclub bouncer who thwarted a gang attack and later achieved global fame.
• West Princes Street Garden, Edinburgh - The tour meets a world-renowned female author who married in near secrecy and learns why old Edinburgh cemeteries required security towers. It also recounts the tale of a resilient nightclub bouncer who foiled an attack and later rose to global fame.
• Charlotte Square - In this counterpart to St Andrew’s Square, the tour meets a young boy with a promising future and an unusual birthday gift, and discovers the favorite pub of Edinburgh’s leading contemporary crime writer.
• New Town - Continuing into Queen Street, the tour meets another young boy destined for literary greatness, passes the house of a historic medical discovery, and the site of a possibly the most ‘steam-punk’ attraction ever created.
• Newhaven Harbour - Heading north, the tour hears of greyhounds, speedway riders, and perhaps the city’s greatest tragedy, before reaching the sea at Edinburgh’s charming fishing port of Newhaven, birthplace of the world’s largest warship.
• Leith - Continuing along the coast, the tour enters Leith, learning about whisky, red wine, Oliver Cromwell, Rabbie Burns, a cannibal family, and a young queen’s return to Scotland. It also visits the first of two of the world’s earliest golf courses, with the story of the first Open Champion, surgeon John Rattray, who was nearly killed by his profession but saved by his hobby.
• Portobello Beach - Heading east and pausing for a brief refreshment break, the tour hears of the world’s greatest assembly of warships and solves the mystery of which navy threatened Edinburgh in 1779. It meets two of the early 20th century stage’s greatest stars, one born in Edinburgh and one who died there, and reveals perhaps Edinburgh’s greatest culinary secret.
• Holyrood Park - Returning to the city, the tour crosses Holyrood Park, home to the Royal Palace and historic Abbey, and the encampment of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Highland army in 1745. Exiting the park, the tour passes the first of two girls’ schools that became world-famous in fiction.
• The Pleasance - Crossing the street that becomes The Pleasance, the tour explores historic Jewish Edinburgh and sees a famous architect’s first, beautiful Edinburgh project. It also recounts the only meeting between Scott and Burns.
• The Meadows - Crossing this lovely green space, the tour shares stories of its past as a loch, its current role as a student playground, and the great 18th-century intellectuals who lived and walked there.
• Merchiston - Heading towards upscale Merchiston, the tour surprises with a famous American visitor from the 1840s and reveals a couple of Edinburgh’s industrial firsts, passing near the estate of Scotland’s greatest mathematician and the home street of J.K. Rowling, the city’s most famous contemporary writer.
• Craiglockhart - Passing through ‘Happy Valley’, the tour encounters Great War poets Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, who met in 1917 while recovering at the pioneering military psychiatric hospital established in a converted hotel here.
• Morningside Road - Traveling cross-town, the tour passes near the lodgings of a pre-WWI German naval spy and along the home street of Robert Louis Stevenson’s beloved nanny, Alison Cunningham, whose resting place is nearby. In the legendary suburb of Morningside, the tour discovers what happened when rich and poor lived as neighbors, and also learns of riots, wars against the English, and Oscar Wilde, among other stories.
• Bruntsfield - Returning towards downtown Edinburgh, the tour meets a young Sunday school teacher who achieved sporting immortality in a tragically short life, before reaching literary Bruntsfield and the tour’s second former girls’ school, which inspired one of the great Edinburgh novels, ‘The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie’.
• Lauriston Place - Here, the tour sees the former maternity hospital, the first purpose-built in the city, birthplace of a world-famous actor, and site of the UK’s first ante-natal clinic. Across the road, the tour passes the historic fire station, headquarters of the world’s first municipal Fire Service.
• Grassmarket - In the capital’s unofficial town square, the tour hears of some of Edinburgh’s most notorious crimes and an unexpectedly explosive event late one night, and discovers what Edinburgh lads of the 1600s did for Saturday entertainment.
• Cowgate - Traveling the length of the ‘poor relation’ of the Royal Mile, the tour meets revolutionaries and poets, and sees the building housing the only surviving pre-reformation stained glass in Edinburgh, bearing the coat of arms of a significant lady in history.
• The Scottish Parliament - Nearing the tour’s end, the tour passes the famous but initially controversial modern home of the reconstituted Scottish Parliament, opposite Edinburgh’s own royal palace, Holyrood.

• In-vehicle air conditioning

• Tea and coffee

Edinburgh is a city rich in history and literary charm, so much so that it was the first city globally to receive UNESCO’s ‘City of Literature’ designation.

For the first time, embark on a tour that explores both the city’s historical and literary connections more deeply than ever before, from Sherlock Holmes to Harry Potter!

Join 7 Hills Tours and your guide, Edinburgh native Dr. Moray Grigor, on the most in-depth and comprehensive coach tour ever offered in Edinburgh. This tour covers the entire city from the sea to the hills (with a short tea break) to reveal our historic and literary secrets, all presented in the captivating style that has earned Moray six consecutive years of 5-star reviews for his other tours. Together, participants will imagine the scenes and events that shaped history, with chocolate prizes available for correct answers to our history and literature quiz questions!

Expect historic and literary surprises, along with the warmest of Scottish welcomes!

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.